Pastels

Tis the season

Posted by on Dec 15, 2019 in Illustration, Pastels, Peaks Island | 13 comments

Coming up with an annual holiday card is never a chore. It’s a chance to express my love of winter, long dark nights, and traditions. Ever since we saw a splendid exhibit of Kay Nielsen’s work at the MFA in Boston in October, I’ve had crowns on my mind. seen at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts photo © Jamie Hogan This detail in particular struck me. I became obsessed with these three figures. Art by Kay Nielsen I tried making an owl crown for myself at Halloween, with mixed results. photo by Daisy Braun Midway into November, when the darkness was setting in before 5 PM, I...

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Jumpin’ July

Posted by on Aug 2, 2019 in Art Classes, Book: Ana and the Sea Star, Book: What Makes an Opossum Tick?, Children's Book Illustration, Collage, Drawing, Illustration, Illustration Institute, Maine College of Art, Pastels, Peaks Island, Portland Public Library, Publisher: Tilbury House, School Visits, Travels | 1 comment

A friend recently called July the “ADHD of months” and I agree. So. Much. Going. ON. Normally I make blog posts about individual events, but they have been coming at me too dang fast. Here is the whole jam of July: kids books, talks, classes, travels, friends, family. A bounty of sun and color and amazing humans. I was off to the Friends School for their Story in the Forest program on July 9. I read Ana and the Sea Star and then eager campers played a lively game of Ocean Locomotion. They tried moving like sea stars! They also drew sea creatures in pastel, with gusto. I’m...

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Peaks Festing

Posted by on Jul 8, 2019 in Book: Ana and the Sea Star, Children's Book Illustration, Illustration, Pastels, Peaks Island | 0 comments

Peaks Fest is the Peaks Island celebration of community that happens annually around the solstice. Marvelous Marty Braun has been the whiz behind years and years of Peaks Fest t-shirts. Last year he passed the torch to our daughter, Daisy. This year, both of them were too busy to tackle the annual challenge, so I offered to create a t-shirt design. But what hasn’t already been done so superbly?? I found it mighty daunting. My solution? Keep it simple. I settled on a signature island creature, the cormorant. Who hasn’t seen one drying it’s wings on a rocky perch? I included...

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Audio File

Posted by on Jun 4, 2019 in Illustration, Pastels | 1 comment

Between trips to Baltimore, I worked on illustrating the June cover for Audio File Magazine. It’s a treat to do a magazine cover, and double that it’s local, just a few blocks from Casco Bay Lines. The June issue highlights golden voices, the outstanding narrators of audio books. I did a PILE of sketches, since the theme was pretty wide open, and included stars. How about five megaphones? Shout out? Or a fun vintage metaphor? Or the interior landscape of birdsong… Another version, in which the birds circle the ear. Groovy sound waves finding entry… Summer listening,...

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Pastels ici!

Posted by on Nov 17, 2018 in Book: Warmer World, Children's Book Illustration, Drawing, Illustration, Pastels, Peaks Island, Travels | 9 comments

I am thrilled to share that my pastel, Regatta, is included in Paintings of Portland by Carl Little and David Little. The book spans two hundred years of art in all seasons featuring my pretty city across the bay. Check it out! I did this pastel years ago for a show on Peaks Island, and it’s in the collection of Bill and Patty Zimmerman, wonderful patrons of the arts. That’s Fort Gorges, which I pass on every ferry trip, and I love seeing it under clouds of all shapes. Pastel studies of seascapes and changing light have kept me busy between illustration projects for many years....

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Opossum Tails to Come

Posted by on Oct 26, 2018 in Children's Book Illustration, Illustration, Illustration Institute, Maine College of Art, Pastels, Peaks Island, What Makes An Opossum Tick | 8 comments

I met Wilbur well before I began illustrating a picture book story about opossums! Last October the Center for Wildlife brought him in as a wildlife ambassador to my junior illustration class at Maine College of Art. We were all smitten by his toothy grin. This was my first sketch of many. By the spring of this year, author Lyn Smith sent me her manuscript for What Makes an Opossum Tick? and  another journey of illustrating a picture book began. I gathered all I could on opossums and traveled to Moody Point for a creative retreat in late May. This house would become the setting for the...

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