animal power
I keep my eyes peeled at all times and a camera in my back pocket. I never know when my image bank will come in handy. I just finished a piece for the 2013 Lunar Calendar, illustrating a poem by Sarah Fuhro that mentions a heron. I found this shot, recently taken during our trip to London, at the Serpentine in Hyde Park. What a handsome fellow. And here’s a sighting on Peaks Island just last week: I made this drawing, using a bit of collage, and incorporating a feather found on the beach. Another bit of paper moon found it’s way into a card made for my friend, Susan, who makes an...
Read Moresuessian school visits
Thank you, Dr. Suess, for your brilliant birthday and Read Across America. In your honor, I was invited to two schools to read and draw on March 2. First stop was right down the street, to the Peaks Island School, where I was greeted by the cheery principal, Cindy Nilsen, sporting her Suessian best. I met with 4 classes during the morning, each as eager and energetic as the next. We began by singing happy birthday to Dr. Seuss and then I read one of my favorite stories, Yertle the Turtle. This parable about a bossy turtle never goes out of style, and ends with the line that all creatures...
Read Moreboston blast
The whales have made their journey to Charlesbridge at last. If I didn’t deliver my illustrations for Here Come the Humpbacks a minute sooner, I might still be obsessively redrawing them all. There wasn’t even time for me to lay them all out together until I arrived at their offices. I’m proud of these! I have the dusty blue sneakers to show for it, too. I wasn’t at the publisher long enough to take off my coat. But I sported my whale t-shirt by Miles to Go with pride. With business complete, we visited my nephew, Garrett, who graciously gave us his two cent tour of...
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 Morejoy
While I wait for the go-ahead for final art on a new book project, I am elfishly sending out season’s greetings. I added a couple of elements to an illustration from Nest, Nook & Cranny for this year’s card. If you haven’t gotten yours yet, send me your snail mail address! That humble book has received a string of recent accolades. I am proud to share: the Nook book made it onto the New York Public Library’s 2010 list of top 100 books for children! Cool! The season sure has it’s merry madness. The MECA holiday sale was the kick-off. My students did a wicked...
Read Morenook book fling
Quack! Quack! Quack! Here it is, all the noise that’s fit to print about my recent book fling for Nest, Nook & Cranny. This was months in the planning, so that opposite coasts could come together. Author Susan Blackaby arrived from Portland, OR and I immediately whisked her across the bay to Peaks Island. Daisy took this shot on the beach at mid-tide. We roamed through the woods, and over to the backshore, planning our duet at the Peaks Island School. As a career veteran of curriculum writing, Susan’s ready for romping wordplay. And the kids were, too. It was a...
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