Three Belated Hares

Four months have slipped away since my last post...this just will not do. To celebrate my belated blog entry...here's a belated Mother's Day piece. My mom was 281 miles away on Mother's Day, but fortunately she was able to visit me in Philly last weekend to receive her gift, and because I apparently run on turtle time, I'm just now posting. At this speed, perhaps I'll have a substantial online portfolio by the age of 92 when online portfolios will be outmoded by some new faster form of presentation. Or perhaps I can learn from the tale of the tortoise and the hare, and outwit my faster competition with turtle-like philosophy and find some sort of shortcut to the successes of the illustration world...that would be ideal, any suggestions?

Eustace Tilley and The Glasses that Changed His World

I entered the Eustace Tilley Contest for The New Yorker Online. I've been long over due for creating a new illustration, and when I saw the iconic dandy with his long neck and pointy nose, I thought he would be perfect in the style I've been working on. The original Eustace is holding a monocle, but to honor the fact that I would render him in 3d, I decided to give him a pair of his own 3d shades.

The process.

I feel like the final still needs work, then again, I feel that way about everything I create. It's a never-ending process. Perhaps that's why I have chosen illustration as my career path...it's a way to meet some kind of deadline with my work.

Illustration Friday: Pretend

I missed Illo. Friday last week, so I combined "pretend" and "wise." I've been wanting to do a portrait with sculpey in relief, so this was my chance.

Daylight Saving Time

"Daylight Saving Time..." what an unusual thing to call that second Sunday in every March and that first Sunday of every November. When you think about it, it makes sense, it was created to save daylight... a daylight saving sort of time. But when you really really think about it, it makes for a great visual pun.


I hopped in my vehicle the other day to drive to an appointment that was to take place at 3:00. As I was happily cruising and listening to WXPN, I glanced down at the clock to see how I was doing on time. In seeing an unexpected 3:58, I had a moment of pure panic and confusion as to how I managed to be running an hour late. Had The Airborne Toxic Event blaring through my car speakers distracted me from my point of direction, causing me to drive aimless circles for the past hour? No, no, silly. You forgot to change your car clock because Daylight Saving Time ended yesterday.

So, in honor of that special time every year when people show up an hour early, or panic thinking they are an hour late, that time when an hour of sleeping in is gained and an hour of going to bed is lost, that time when time is confused and needs to be rescued by daylight, here's to you "Daylight Saving Time".

Repair Sketches

Leaf man questioning his existence

My original idea for IF's "repair" was much different from how the final turned out. I was thinking of creating a doll of some sort that was sewing itself together. I created a model made of yarn, but wasn't happy with how bland it looked. In a spontaneous moment, I started gluing leaves to the yarn and ended up with a 3in' leaf man.

I hoped to capture expression through his gesture. I moved his arms around to see what worked, and I liked how when his head was facing down and his arm was raised to his forehead he looked puzzled and perhaps melancholy, so the gesture stuck. I took him outside for a photoshoot, but the photo needed more, so I scanned a pencil drawing and layered it.

He seems to be searching for emotional repair.

Illustration Friday: Repair

What are we made of?