Beacon Paint-Out

This is the first time our art center held a plein air paint out and auction in Beacon, NY.  I created a painting of an interesting house I'd been noticing for some time.  While I was taking some photos for lighting reference, the owner of the house came out and we talked.  He told me of the structure's history, it's the third oldest house in Beacon, and of his family's connection to the house.  All of the information only made me want to paint it more and the result was just what I wanted.  He attended the auction and was the winning bidder for the work.  I'm glad that he and his wife will enjoy the painting as much as I enjoyed painting it.

iPad Sketching

So, here are a couple of quick sketches I created on the iPad using "Adobe Ideas" from the app store and a "Pogo" sketch stylus.  As you can see it's very similar to using markers to sketch with.  I've played around with the transparency and layers to suit my needs  I'm posting these because so many people have questions about what the art looks like on the iPad and these examples are at a very simple level.  I'll continue to explore and post new digital sketches as time permits.  meanwhile I'm back to working on illustration deadlines and preparing for some plein air painting.

Empire State Book Festival

The First Empire State Book Festival seemed to be a success.  The panel I was on, "Childrens' Books In The Digital Age" was well attended and we gave the audience alot of insight into our processes and technology.  There were a variety of programs to attend and probably not enough time for attendees to do it all.  We did a book signing at the end of the day but that should have been immediately following our panel.  All in all I'd say it was a good experience being part of the first time event.  I got to see someone I'd worked with many years ago and my fellow panelists were great.  It was my honor to be included with them.

I've been busy working on a number of  illustration assignments and visiting schools as well.  My own book dummies have been put on the back burner once again in order to meet deadlines for other jobs.  I'm creating black and white line drawings for two coloring books for Dover Publications.  These are not "cute" drawings to color but rather well researched illustrations for the subject matter.  History of the Civil Rights Movement in America and American Tall Tales and Legends are the books for which I've also written the text.  I recently completed The History of The White House for Dover as well and will be starting on The Bill of Rights soon. These books are really interesting in their own right and will be a great lead-in for young people to learn about important and interesting topics.  Okay..how many people knew that the White House was completely gutted during the Truman presidency in order to make structural support repairs so the current interior is fairly new. Interesting stuff!

School Visits

I've begun my school visits for the new school year and have been to some wonderful places thus far in New York and Philadelphia. My program "A Day In The Life Odf A Book" is always well received by students and teachers alike.  In fact, teachers often get more excited about it than the students.  They have the chance to get inside the book illustration process and see original work.  I'm including a link here to a video which tells a bit about my school program and workshops so you can get a better idea of what I do.  My program  meets Arts-In-Education standards in an interesting and entertaining way and brings visual art to places that often have cut classes due to budget constraints.  My visit inspires young students to work for what they want and do their best!
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Gtxp3g6jAc
You can also visit http://encoreperforming.com/ to book a school visit and learn some more.

Meeting Charles Santore

It's not often that you get to meet one of your idols and having that person turn out to be as impressive as you'd imagined is a bonus. I took a chance and called illustrator Charles Santore a few weeks back and told him I'd be in town. I asked if he would have time to meet with me and, without hesitation, he invited me to his studio. Mr. Santore was as nice a person as one could hope for. I had the opportunity to see many of his original paintings which were illustrations for his wonderful books. Snow White, The Wizard of Oz and Santa Claus to name a few. We spoke about illustration and he gave me his opinion of my own work which was encouraging and complimentary. He also gave me some advice on making my work even stronger. I value his suggestions. This was a great chance for me to see the artist at work on a new project as well. This is one day I won't soon forget.

Rhinebeck Paintout '09

Painting on location is one of the best things an artist can do and I took advantage of the opportunity at the latest "Paint-Out" event for Barrett Art Center. My watercolor painting , 20"x20", on paper was completed in four hours, framed and ready for the auction that followed. The day was overcast so I improvised lighting with cast shadows...experience gained from painting outdoors. The building was constructed and used to sell homemade and used goods during WWII, by relatives of FDR. Interesting architecture and history.