Peaks Festing
Peaks Fest is the Peaks Island celebration of community that happens annually around the solstice. Marvelous Marty Braun has been the whiz behind years and years of Peaks Fest t-shirts. Last year he passed the torch to our daughter, Daisy. This year, both of them were too busy to tackle the annual challenge, so I offered to create a t-shirt design. But what hasn’t already been done so superbly?? I found it mighty daunting. My solution? Keep it simple. I settled on a signature island creature, the cormorant. Who hasn’t seen one drying it’s wings on a rocky perch? I included...
Read MoreIreland Travels: Dublin
Let me say here that Marty, my hero, did ALL the driving. Dunquin has really narrow winding roads (see above) with spectacular views. When another car approaches, you pull over! Yet it wasn’t easy being a passenger, sitting where a steering wheel should be, pumping imaginary brakes. The drive from Dunquin to our next destination involved more back roads, scenic yet scary with blind curves, speedy locals, lumbering farm equipment. We stopped in lovely Buttevant just to stretch. I found a post office along with this adorable dog whose owner had forgotten him. The postmaster called the...
Read MoreIreland Travels: Dunquin
We are back from a swell trip to Ireland in which we celebrated our daughter’s recent college graduation by returning to our favorite places discovered two years ago. Our evening flight began June 5, during which I sketched we three sheep, above. We landed the next morning as fog blanketed the valleys. The passenger next to me noted that Air Force One was on the tarmac in Shannon. We saw evidence of political protest leaving the airport. It was too early to check into our lodgings, so we waited for the airport Starbucks to open at 8 AM, along with a swarm of Garda, which Marty captured...
Read MoreAudio File
Between trips to Baltimore, I worked on illustrating the June cover for Audio File Magazine. It’s a treat to do a magazine cover, and double that it’s local, just a few blocks from Casco Bay Lines. The June issue highlights golden voices, the outstanding narrators of audio books. I did a PILE of sketches, since the theme was pretty wide open, and included stars. How about five megaphones? Shout out? Or a fun vintage metaphor? Or the interior landscape of birdsong… Another version, in which the birds circle the ear. Groovy sound waves finding entry… Summer listening,...
Read MoreThe Last Five Years
To those who know me, I’m a fan of bridespotting, a sport I coined living here on Peaks Island, which has become a wedding destination, like it or not. My rules are to 1) be uninvited and 2) not go out of my way and when I spot a bride, I post a photo. I’ve been married over 30 years, am a believer in marriage, weddings, and saying yes to the dress. So illustrating The Last Five Years poster for Portland Stage was an eager challenge. The script by Jason Robert Brown was confusing to me, though. The story between two lovers, Cathy and Jamie, arcs from beginning to end for Jamie,...
Read MoreSkeleton Crew
April has been busy, if not with actual spring. We made it to Skeleton Crew in it’s final weekend. If you missed it, I’m sorry for you! It was one of the BEST shows of a quite fantastic season at Portland Stage. A year ago when I worked on the illustration, I began with character sketches of the four actors. My preliminary sketches are not at all pretty. I’m thinking as fast as I can sketch. By award-winning playwright, Dominique Morisseau, the story is set in the break room of an auto making plant in Detroit. Faye is the veteran, sneaking smokes. Shanita is pregnant,...
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