Sisters!

Final details are working into place for the opening of The Sisters Rosensweig at Portland Stage Company. I dropped off the original art as well as process sketches yesterday.

Indispensable Intern and Marketing Journeyman Todd Backus helped me hang the works in the lobby. Portland Stage likes to showcase all aspects of what makes a production, including the marketing visuals. Lucky me!

I enjoy seeing my illustration in it's various incarnations. This large horizontal hangs in the lobby.

There's a sign on the sidewalk on Forest Avenue.

And a narrow poster on each side of the theater entrance.

Todd snuck me into a rehearsal to see the stage set. Brilliant, as always.

Now I should call MY sister. We don't see each other enough! You can see the resemblance though, in this old photo I just found of Bonnie and me.

We're as different as the Rosensweigs, but that sistah blood runs mighty deep.

Thanks to Portland Stage for the opportunity to illustrate this one, pulling elements together to suggest the love that binds three very different sisters, for whom aging brings a complex weave of wisdom and reckoning.

nuts and bolts for all

The MECA semester has begun! Things got off to a rousing start with our first guest speaker of the year, the honorable Charles Hively of 3 x 3 Magazine. I've been a fan of his magazine and was thrilled to finally meet such a passionate advocate of the powers of good illustration.

I drew a portrait for the above flyer before meeting him, and he's more jovial than he appears here. His talk was informative and candid, and a good shot in the arm for illustrators of any age.

 

His background as an illustrator, an art director, and creative director gives him wisdom from all angles. He spelled out the concrete aspects of how an illustrator can impress art buyers with details from his Nuts and Bolts book and conference. Even as a 30 year veteran of the field, I had plenty to learn. Thanks to Charles for his incredible generosity!

Meanwhile, my class began by showing their summer sketchbooks, an assignment given to all majors in early May to keep their pencils and minds sharp. 

They were asked to draw 4 things. The first category: plants.

Love these detailed lupines in a field of cut paper by Hana Firestone:

 Here's lively brush work by Chelsea Canny:

Liz Long invented some startling new species:

This by Kiah Gardner makes me laugh:

Morgan Cremins has rosy vision:

Maria Antuna painted this vivid topology of expression.

Another category was drawing places they visited. Chris Vales drew this 4th story view from Maine College of Art:

 

Miles Cook shows an inner place:

Third category: machines. Here Declan McCarthy documented the vehicles parked outside a bar in Portsmouth, NH:

Ce Ce Cassidy captured the mechanism of anatomy:

The fourth sketchbook prompt was morphing in ten panels into your favorite muppet. This yielded hilarious results from Molly Steinmetz:

In fact, I am still collecting imagery from this prompt. More soon. Meanwhile, I am thrilled to have a new band of students with sharp pens and wits!

It promises to be an adventurous semester.