firefly ball

Now that we've turned the corner on summer, I'll share my recent project.

I illustrated a poem by Dana Roffler, a whimsical verse about a midsummer's night frolick under a full moon.

 

It was a challenge, but fun, to bring together a parade of animals. 

Saturday night's September full moon hid behind soggy clouds, but that didn't stop the annual Sacred and Profane at Battery Steele. It's also a frolick of sorts that brings together art installations in the bowels of a World War 2 era bunker on Peaks Island, along with performances and eerie music echoing down damp halls.

This stone bird by island sculptor Robert Vandersteenhoven was a stoic sentry.

 

There's always new paintings on every surface, and in the darkness you never know what you'll find.

It's a perfect opener to autumn and the darkness that lies ahead, making the long light of summer seem like a distant memory. If only I'd captured some fireflies in a jar!

world of wonders

I'm pleased to be included in an exhibit at the Atrium Gallery at USM's Lewiston Auburn College, a collection of children's book illustration with a science/nature theme called Tell Me a Story: A World of Wonders. 

These are 3 of my originals from A Warmer World.

A very small hermit crab illustration became part of a digitally created pattern for the end papers in Nest, Nook, and Cranny which I illustrated.

Love these end paper illustrations for Velma Gratch and the Way Cool Butterfly by Kevin Hawkes, a former island neighbor, and how Velma not quite disappears in the pattern.

I felt like Velma at the beach the other day, watching this butterfly struggle to lift off the rocks.
Can you identify it?

Drawing this Edith's Checkerspot butterfly numerous times while working on A Warmer World has made it very identifiable for me. Thanks to a warmer world, they are now found at elevations that are 300 feet higher than they were 100 years ago.

I was delighted to meet up with Cathryn Falwell, who arranged this display of original art and objects that were digitally merged in the final book, Scoot!

I was very drawn to these vibrant paintings by Jim Sollers.

  Here's a great diagram of a beaver dam, also by Jim.

This image stuck in my head when I embarked on a nature walk, courtesy of Garry Fox of the Peaks Island Land Preserve during Peaks Fest weekend.

The beavers on Peaks are invisible yet leave plenty of evidence.

They like to eat aspen trees, and otherwise bring down any thing they please. Garry showed us the features of a beaver skull, flat topped with eyes and nostril aligned, to move just above water level.

The good folks at PILP do a lot of volunteer work keeping trails accessible.

Here's the biggest lodge. Anybody home?

When I illustrated a beaver for Nest, Nook & Cranny I sure didn't find reference in my back yard.
Beavers are too busy to pose.

No walk on PILP land is complete without a stop at Battery Steele, a WW2 era bunker that now functions as a cave of surreptitious ritual and creativity.

Garry pointed out some art highlights, such as this piece done by his son, Keenan, who heads to Cooper Union in the fall.

This is a painting done for last year's Sacred and Profane by Paul Brahms, lit by flashllight in the complete darkness.

Garry didn't know who did this:

It brings to mind this Native American proverb:

                                                               Treat the earth well,
It was not given to you by your parents, It was loaned to you by your children. 

From art to nature and back to art, let's "practice the art of noticing."

sacred and profane

Should anyone think island living is without it's adventures, here are recent happenings on Peaks that have shined with mystery and magic.

This lovely installation by Alicia Eggert was part of the recent Sacred & Profane event, an annual art celebration within the tunnels of Battery Steele on Peaks Island, around the harvest full moon. The Peaks Island Land Preserve graciously allows the property to be taken over by pagan howlings that echo into the depths, which were about 4 inches deep with fresh rain. The above neon piece flickered, with the word "on" going off sporadically, to reveal multiple meanings.

S & P has been quietly taking place for I think 15 years, unadvertised and unfunded, and often uncredited. Alicia's work took the cake, as it were, for mirroring a certain reality often taken for granted. I heard she came last year, loved the environment, and got a grant to create the above for this year's event. She teaches at Bowdoin College and recently gave a lecture at Maine College of Art. 

Peaks Island painter Diane Wiencke installed a wooden tower, ringed by votive candles, to greet the throngs.

Booster Signal was at the ready, carefully photographing auras of the willing.

Your photo declares on the back: "thanks for the loan of a piece of your soul, as nothing is sacred we will take our toll."

There's always a bit of nonsense and grunge, too. I enjoyed a glass of unfiltered cider, pressed on site, at Cafe Derelicte.

A few days later, I was offered spice cake by my neighbor Susan, who occupied Welch Street in a different kind of installation.

By then, Halloween was in the air. Our daughter was inspired by a character spotted in Dr. Who.
I like the metaphor here, of seeing with your hands.

We had to get in the act, too.

Leave it to fellow illustrators Scott and Nancy Nash to annually outdo themselves with their seasonal performance. Every year, they and a crew of hooligans transform their property into the must-see destination on Halloween. Hello, Helloween, in which everyone was asked to sign a contract with the devil to get their candy.

And then you could toss a soul into the ring of eternal damnation!

Not easy to come back to earth after all the fantasy. I began by walking in the woods, and documenting tree houses on the island, for the Sketchbook Project.

I chose tree houses as my theme, hoping to make progress on a book idea. Now I am noticing them everywhere.

Both Marty and our daughter are doing the Sketchbook Project, too. We all sat down this weekend, and broke the ice. With Prismacolors. Marty is starting "uncharted waters" by drawing from life.

Daisy is practicing here, for "time traveler"....

Here's one of my sketches, of a tree house found on the Indian trails...

Sketching is a sacred act, allowing one to stop in a moment, and drink in the reality.

Time to get back to the drawing board and finish another illustration for Maine Magazine. This ones' in the current issue. It's about your skin being the wrapping of an inner glow, a gift that glows from within.

 

I've always believed that age is but a costume for the soul. 

Shine on!