o canada
Daisy shot this photo in an underpass on our way to a ferry in St. John, New Brunswick, as we made a brisk loop in down east Canada to visit friends and family in early August. Even on vacation, my radar was fixed on whales. I sketched this on the 3 hour trip across the Bay of Fundy. I drew from a large poster of whales, awaiting a talk about the Fundy aquarium ecozone, in which humpbacks are the most common whale species. Brian, from the New Brunswick Museum, gave an informative talk, and passed around several samples of baleen, the brushy teeth-like parts that line a humpback’s...
Read Morenostalgia trip
We walk through doorways all the time, but some close behind us for good. Last week my sister and I attended the closing on my parents’ retirement home. Not where we grew up, but still about 3 decades of memories. It’s a mixed passage, with melancholy and finality. Fortunately, I could make a nostalgia trip to where I DID grow up: the Red Doors Motel. My parents built an 18 unit motel in 1956 when my sister was a baby. This postcard is circa 1970. Several owners later, changes have been made. It’s now the Rodeway Inn, but the doors are still red. What really brought me...
Read Moreget your paint on
Even though my summer is pretty booked, I could NOT resist the opportunity to join the summer e-course, Get Your Paint On. I’m a major fan of both Lisa and Mati, and Mati is my second cousin, so I enjoy supporting and following anything she’s up to. They’re both out in San Franscisco, and it’s fun to see their faces each week onscreen. I sketched Lisa while she talked. This is my first e-course and I’m LOVIN it. There is a positive dynamic, so much to look at, links, and inspirations. I figured Id dig out my gouache from some neglected bin. I once worked...
Read MoreThursday is for thinking
It’s been a big day, this particular Thursday. It was eighth grade graduation day. Whew. How did this happen so fast? Makes those long ago days of plush piggies and swinging in the hammock feel like another eon. These days DO add up, very sweetly. Congratulations, Daisy, and all the bright students at King Middle...
Read Morebig on trees
I have a thing for trees. There was one in the back yard I could climb as a child because it was right next to a huge rock. In one of my favorite books, The Magic of Trees, Deena Metzger wrote this poem: It seems the story of my life is the story of trees I’ve loved, some were standing, some fell down. I was honored to be commissioned by the Peaks Island PTO to create a pastel for Kathy Newell, an island girl and artisan retiring from the school staff after 25 years. And she’s a tree lover! I was asked to capture her favorite tree, just outside the school yard, one that turns red...
Read Morethe circuit
Here I am, on a dusty shortcut somewhere south of Paradise, California, circa 1990. When we lived in San Francisco, we rode all over the state. I recall riding past miles and miles of rows and rows of crops, dotted with the curved backs of pickers. Those scenes came back to me when I worked on a recent assignment for Cricket Magazine. Francisco Jimenez wrote The Circuit, a memoir of his childhood as an immigrant from Tlaquepaque, Mexico working alongside his family in the fields of California. The power of his vivid writing pulled me in, and I saw those golden suede hills and felt the...
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