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I walked around the block to visit my friend Laurie today (and to bask in the glow of The Most Beautiful Christmas Tree on Earth)…
…and look who I found on the tree! It’s Victoria Anne McGillicuddy from our letterpress ornament set!
Well, I don’t know about you, but I’ve got everything I need here.
In case you might be wondering, I’m still working on my Mt. Rainier book. I don’t post about it often, but this is a near-constant backdrop to everything I do. Every day, I hand-color a few more prints. Every day, I cut a few more pieces. Every day, I cross a thing or two off the massive list. And every day, I get closer to “done.”
My next-door neighbor’s artichokes just can’t help but be gorgeous—in every season of the year. With no effort, nature can make a filigree that I could never hope to match in a million years.
I love the hush that takes over the house, after the turkey goes in the oven and the table is set (and the sketches sketched!), but before the guests start arriving. It’s that little breath of time that reminds me to pause and remember that every raised glass, every hug, every laugh around the table makes the world just a tiny bit better. I’m thankful for that today—and for you, for joining me here as you do.
Whether today finds you snowbound or sweltering, at work or at home—happy Thanksgiving.
Every so often the Tailor and I rack up a list of errands to run down in Portland. So we pick a Saturday and hit the road early. But before we tackle our list of stops to make, we always start our visit with a quiet cuppa somewhere. Since Portland is chock-a-block with fantastic bakeries and coffee shops, we try to hit a different place every time. This weekend it was the French bakery, St. Jack—and some quality time with the ol’ sketchbook.
Every year I tell myself I’ll actually take photos during Studio Tour—and every year we get a bigger crowd, and I get all wrapped up in talking to people, and somehow the camera just sits forgotten in a corner. But at least I managed to take a couple of quick snaps of how it looked before we opened! We had our biggest group yet this year—over 150 people, many of them new faces! So an enormous thank you to everyone stopped by or sent me encouraging social media messages throughout the weekend—I can’t tell you how much it means to me to be a part of this amazing community.
I always look forward to Studio Tour because it’s the time of year when I produce the biggest crop of new pieces—and get to “try out” new work with the folks who know me best. This year has turned out to hold some pretty major shifts in direction for my studio practice, and I’m both excited and extremely nervous to put this stuff out there in the world.
(My internal worry-wort lately: “What if they don’t know it’s me?” “What if people ignore this and just ask, ‘What happened to [X]?'” “What if I can’t make the finished product look like it does in my head?” “Who says you get to do [X]?” Ugh.)
Studio Tour takes a lot of that pressure off, because I get to show this new work, in person, to folks I already know, before I release it into the wild. People who already get me and understand what I do—who don’t need me to launch into any awkward elevator-speech explanations of why. They already know the because. I can’t tell you how grateful I am for that.
And I’m grateful for you, the reader, as well. Whether you live in my town, or you’re part of my online circle—thank you. I can’t wait to show you what I’ve been working on. More soon.
When you’re an illustrator, you have to start celebrating (or at least gearing up for) every holiday months in advance. So that means I’ve got Christmas music stuck in my head already. That’s okay, though, because it means I’m churning out new work for the holiday season! And I’m having an extra fun time this time year, because I’m trying some new things, in a little bit of a different style.
If you’re local, you can be the first to grab the new crop of goodies (including brand new illustrations from the Drawn the Road project, and the new Red Deck of the Tacoma Playing Cards) at this year’s city-wide Studio Tour circuit, held during the first weekend in November. I’ll be open both Saturday and Sunday, as usual—more info and maps/directions here.
If you’re not local, look for the big blog-reveal of all the new holiday goodies on Black Friday. Stay tuned!
It’s funny how totally different projects can converge into a single theme. This summer and fall I’ve found myself to be doing a whole bunch of similar commissions for completely different clients. The theme this time? Book covers.
First up is Erik Hanberg, who is not only the tech genius behind my new travel blog, but also Tacoma’s own Parks Commissioner and a fabulously talented writer. Erik has just finished his latest novel, The Lead Cloak—one of the best parts of being asked to illustrate the cover was that I got to be one of the very first to read the book. (It’s a page-turner!) This design was a departure for me again, because I got to mix a very graphic, slightly abstract sci-fi style with a more painterly background. It ended up being an uneasy combination, which we both loved—because it matches the tension and unease of the book. (If you want more details than that, you’ll have to pick up your copy at the book launch tomorrow!)
Next is a how-to travel book by my friend Mary-Alice, author of the wildly popular blog, Dog Jaunt. M-A is the hands-down expert on how to bring your pup along on your adventures, and she’s written what I think is the Bible of pet-travel advice. This was a fun project for me because (for once!) I got to design something clean, spare, and simple—and indulge in some serious punnage. And as an added bonus, M-A let me redesign the look of the Dog Jaunt blog to match—woot! (I mean…woof!)
Last, but never least, is the magazine cover I was asked to illustrate for Eastern Washington University. From beginning to end, this project was an absolute joy—because I was able to do exactly what I would do if I were standing at Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge with a sketchbook in hand. My art director was inspired by the sketches I was posting on Drawn the Road Again, and asked me to replicate the style for the magazine.
Now all that’s left for me to do is to visit the place in person—and start filling the ol’ sketchbook.