Crow's Nest

This is another piece from the pirate book I'm working on. This is the funnest book I've ever done. I'm slowly learning how to take this less seriously. If I'm not too serious about things I'm more liable to put in more hours. I also think it's the best work I've done. I payed close attention to the text and tried to see a world between the words. My book launch is in a few days and I'll be super busy for a while so I wont be able to post until after the weekend, but I'll make sure I visit everyone elses blog. Alicia Padron Requested that I make a list of five random things about myself. My wife, Julie and I collaborated on this list over dinner preparations. 1. I don't have a driver's licence 2. I wear glasses and can't wear contacts 3. I once had a library fine of 170.00 dollars. 4. I love Appalachian folk music 5. I used to work at a wine store and learned lots about wine. I would like to have 5 random facts from Ambera, Gretel, Viviene, Stephanie and Marie.

P.S. If anyone is able, I'd love to see you at my book launch. Everyone's welcome. It's in Lunenburg Nova Scotia at the Black Duck Gallery. It will be held between 1 pm and 3 pm on Saturday the 24th. I'll also be signing at the Historic Properties, downtown Halifax on Sunday. I'm not sure of the time. Please email me if you're interested.

Silly Dinosaur Scrap Paper Drawing

Things have been really busy lately. My first book launch is coming up next week and I've been making prints of my work to sell and the pirate book is still underway. I also had dinner with Wallace Edwards this week, He's one of the best Canadian illustrators ever and he's an amazing guy. I'll write more on that later. Happy Thanksgiving to all my American friends!

Trickster

This is Coyote. He's the trickster in Native legends.

Raccoons In The Hedge

This picture is for an upcoming book. I didn't really like it as I worked on it and worried the whole time I was doing it. Now I love it. It reminds me of the quote by Degas ( I think...) something about each painting being a battle. It's certainly true for me, I can't figure out how to make things easier. It's my birthday today and I'm scheming. I'm trying to plan out the next year. Here's my plan : Two contract books, one short comic book story, and a Grimm fairy tale illustrated by me. Looking back on the last year I feel I could have accomplished more, but I'm not sure. It's hard to gauge how much you should be doing.

The Pirate And The Princess.

This picture was done for a story I wrote that didn't get done for all sorts of reasons. The story is based on the story of Sheila Nagira, which is a story from Newfoundland that may or may not be true. Sheila Nagira was an Irish princess living around the 16Th century. Ireland was at war so her family shipped her off to France for her education. On the way her ship was attacked by pirates or privateers, led by the well known captain Peter Easton. On the ship she fell in love with a young pirate named Gilbert Pike. They were married on board the boat and settled in a settlement in Newfoundland called Mosquito ( now called Bristol's Hope ) . I did a number of pictures for this book but ended up doing another pirate story instead. These are done in watercolour, pen and ink, and gouache.

Unfinished Girl And Bear

This is a piece I did two versions of and was never really happy with it. I think it's interesting enough to share though. It's from a folk tale, but I don't remember which one. If any one thinks this scene looks familiar I'd love to know. I'm putting some finishing touches on a book cover I've been commissioned to do. I've found it really difficult and have put an enormous amount of time into it. I did it in a slightly more realistic style than I normally use. I did this for two reasons, first because it's a book cover I want it to look special and second I felt that a more realistic style suited the book. It's a great book. I've been incredibly fortunate that I've gotten so many great stories to illustrate. I've come to some conclusions about working more realistically. The major conclusion is that the more realistic a picture is the harder it is to be expressive. And the second conclusion is that when working more realistically I should have a tonne of reference material on hand. I'm almost done the cover and I'll post it at some later date. Near the end I thought I never want to do something like this again. When I had a moment to think about I decided that it's a good thing to have in my collection of styles and that I should work harder at it. In the new book Artist To Artist published by Philomel and put out by the Eric Carle Museum Of Picture Book Art there is a quote by Maurice Sendak, He says " Artistic style is a means to an end, and the more styles you have, the better....So, develop a fine style, a fat style, a fairly slim style, and a really rough style."

Scrap Paper Snow Queen

Well, after a few days without power I have a new appreciation for life without TV and the Internet and radio. It's been very peaceful here. This is another piece done on scrap paper. I skipped my usual water colour under painting and went right to gouache. The nights are getting cold and have me thinking about winter.

Grass Monster

What do monsters like to read? This is done in gouache and ink. It's raining here. We're getting the tail end of Noel. We picked up candles and a baguette and cheese to get us through. We're trying to cook a pizza before the power goes out. I love storms. I have a tonne of work to do but I'm having one of those days where I want to lay down on the couch with a book.