sketching natural history
What a thrill when a box of new books lands on your doorstep! Yesterday was Publication Day for John Muir Wrestles a Waterfall by Julie Danneberg, my first book illustrated with colored pencils. Charlesbridge Art Director Whitney Leader-Picone had seen my Sketchbook Project postings, and wanted to mirror the pencil sketching Muir did in wilderness travels. You can read more about that meander here. I’m all for drawing directly from nature. Last week I brought Maine College of Art’s senior illustration majors to the Harvard Musuem of Natural History in Cambridge, MA. With over...
Read MoreIsland Birthday
When Tilbury House editor Audrey Maynard approached me with a manuscript by Eva Murray, right off I was intrigued. A picture book by an admired author that combines bad weather with a mopey kid on a remote island? It all sounded…familiar. I put together a pencil dummy book and asked the 8 year-old across the street to be my model. He gave me his awesome drawing of a plane! I’ve drawn this Peaks Island native before. He made an appearance in my 2011 Sketchbook Project, counting chocolate eggs. His whole family is a great source of inspiration, in fact. I used their colorful...
Read Morelearning curves
With a relaxing and friend-filled holiday break over, I began my re-entry to school circles by visiting King Middle School last week, for their annual World Language Expedition Kick-Off. King always provides thoughtful beginnings and culminations to their learning trips; inviting local artists to speak to students before they begin an art project is one way to spark the mind. I brought my books, blank paper, and pencils. It’s fun to see what gets left behind. One artist, Gabi, drew a very fine polar bear. From there, I headed to Maine College of Art, where I spied a wondrous display of...
Read MoreLong Live Longfellow!
What a blast to visit Longfellow Elementary School in Portland, Maine last week. It’s a great haven for young artists and visionaries. A bust of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow looks over the library where I installed my presentation during three days. Many thanks to librarian Christine Fricke who helped untangle my humpback banner, as only a master knitter could. Kudos to library ed tech Catherine Ferguson for crafting this awesome poster, it made me feel so welcomed. I quickly talked about being an illustrator, sharing the early story board sketches done for Here Come the Humpbacks! by...
Read Morecha- cha- Charlesbridge
O October, how I love thee! This month has been super full of everything: deadlines, events, travels. And the San Francisco Giants just won the World Series. How much better can it get? Well, today my advance copy of John Muir Wrestles a Waterfall arrived from Charlesbridge Publishing. This non-fiction picture book details a single episode in Muir’s youth. I learned a ton about him, and sharpened a pile of pencils illustrating it. Last week I received a new version of the book jacket for Tiger Boy by Mitali Perkins due out in spring 2015. I wrote about the cover process here. This is...
Read Moremy mountains
I’ve lived on an island for 22 years, yet every autumn when the air turns crisp, my mountains in New Hampshire beckon. Sailing over the Kancamagus Highway last week with my curious partner in creative retreats, Kirsten, we saw sunset clouds tumbling over a ridge in the White Mountains. We arrived at dusk at the Indian Head Resort, where I waitressed one season in high school. The motel my parents owned down the road has changed owners many times since they sold it in 1977. Yet Indian Head is remarkably the same as I remember it. We checked into a wee cottage with a gas fireplace for...
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