dark shadows
Ah, the crunchy leaf piles, the fragrance of woodsmoke, and eerie scratchings on windowpanes from gnarly branches. I so love this time of year. It’s also a blast to be part of a new show at the Gem Gallery, signage above. I was addicted to this show back in the 70’s, trotting off the school bus, opening a bottle of Tab, and flopping onto the living room couch to become mesmerized by the campy convolutions of Barnabas Collins. My inhouse framer put my recent Zombie Warrior into a crumbling frame while I worked on a new pastel, Big Night. This is a spot near my house, cleared of...
Read Morezines & zombies
In every illustration class, I print student work, so the class can see their art in context, reproduced, and as part of a larger whole. During two weeks this semester they worked on a collective comic, which will be a 32 page full color zine titled “Coast City.” This is a patchy undertaking, getting a class of 15 to collaborate in a timely manner, but was undoubtedly a worthwhile project, allowing for imaginative brainstorming (a useful skill in any environment), and aiming for a clear visual thread as a group (visual literacy). The peer dynamic came into play, another positive....
Read Moreit’s in the cards
There’s nothing like an old friend. Here I am with Doug Smith, fellow illustrator, and the first friend in the field. We met at a Graphic Artists Guild event in Boston in 1980, when he gallantly offered the empty seat next to his. It was my first foray into a professional workshop and no small thing to find a friendly face. Now, he is a neighbor on Peaks Island and recently referred me for a very fun project with Portland Stage Company. Doug and I are both illustrating posters for upcoming productions. Mine is The Gin Game by D.L. Coburn, who won a Pulitzer Prize for the drama between...
Read Moreswing tour
Trees are good for many things but most of all the magic of swings In this scene from Seven Days of Daisy the girl is going full-tilt. There’s a thrill from a tree swing that doesn’t happen on the average playground. Looping in circles! Wheeeee! The daring dangers of crashing into bark! Arrrrghhhhh! I had plenty of fun moments to choose from when structuring my story around the highs and lulls of an island week. But I certainly could not leave out swinging, one of the biggest bangs for any buck spent on toys EVER. The little round pink and purple number shown above was handmade,...
Read Moresayonara summer
Much of the look of Seven Days of Daisy is based on realism, but simplified with cut paper, pastels, and indelible memories. In the illustration above, the girl is awed by fireflies while a ship sails silently past. That ship is the Scotia Prince, a ferry that made daily trips to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia for many years. It left it’s dock in Portland every evening, from May through October, at 8 PM, and it’s deep horn marked the twilight hour better than any clock. It was such a magical sight, glittering on the water. I did this pastel a few years ago, a view from the bay side of the...
Read Moremap of my day
On Thursday, I visited “Aggregate” at the Institute for Contemporary Art at Maine College of Art, where the biennial of MFA graduates is on display. I was drawn to the work of Shannon Rankin, who has created amazing installations with dizzying bits of maps. I inspected the above piece for awhile, trying to discern if there might be a pattern in the locations, so delicately pinned to the wall like a specimen. Also on exhibit is a series of large prints by Cole Caswell. He gave a talk at Osher Hall that day, describing his methods and manifestations of understanding landscape. He...
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