a collaboration with mom

Last year, when my friends announced they were expecting a baby, I never expected my mom to suggest learning how to make a quilt as a gift. “You design it, and I’ll make it,” she said enthusiastically. And so we did, but most of the credit goes to Mom, who did all of the heavy lifting.

The centerpiece of the quilt is my portrait of Sadie, our friends’ beloved 16-year-old pointer, familiar to some from invitations and Christmas ornaments over the years. The cityscape and row of evergreen trees represent the move they made a few years ago from New York City to Portland, Maine.

Earlier this week, I was privileged to present the finished product to Meghan and Jim, and their gorgeous, little girl on behalf of my mom. It seems like Claire approves. Thanks Mom!

the new york times: magnetic poetry

T. S. Eliot had it wrong. April was not the cruelest month—at least not for me—unless you count the weather in NYC. In addition to getting into some illustration competitions and being selected “Pick of the Week” by Illustration Friday, April was National Poetry Month and brought with it a new collaboration with The Learning Network blog at The New York Times. For the second year running, editors Katherine Schulten and Holly Epstein Ojalvo held their Found Poem Challenge. And what you see above is my illustration for the announcement of the winners this week. A reinterpretation of the old novelty gift magnetic poetry, the hand-lettered words represent the wide range of subjects submitted by student poets. Many thanks to Katherine and Holly, and congratulations to the 10 poets whose work will be featured on the blog.

gallery nucleus - illustrated type

If you find yourself in the Los Angeles area between May 14th and June 6th, make your way over to Gallery Nucleus for their “Illustrated Type” exhibition. I was invited to contribute a letterform of my choice, and decided to make a new piece featuring my “M is for Monster” character—originally created for LetterPlayground—who at post time, was crawling his way across the continent. Among the other luminaries showing their wares will be John Hendricks, Jessica Hische, Josh Cochran, and my SVA buddy You Byun.

evil dewars on the rocks (reprise)

This morning, my mom reminded me of this piece that I made a few years ago, and—in light of today’s news—I thought I’d repost it here. The subjects are meant to be generic, but the message is the same.

illustration friday pick of the week

From time to time, I post images to IllustrationFriday, a website dedicated to the illustration community, where a weekly subject is posted to spur artists on to create images. This week, I’m very pleased to have one of my birds selected as the “Pick of the Week.”

And—if you’d like to take her home with you—she’s available as a signed print on my etsy shop.

american illustration 30

Excellent news received today: two images from Ornithoblogical have been selected to appear in the American Illustration 30 Annual. There were more than 7,000 pictures entered this year, but only 316 actually make it into the book. For more information about AI-AP, click here. That makes three birds (if you include me) who will be attending the AI-AP party later this fall. Woop!

the bathers

What exactly is going on here? You’ll have to pick up the April/May issue of Kiwi Magazine and find out...

(Apologies aux Messieurs Cézanne, Renoir et Seurat.)