Although September 16 is actually Mexican Independence Day, many Americans seem to think May 5 or Cinco de Mayo is. This year the world owes the people of Mexico apologies and compassion for being the most devastated by the new strain of flu now spreading to other parts of the world.

So I decided to do an homage to my favorite of the Mexican muralists, Jose Clemente Orozco. Here he is painting his mural of Father Hidalgo, who liberated Mexico from Spain. The mural is in the city hall of Guadalajara in the state of Jalisco, where there is also a statue to Jalisco's favorite son. Few know that Orozco made his art in spite of being almost blind, and lost one hand as a young man.

We should all try getting up on a scaffolding holding a can of paint on a stump at the end of our arm, while peering through bottle glass eyeglasses to make his walls sing. But he did!

When I was too young to understand such technological marvels, perhaps five or six years old, my father took me to the newspaper printing press of The Commercial Appeal to drop off advertising layouts and copy for the morning paper. I was spellbound by the noise of the press, the speed, the smell of ink. To this day I'm convinced I was early on imprinted with love for printing, with ink running through my veins.

 As an artist I've worked in many different fine art printmaking media, but never used one for a children's book until I decided to use monoprints for two of my recent picture books, "Here Comes the Night" and "My Preschool." I wanted the illustrations to have to soft yet vibrant effect that this technique offers.