Summer Days of Daisy
Summers in Maine are heavenly. If we could bottle them, we would. Here’s my capture of the fleeting flavors we tasted. Now that our daughter is back in Baltimore, it helps to reflect on what a Daisy-full time we had. Beginning with our trip to Ireland, we are thankful for family. There’s been togetherness and also departures. Here Daisy heads off to visit her beau, which involved a ferry, an Uber, a train, and another ride. There was fog. And more fog. Ferries vanishing. Fog veiled the shore of Long Island during our Father’s Day picnic. Daisy saw plenty of sun hanging out...
Read MoreSketchbooks on Peaks: round 5!
Maine College of Art faculty Judy Labrasca and I led our fifth Peaks Island Sketchbooks Workshop last Saturday. The weather gods dealt us complete fog this year, not necessarily a bad thing. It was like being in a bell jar, with no horizon line and maybe less crowds. We began on the beach with a discussion of sketchbook practices, paper preferences, and handy tools for portability, like this wee watercolor palette Judy brought. This class is a gently guided tour of sketching spots with permission to find your own point of view. Judy made small sketchbooks for everyone and I supplied Canson...
Read MoreStory & Craft
This summer my cup runneth over with kidlit elixirs. I was pleased as punch to share in one of Pat Crowley Rockwell’s Story and Craft adventures at the Peaks Island library. She is an esteemed educator, the Assistant Principal at King Middle School, and a passionate advocate of children’s books and reading to kids. She featured A Porcupine’s Promenade by Lyn Smith, how could I not join in? After she read the story, I shared my little pencil dummy and showed one of the original drawings. Kids like to touch the rough sanded paper I use for my pastels. Plus, Pat’s...
Read MoreIllustration Institute Inspires
This month has been jam-packed with visitors and events. I am inspired and jazzed about the new Illustration Institute’s Marilyn Faison Artist Residency. There are two houses on Peaks Island available to illustrators and authors for retreats, and they are just up the hill in the woods behind my house. This is the Stone Cottage, nestled in the pines at the top of Tolman Heights. I brought over a pie to Henrik and Wing, artists/residents for two weeks. They had decent time to be residential, like take strolls and dunk in the ocean. We showed them our favorite cook-out spot. The light...
Read MoreBook friends unite
It’s no secret that most children’s books are about relationships. Author Lyn Smith and I traveled recently to visit fellow book creator, Jo Miles Schuman. Lyn and Jo met via Maine Authors Publishing and I’m always down to meet fellow book makers. We found her homestead along a winding road with acres and acres of rolling woods and wetlands beyond. We ducked beneath swooping swallows nesting in the dark rafters of her barn and into a sunny studio where Jo served a scrumptious rhubarb pie and carrot cake. Double dessert, yes please. Her studio is filled with collections...
Read MoreBook Friends
Way back in 2009, I visited the Friends School of Portland to read my first children’s book, Seven Days of Daisy. Friends do make the world go ’round. Fast forward to a recent sunny Tuesday, when I headed off island to visit their Stories by the Forest program. When I arrived at the Peaks Island dock, it was oddly quiet. Where is everybody? Well, yours truly had missed the boat! The summer schedule change got me! So, I promptly called the trusty water taxi. Here she comes, zipping across a placid Casco Bay. I made it to Cumberland Foreside in a timely manner and set up my table...
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