pools and schools
School’s out! Whoooohooooo! Now’s the time to play in tide pools. This is my page for the Peaks Island Childrens’ Workshop’s 2010 Coloring Book, which will raise funds for it’s fantastic program, where children play and learn to be stewards of nature. Like reaching into the shallow waters of a tide pool and finding their imaginations run deep. Cupping a hermit crab in their hand, but returning it gently to its habitat. Of course, in my view, there’s a mermaid sporting an anemone head dress… Just before school got out, Marty and I took a short blast...
Read Moresteampunk chronicles
I’m a proud member of the Maine Illustrators Collective, a group of illustrators that call Maine home, or pretty darn close. This Friday we’ll be showing our version of the theme Steampunk, a topic that seems to come up with increasing frequency. I happened to be thumbing through Maine Magazine and came across a sweet little ad for Portland Velocipede. Voila, my idea came to life. Hence, my rough thumbnail of a speedy cyclist with gears flying… Always in search of mo’ better reference, I got Someone to pose on a bicycle with appropriate determination: And because this...
Read Morelooking out looking in
I am excited to be part of a group show: Looking Out Looking in at Kingsborough Community College in Brooklyn. Curated by Madeline Sorel, it is a tribute to both Women’s History Month and the art of portraiture by 25 women artists ranging in age from eight to eighty. My pastel of Amelia Earhart was done for a textbook story. She’s one of those heroines I can’t shake. I should see the movie, but not sure I want to. She can still keep flying in the clouds of my imagination. I did this drawing of Johnny Cash as a personal project. Ring of Fire plays in my head way too often....
Read Morecuriosity counts
Every now and then a good shindig comes along that brings my favorite people out of the woodwork. In this case, it was a surprise party for Kirsten Cappy, saucy diva of Curious City, who has celebrated children’s books far and wide, making fans galore in her wake. We were asked to create an interpretation of Kirsten for an instant show at Zero Station. Here’s mine, in which Her Loveliness sports a curious octopus ready to read. My daughter, Daisy, got into the act, too: Marty doesn’t usually do portraits, but his airbrush piece says it all: Here Kirsten shares her glee with...
Read Moreobjects of affection
I have a little box in my studio that displays my collection of souvenir cameras and various objects of my affection. I have a thing for starfish and urchin shells, very rare to come across on the rocky shores of Maine. I draw them every chance I get. This illustration is on the title page of Nest, Nook, and Cranny. I used this drawing, titled “Urchin Experiment” for a postcard mailer awhile back. Backstory: I did a lot of diving off the diving board growing up at my parents’ Red Doors Motel, where the pool was my spot. No urchins there, though… When I brought my...
Read Moregimme space
I dragged this out of the flat files yesterday, looking for any kind of portrait to send off to a group show in Brooklyn. More on that later. I did lots of self-portraits during art school, that chapter of self-conscious scrutiny. I didn’t draw myself for a really long time, until submitting the above instead of a photo to the contributors page of a magazine, several years back. Polka dotty me, on the dark side. Today will be a hectic day: teaching in the morning, hunting for nursing homes at lunch, dallying with middle school girls before the dance drop-off, and the finale: Free for...
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