Ferry catching with Island Readers & Writers
I’m back from another school tour with the intrepid organization, Island Readers & Writers. Visiting island schools is a marvel. They’re the heartbeat of island communities and the future of island sustainability. I came back to Peaks Island expanded by gifts large and small. Ferry catching with Alison Johnson, Director of School Programs, kept us both on our toes! We met in Lincolnville last Sunday night at the Spouter Inn Bed & Breakfast, where the whale theme is strong. After dinner at the nearby Whale’s Tooth Pub, we walked to the ferry landing as the twilight...
Read MoreSketching with Renoir
This Friday, July 12, the Color and Pages of Peaks will be held once again at the TEIA. At 6 pm, meet the makers of art and books in one of the best spots on the island! Peaks Island resident and author Nicole d’Entremont will be there signing her novel, Sketching with Renoir. I met Nicole many years ago, introduced by Eleanor Morse during a Sudden Fiction class. Although several years apart, we share the same birthday and have become close friends. I illustrated the covers of her novels, City of Belief and A Generation of Leaves. When she asked me to tackle her third and most personal...
Read MoreHowdy, Austin
I’ve known my dear friend, Kathy Mahoney, since our early days freelancing as illustrators in Boston in the 80’s. She’s been inviting me to her new place in Austin for almost four years. Instead, I’ve caught up with her when she’s in Maine every summer. Opportunistic, I know. This year felt like the right time to go, and coincide with the total eclipse. Last Saturday, we caught the 7:15 am ferry from Peaks and arrived at Kathy’s house on the edge of downtown Austin by around 9 pm. Ample lulls between each leg of the journey were good for sketching while...
Read MoreSkywatcher school visits with IRW
I was delighted to visit three schools this past week at the invitation of Island Readers & Writers, a wonderful non-profit literacy organization centered in Mount Desert Island! On St. Patrick’s Day I drove three hours down east to Birch Harbor where this sign greeted me. After a warm welcome from Alison Johnson, the IRW school coordinator, at their wonderful farm house, a rainbow showed up. A lucky sign! Their frisky dog, Pip, inspired this sketch. On Monday, March 18, we arrived at the Ella Lewis School in Stueben, Maine. After reading Skywatcher to a group of Pre-K students, I...
Read MoreThe Lobster Lady
Ahoy, it’s me, the Bluffer. Last summer I hiked up this trail in the White Mountains, thinking of my looming deadline for The Lobster Lady by Alexandra S. D. Hinrichs. It was a challenging time, juggling two book deadlines at once for the first time in my career. This sign spoke to my doubts about my ability to capture the iconic Virginia Oliver, aka the Lobster Lady. When Charlesbridge art director, Kristen Nobles, contacted me about the assignment in early 2022, I was ecstatic about the opportunity to illustrate a picture book biography about the oldest person lobstering in Maine,...
Read MoreArt Camp
My island neighbor, dear friend, and author Nicole d’Entremont, has taken up drawing with a passion. She began creating what she called Trumpoons back in 2017 as expressions of satire fueled by outrage. This led to drawing more, taking sketchbooks on her travels to Vietnam and New York. She took her first drawing class this January with the legendary artist, Martha Miller, at Maine College of Art, and was transformed. Nicole enrolled in a portraiture class with Martha in June but it was cancelled because of Covid-19. She approached me about teaching her, and I was honored yet unsure I...
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