Launching Land Forms at Ocean Avenue Elementary
Thanks to Side x Side, I had more adventures in second grade, this time at Ocean Avenue Elementary School in Portland, Maine. I’d received an out-0f-the-blue letter from a Professor Amir Sneedlebaum of the University of Papua New Guinea, as did my colleague, Pamela Moulton. He also wrote to each of the second grade teachers as well. He needs their help in creating a model island of diverse land forms, so that his team of researchers can study earth’s changes. Cool! Count me in! I arrived in a costume quite suitable for me, a native of the White Mountains of New Hampshire! I...
Read MoreCelebrating Literacy at PIES
It’s a treat to visit schools where literacy is celebrated. But it’s downright spectacular when it’s the island school down the street, where your own child learned to read. The Peaks Island Elementary School invited Scott Nash, Anne Sibley O’Brien, and me to meet teachers and students who read our books and created book reviews, skits, and reports. Teacher Leader Renee Bourgoine-Serio opened the evening with questions from kids. Mainly they wanted to know: WHEN is Scott coming out with a sequel to The High Skies Adventures of Blue Jay the Pirate? And then the Draw...
Read MoreSketchbook Studio @ the PMA
Before I headed into my Sketchbook Studio event at the Portland Museum of Art on Wednesday, I spun through some favorite books about drawing. They always lift my spirits. In The Undressed Art: why we draw author Peter Steinhart quotes Matisse: “Drawing is the precision of thought.” My colleague in illustration, Cat Bennett, who leads a Saturday Morning Drawing group, quotes Picasso in The Confident Creative: “Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.” John Hendrix claims in Drawing Is Magic, “If you treat your sketchbook...
Read MoreDear Watson
Whether you’re a Sherlock Holmes fan or not, the Portland Stage production of The Hound of the Baskervilles is one relentless spoof. When I read the script last year, adapted by Steven Canny and John Nicholson, it didn’t read that funny. But I attempted some hyperbole with my preliminary sketches for the poster. How about a towering fang-bearing menace looming over the Baskerville estate? Or the classic vintage pipe with a smoking title? A hound’s shadow on Holmes’ silly hat? Or the flashlight trope? A stalking hound of epic proportions? I can keep going…the...
Read Moreart roaming
The holiday season brought sweet joys: family time, baking, and wonderful things in the mail. I was thrilled to land work from John Muir Wrestles a Waterfall in 3 x 3 Annual 12! My annual arrived just before the Certificate of Merit. YES. Meanwhile, I was in the middle of a surprise commission. A secret Santa asked me to draw my former student/amazing illustrator Liz Long. Such an honor! I drew this quick gratitude for my neighbor Eleanor Morse, who gave us a lovely paperwhite plant. Right after Christmas, we began some art roaming, starting with the 17th Annual Animation Show of Shows at...
Read MoreEyes open wide
When my Illustration MECA cohort Mary Anne Lloyd asked me to drive senior students on a field trip, I didn’t even blink. Tony DiTerlizzi?!!! Mary Blair?!! Beep beep beep beep YEAH! The closer you get to Amherst, MA, the more you feel in the middle of the woods. It’s a serene feeling, honest. Meeting House roads are all over New England, as my passengers noticed. We arrived at the home of Tony and his partner, Angie, right on time, and were in for a major treat. This pretty much captures the wonder we all felt. Angie made us completely welcome as our jaws dropped at the sight of...
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