Tis the Season
Did those early snowstorms jump start your holiday spirits? They did mine! I kept thinking about that time I tapped my inner deer… and worked out an illustration for this year’s holiday card. This Deer Spirit is a cross between Ba from Hans Christian Andersen’s Snow Queen and a sister in Babette’s Feast by Isak Dinesen. On a starry solstice night, our wild selves shine on, with some cut paper snowflakes for good measure. Shortly after I sent off my image file to be printed, we gathered for an intimate Thanksgiving here on Peaks, where the temps hovered around 4...
Read MorePastels ici!
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....
Read MoreRefuge-Malja
Portland playwright Bess Welden’s play currently at Portland Stage, Refuge-Malja, is full of haunting visuals and time-shifting moments. It’s non-linear and complex, a multi-cultural story that unfolds in both dreams and flashback. We meet Jamie, a Jewish-American freelance photojournalist, who has encountered a young Syrian refugee on a beach in Lesbos. When I read the script last winter, I wondered how Portland Stage would handle the many changes of place and times, as well as the Wolf, a figure seen by Jamie since she was a child. There was a wealth of material to distill for...
Read MorePutting the A in STEM
I was invited to be a volunteer exhibitor at the 5th Annual STEM Expo sponsored by Portland Public Schools and Envirologix last Friday. Since many of my children’s books are nature-themed, I brought my collection of nature objects and some life-like toy models for nature studies with students. The event was held at USM’s Sullivan Gymnasium, and it was like a trade show for careers in science. Over 50 exhibitors, ranging from ecomaine to Maine Total Weather to Engineers Without Borders to IDEXX Labs to the Electro Toy Company drew busloads of local students along with displays...
Read MoreOpossum Tails to Come
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...
Read MorePace Yourself, Class of 2019
What good fortune to chaperone the Illustration MECA field trip to Stonington along with fearless Department Chair Mary Anne Lloyd! Maine College of Art’s Pace House is a splendid destination even under overcast skies. Our troop arrived in four vehicles, 13 students in all. After grilled cheese sandwiches and soup, they set out for the nearby Lily Pond. A downpour brought them dashing back, where they gathered around a toasty wood stove to dry off, sketch, and play games, surrounded by Stephen Pace’s paintings. Nothing finer than breaking bread together! I made a couple of MECA...
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