circus of wonders
It must be spring. Illustration 2 students are warming up for their final project: a circus poster. With the Shriners Circus due in town next week, we drew from a model who was a ringmaster, a clown, and strong man in the eyes of the class. I made the above drawing pretty quickly. Chris Snowman drew this on a Wacom tablet, upon being handed a small plastic animal toy. I asked students to incorporate one somehow in relation to the figure. Here’s a drawing by Morgan Cremins: Below, Lucas gets loose with brush and ink, and the idea of looking but also imagining. The model didn’t...
Read Moreon the Illustration 2 trail
My amazing troupe of sophomore illustration students at Maine College of Art are stretching their skills in many ways. Recently, they invented 3 dimensional characters drawn from fables and folklore. Here is a sculpy Baba Yaga in progress, made by Shannon Owen. Now, she’s dressed and ready for a good story by the fire. Isaac Atkins decided his character needed a glossy coat. Hana Firestone made resourceful use of paper and plastic for her Fox and the Crow. Beware, Eric Wilbur’s Hydra fiercely guards Casco Bay. Molly Steinmetz’s Leshy found his way to the woods in the...
Read Moreword.
Fun things are happening in the Teen Zine Factory over at the Telling Room. I’m leading a workshop on making zines with a group of very fresh kids, thanks to my fanaticism about the punch that can be packed in such little paper vehicles. Zines are any kind of self-published statement, maybe words, maybe pictures, ideas made real. I’ve used them as an ice-breaker assignment many times, and have quite a collection. Here’s just a few of my favorites: At the Telling Room, everybody spreads out and gets into their creation. Some were sketching, like Elias, who drew a favorite...
Read Morewarming up
It warms me no end to see another illustration of mine in Maine Magazine. This one’s all about the health benefits of sweat. I’m also pleased to share the pages with my MECA student, Spenser Macleod. He did an illustration for the poetry page. No sweat, Spenser. Cool. For awhile, it didn’t seem very wintery, but then, brrrrrrr, we had a good cold snap. I posted this cardinal on Facebook in honor of National Bird Day. The very next day Mr. Cardinal was in the branches during a long-awaited snow blast. Was my art the draw? A friend gave me some paperwhite bulbs. Not being...
Read Morehoot
Just as the semester at Maine College of Art wraps up, a new year begins in our house. My baby peep can’t possibly be FIFTEEN already?!! Birthdays here always begin with cake for breakfast, followed by handmade cards and a cute pile of gifts. Above is my collage card for the birthday girl. Here is Daddy’s: The owl theme is due to our visit to Maine Audubon later that afternoon, for a fascinating presentation by Mark Wilson of Eyes on Owls. He began with a slide show of his amazing photographs, talking about owls and their habitats and where he and his wife find them. One by...
Read Moreholiday blitz
Can it really be December already? It just doesn’t feel cold enough. With my copies of A Warmer World sitting on my desk, the mild weather feels eerily unnatural. Also tacked up nearby is a vintage postcard of ladies in swimsuits, which got me thinking about annual events like the Polar Plunge, when hearty types dash into the bay for charity. I’m not one of them, but I was inspired to create this for my holiday card this year, an Ice Harbor Holiday where people embrace the season’s chill with frisky good cheer. I’ll be addressing and mailing them this weekend, the...
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