Leoma holds book signing at gallery for illustrated children's book

Earlier today, I hosted a book signing in my  Matlacha Island gallery and botanical garden. The book’s title is Frebie Dog Tales (The New Mailman, The Dog Catcher and the Judge) and it has been written by Betty Reese Freberg, a Christian speaker, teacher, filmmaker and author. Betty afforded me the rare privilege and honor of illustrating the book.

The use of illustrations in books has a long and storied history. Even before Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press, medieval monks added gold and silver leaf letters, borders and images to the manuscripts they painstaking wrote out by hand. The process of illumination was both costly and time-consuming, making the illuminated manuscript a luxury item reserved for only the wealthiest customers.

Printing made illuminated manuscripts obsolete, but did not obviate the desirability of including illustrations in printed text. For example, Charles Dickens was one author who fully embraced the use of illustrations to enliven his novels. Dickens would give his illustrators an outline of his plot before beginning the text. He would then monitor their drawings to ensure that they matched precisely with his own conceptions.

Dickens’s most famous illustrator was H.K. Browne. He worked under the pen name “Phiz.” He worked so closely with Dickens as to the specific appearance of characters and the composition of plates that Phiz’s visual interpretation of a character became as important as Dickens’s description, if not more so.

This is the first time that Betty and I have worked together. In fact, Frebie Dog Tales is Betty's first children’s book and my first time illustrating. "And while they have not yet developed the intense collaborative relationship that Dickens and Phiz once enjoyed, you can’t help but be impressed by how well Leoma’s images complement and enhance Freberg’s simple and straightforward  storytelling," observes local author and art journalist Tom Hall.

The book is inspired by a true tale. Frebie was a mixture of Chow and German Shepard. As a six week old puppy, Frebie met and won the heart of his master, a Baylor University college student by the name of Doug. It was the start of a thirteen year love affair between two free spirits. But when Doug moved to Washington D.C., he asked his widowed mom to let Frebie move in with her. Neither Frebie nor Mimi could imagine the adventures they were about to share.


Like Doug and Mimi, many of us have enjoyed the privilege of sharing a portion of our lives with a fur friend who touches our heart and  soul. It was stories such as these that the folks attending today’s book signing shared with me and each other. It was so much fun sharing dog stories today. I met many kindred dog lovers.

Check back often as there will be more book signings in the weeks and months ahead.

The twelve original illustrations that I created while working with Betty at her home in Azel, Texas will be included in  Palettes: Past, Present & Pursuits, my retrospective at the Sidney & Berne Davis Art Center in January of 2017.

Frebie Dog Tales is available for purchase on Amazon and at Lovegrove Gallery & Gardens, which is located at 4637 Pine Island Road on sunny Matlacha Island. For more information, please telephone 239-938-5655.

#LeomaLovegrove’severydayartadventure.
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