illustration

Announcing a new show!

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It’s scheduled! I will be creating an installation and visual essay at the Half Moon Bay Library, entitled “Gettysburg in 2016: What does it mean to us today?“. Through whimsical illustrations, mixed media artwork, and visual journals of a traveling artist, viewers are invited to revisit the significance of Gettysburg, the American Civil War, and Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address in our current lives — as individuals, as a community, and as a nation of diverse people.

I’ll be giving an artist talk and video presentation on Sunday, November 13, 2016, at 4pm. Light refreshments will be served at 5pm.

This event is free and open to the public. The installation will be at the library through December 21.

The show will include new works and selected works completed during my recent 40-day residency in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and surrounding Civil War battlefield sites, museums, and monuments.

flyer-half-moon-bay-library-gettysburg

My first classroom reading of “Too Late For Pie”

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In 2015, I wrote and illustrated a story and self-published a paperback edition book called “Too Late For Pie“. I debuted it during my November Open Studio, to a warm reception by all the adults who read it. I read it out loud at an open mic, also filled with adults, to positive reception as well. Due to cash constraints, I only printed a handful of hard copies. At the last minute, I decided to throw two copies in my suitcase for Gettysburg.

While in Pennsylvania, a series of coincidences* led to my reading the book to Mrs. Cook’s third grade class at Rolling Acres Elementary School in Littlestown, Pennsylvania. What a fun, lively, engaging discussion we had! Led by Mrs. Cook’s questions, the students came up with several alternate endings, and plenty of ideas about the characters’ backstories that I had not thought about before.

After a second reading, we posed for a class picture, and a few of the girls in the class approached me.

“Will you be writing more books?” one of them asked me.

“Um…should I?” I asked.

“YES YES YES!” they chorused. “And you should send the books to us in the mail!” one of them said, while jumping up and down a little.

“Well, OK! I guess I will be writing more books! But here’s the deal. Will YOU keep writing and make your own books too? And send them to me?” I said.

“Uh huh,” the girls nodded their heads in unison.

None of us were quite sure what we had just gotten ourselves into.

All I know is I have made a promise to an entire class of third graders in Littlestown, Pennsylvania, and it’s time to get working on that next book!

*Details on these “coincidences” will be revealed in a future list of all the Pleasant Surprises that appeared for me during this residency in Gettysburg.

Now you can support my art on Patreon.com, a community of arts patrons revolutionizing the way creators of content are paid. Enjoy your day!

Sneak preview of Gettysburg journal pages!

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I am BACK from my trip to Gettysburg! I added on a week in Richmond, Virginia, visiting three museums of the Confederacy, Appomattox National Park, and Monticello.

I made a LOT of artwork, and continued my “Before 10am” illustrated journal series every day (which you can always see on Instagram!).

I am busily pulling together all the artwork, scanning, setting up an exhibition and talk schedule, first in Half Moon Bay in November.

In the meantime, here are some previews of my favorite journal pages from the month:

I’m going to Gettysburg!

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Before 10 am - 8.30.16

Today, before 10am.

Last day at home for awhile. Took a longer than usual walk on the beach…with sand dollars and terns and oceans of open sand, washed clean from last night’s tide. Enjoyed a cup of tea and some toast while I looked at more photos of artifacts and stories from Gettysburg. [Note: I am still not packing for my trip, which is mildly concerning.]

Yes, I am headed to Gettysburg National Park TOMORROW. I was twice a finalist for the National Parks Arts Foundation artist residency, so I decided to create my own. I found a cute little lower-level apartment for rent from a kiwi farmer and her husband. When she heard I am an artist and saw my work, she began sending me all kinds of resources on local artists, and offered to introduce me to many of her contacts who are involved in arts patronage in Gettysburg. Patronage starts with these small acts of kindness, nurturing connections by going above and beyond the transaction.

I will be setting up a Patreon page to invite you to contemplate becoming a patron of my art. Right now, my contributions to the world remain largely outside the formal economy. My most deeply interesting and gratifying work has happened by showing up and saying “Yes”, trusting in what will come from my enthusiasm, care, and attention.

Patreon is crowd-sourced arts patronage. It’s like a virtual tip jar, allowing you to “high five”, encourage, and cheer me on in my work, as I make and share with you what I discover. It’s a form of arts patronage that is unique to the internet age. I hope you’ll join me in this exciting venture. Stay tuned for a url where you can get involved!

P.S. This “Today, before 10am” project started back in July on Instagram, where every day I have created a one-page illustrated journal of something I noticed or experienced that day before 10am. I continued it in Yosemite and I will continue it at Gettysburg in expanded form!

Yosemite Series: Day Eleven

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Day 11: Friday Finale, Milkweed Beetles, & Food Upcycling

Today’s forecasted high is 103 degrees. It is the last day of work for the volunteer crew. Two other times in the past, I’ve participated in the picnic table building, so I remember certain things quite well. The vice grips used by one person to hold the head of a stripped bolt, while a power drill is used by another to unscrew the nut from the other side. Moving wood planks and metal hardware into position, placing nuts and hitting them with the power drills. Recharging the drills. Painting the wood planks. Lifting, flipping, and carrying the finished tables.

This year I don’t do any of that. It’s Randy and the other eleven volunteers who pile into the van each morning and drive over to Lower Pines campground, near the amphitheater, to do this work. Continue reading →

Yosemite Series: Day Ten

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Day 10: Starting Out Early In The Morning

Thursday. I am well aware that I have only this and one more morning in which to get out early enough to sketch and paint before the baking sun begins to saturate the Valley. I’m on my bike by eight o’clock. Sara Midda’s South of France sketchbook pops into my head, with her delicate vignettes depicting details, colors, and memories of every season of the year in southern France. I decide to make vignettes of the smallest details I can find this morning on my bike ride. I’ve been trying to stare at massive granite walls and follow the contours with my eyes and hands. Now I’m going to notice the minutiae. Continue reading →

Yosemite Series: Day Nine

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Day 9: Made in the Shade

Wednesday is the volunteers’ day off. In years past, we have spent our Wednesdays doing such ambitious hikes as Mount Dana, Mount Hoffmann, and Four Mile Trail. But two years ago, knowing we had a backpacking trip ahead of us, tacked onto the end of the work week, we decided to take it easy. One of the other volunteers lent us his inflatable raft. We took the shuttle bus all the way to Happy Isles, and found a spot to put in near Sugar Pine bridge. The water was so low we were sitting on rocks for much of the time, but we did manage to make our way all the way to our home base, just past Sentinel Beach.

This year, having already worked hard on our backpacking trip, and with the exceptional heat (today’s high forecast to be 103), we have a very unambitious agenda. We get on our bikes and see if we can catch the ranger program at 9:30. Turns out it is cancelled. We head just beyond the Yosemite Museum to the Yosemite Cemetery. I never knew there was a cemetery until Ranger Karen mentioned yesterday that the only sequoia trees in the Valley are the ones planted around the tombstone of Galen Clark, Yosemite’s first park ranger. Continue reading →