Picture Book Finale!
I couldn’t have asked for a more satisfying ending to my story at Maine College of Art than the Picture Book course that just wrapped up last week. I wrote about the first half of the semester HERE, and the second half really picked up speed. After a snowy spring break, I returned to class with props for a life drawing session meant to warm us all UP. Students volunteered to model. Meet Queen Veronica. Drawing with my students is better than spring! The sheer variety of results is a delight. This sketch is by Aric. This one’s mine. My teaching assistant Liz Long’s sketch...
Read MorePicture Book at Maine College of Art
It feels like the blink of an eye, but we’re already at mid semester in IL 310, The Picture Book course I’m leading at Maine College of Art. We began with a snow day, and we’ve been catching up ever since. I lugged in a suitcase of children’s books, my absolute favorite topic. I am completely jazzed to have the jazzy Liz Long as my teaching assistant! She is an alum in MECA’s IL program and a recent graduate of MECA’s MAT program. She, too, came armed with a batch of favorites plus stories of her blooming career. We discussed what makes good picture books...
Read MoreLlove is Llove
I heard the news today. We surely need love more than ever, every minute. I’ve been doing my tiny bit to spread it around. A few weeks ago, I dropped off a pile of cards and valentines at Knit Wit Yarn Shop, the one and only place to find my cards out in the world. Then I made a collage with a re-purposed illustration of mine for the first of February’s Rabbit Rabbit tradition. It got me thinking about an animal themed valentine. From a knitting book I illustrated this llama gave me an idea. It feels more urgent that opposites need to love each other. What animal would make a...
Read MoreSweet finish for Illustration MECA juniors
I last wrote about my class at Maine College of Art after the first month of the semester HERE. So so SO much has happened since! I’ve gotten to know the Junior Major illustration students better, their abilities and voices have grown, and it has been one blur of productivity. Project 2 finals were brought in, and the crit was quite articulate and thoughtful, regarding the success of illustrating a figure in an environment with convincing space and depth. These two used the phone as a prop. Project 3 involved illustrating one of three editorial essays for a magazine. One was from...
Read MoreIllustration MECA field trip
A week ago I traveled west with senior Illustration MECA majors, co-chaperoning another field trip led by our intrepid Department Chair Mary Anne Lloyd. This time we ventured in a wagon train of cars, landing at the venerable Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. While awaiting everyone’s arrival, we ate our bag lunches in the classroom, appropriately surrounded by the drawings of young artists. Our tour guide, Patrick O’Donnell, led us through early works by Rockwell, with the eye of a professional illustrator. We saw Rockwell’s detailed studies in charcoal...
Read MoreWelcome Illustration MECA juniors!
My heart sang to spot this chalk drawing by Illustration MECA grad, Liz Long, greeting all of us returning to the hive at Maine College of Art in late August. The fall semester is in full swing, entering the second month. My class of junior majors brought in the summer sketchbooks I gave them last April. I had given them some prompts, such as making a list of their 7 favorite things to draw, and drawing them by observation, from memory, and in color. We began our introductions by viewing their sketchbooks. Here’s a snapshot of the wonders therein. Meghan McDunnah drew full-lipped...
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