Q: Do you have a dog now?

A. The canine friends I live with now (they don’t like to be called dogs) are two pugs named Sumo and Duffy.

They have a girlfriend who comes to visit them. Her name is Bug. Bug is part terrier and part pug. She is very beautiful and kind! Our newest edition is our gentle 150lb English Mastiff, named Zahra

We also have 14 chickens but no rooster. We eat many eggs!

Q: What came first, text or illustration? Where did you get the idea?

A. I was inspired to illustrate my story from a series of doodles I drew while talking on the phone. It is very possible that one of my pugs whispered the idea for the story in my ear while I was napping.

Q: Why did you illustrate your new book using crayons and paper bags?

A. I was so excited after writing A Dog Needs a Bone!, that I immediately sketched the entire book out in pencil without giving a thought as to how it would be colored. I had never done this before. When I finished the sketches, I then had to decide what medium to use for color.

As an illustrator of many years experience, I never assumed that the coloring of my sketches would be a problem. I tried several mediums with which I am familiar: watercolor, acrylic, oil paints, and pastels. I was not happy with any of the results. In fact, I was very frustrated with my attempts, and almost abandoned the entire project.

Then one day I recalled how much fun I had coloring when I was a child. I would spend entire rainy days creating art on paper bags with crayon. In a sudden flash of inspiration, I knew that was my answer! I believe the medium helped me to retain a light-hearted, humorous approach. After all, how serious can you be when you set aside your artists colors of yellow ochre and alizarin crimson and instead reach for jazz berry jam and purple pizzazz

Q: Did you have a dog growing up?

A. When I was growing up, I was lucky to have Freddie, a standard size Dachshund (wiener dog) in my family. Freddie loved to lie on his back and balance soda cans between his two front paws. He would adroitly tilt the can into his mouth and slurp up any dregs that a human might have carelessly left behind. It was quite a trick! My sisters and I set up a little theatre in the basement of our house where we often put on plays. Admission for friends and family was a dime, which was quite a bit of money in those days. When my father saw our first production, he was so enthusiastic about Freddie’s intro that he threw a handful of coins onto our stage. The sound of coins raining down startled Freddie. He blamed the interruption on George, my cat, who was dressed in a baby doll’s costume. The chase around the basement temporarily shut down the production — but it got rave reviews for years!