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 one in Seven Days of Daisy.

They have appeared in my pastels, too.

And more recently, my sketchbook for The 100 Day Project.

I submitted this rough pencil sketch to our intrepid Peaks Fest Mistress of Ceremonies, Faith York.

With some hand-lettering added as well as a background color, the design was sent off to the printer.

For the first time since Peaks Fest began in 2001, we were not on the island:(

We completely missed all the quirky events that range from silly to sublime like the Schmoozefest, the granny cart race, Dock Day, a ukulele concert, the parade, a sing-along, the Ferry Home Companion radio hour, AND the first-ever mini-golf tournament.

Faith sent this photo of her partner, Larry Ducharme, with a newly minted t-shirt while we were away.

I saw online Peaks Festers wearing their shirts at the Common Hound Fair, even this canine contestant.

Once I got home, seeing the Peaks Fest car sporting my design on the hood made my day.

Thanks to Faith York, and all my island neighbors that make this event one-of-a-kind. Celebrating our “lovable eccentricities” for 18 years has been truly grand.

In other news, I will be at Stories in the Forest tomorrow, July 9, at the Friends School of Portland. At 11 AM, I will be reading Ana and the Sea Star and drawing. I illustrated the story with Peaks Island as the setting and some of my neighbors as the characters. I’m quite pleased by this recent review from the Natural Resources Council of Maine:

If you’ve ever seen a star fish in the wild, you know how tempting it can be to want to keep something so beautiful and fascinating. Alas, such creatures belong in their own world. Such is the lesson Ana comes to understand in this lovely book written by R. Lynne Roelfs with artwork by the extremely talented Jamie Hogan. As in her other books, Hogan doesn’t just illustrate, she creates a place you are pulled into. It’s a place filled with warmth, texture, life. No wonder the book was a contender for the Caldecott Medal. In the end, Ana both keeps the sea star yet leaves it to it’s home. How? The magic of a good children’s book is on display here.

Please join me in celebrating the natural beauty of Maine, any time!