Sisters!
Final details are working into place for the opening of The Sisters Rosensweig at Portland Stage Company. I dropped off the original art as well as process sketches yesterday. Indispensable Intern and Marketing Journeyman Todd Backus helped me hang the works in the lobby. Portland Stage likes to showcase all aspects of what makes a production, including the marketing visuals. Lucky me! I enjoy seeing my illustration in it’s various incarnations. This large horizontal hangs in the lobby. There’s a sign on the sidewalk on Forest Avenue. And a narrow poster on each side of the...
Read Morenuts and bolts for all
The MECA semester has begun! Things got off to a rousing start with our first guest speaker of the year, the honorable Charles Hively of 3 x 3 Magazine. I’ve been a fan of his magazine and was thrilled to finally meet such a passionate advocate of the powers of good illustration. I drew a portrait for the above flyer before meeting him, and he’s more jovial than he appears here. His talk was informative and candid, and a good shot in the arm for illustrators of any age. His background as an illustrator, an art director, and creative director gives him wisdom from all angles. He...
Read Moreposter process
I just spotted my marketing visual for Portland Stage Company in print, so now I can spill about what fun I had illustrating it. By Wendy Wasserstein, The Sisters Rosensweig, is an award-winning play, a funny family drama about three Jewish-American sisters who gather in London for the birthday of the eldest. There’s great dialogue, dishing, and reckoning about love and choices each have made. After reading the script, I made about 14 rough thumbnail sketches to show Carole Harris, marketing director extraordinaire. These are loose and quick, and 3 that led to the final image: The one...
Read Morebreezy book spree
I’ve been riding the waves lately with a trio of book outings, three days in a row. On Saturday we zoomed past the ferry on our way to Diamond Cove on the water taxi. Marty’s likin’ it! I was the third and final speaker in the Fort McKinley Museum Summer Lecture Series on Great Diamond Island. Built in the 1890’s as a defense for Portland Harbor, the fort is now a private residential community. Our hosts, Richard and Jane Cullen, gave us a tour by golf cart. Peaks Island has similar batteries like this, but not as old as this: 1899! We stopped at the Fort McKinley...
Read Morea Brit, 3 bears, and a book group
Some folks think being an artist is like a fairy tale. On certain days, I might agree. Like Wednesday, when I encountered a Brit, three bears, and a book group. For starters, I met fellow children’s book illustrator, Hazel Mitchell, for a chatty lunch at the Liberal Cup in Hallowell, Maine. Never mind pie, face time with another artist is a really big treat! Hazel hails from Yorkshire, England, but finds the rolling fields of Detroit, Maine much to her liking. Thanks, Hazel, for making the trek! She documented my prize: a carved bear by Dan Burns, a surprise win in the Hubbard Free...
Read Moreart roamings
I’m blessed to be immersed in art wherever I go. We visited the Portland Museum of Art last week to see A Cat in Paris, an animated film with a lush texture and fluid story-telling. LOVED IT, especially that some of the environments were done with pastel on Canson paper, a favorite paper in my stash. Where do artists always go in a museum? The shop, duh, to ogle books and goodies. Quelle surprise! Found my wee book there: From there I headed over to rendezvous with fellow RISD chum visiting from Brooklyn, Madeline Sorel. Caught her in a frenzy at Portland Fiber Gallery, fondling wool...
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