Illustrator
I was fortunate enough to be chosen by the Commercial Observer this past fall to illustrate 39 portraits of real estate bigwigs for their Owners Magazine. It was a lot of work and a tight deadline, but I’m very happy with how they turned out. I worked flat out for two weeks, day and night and weekends.
At one point my drafting table looked like this:
And here are the final portraits:
And don’t they look lovely in the spread!
March was Women’s History Month and I decided to do a series of portraits highlighting some of my favourite women in the arts and literature.
Mrs. Doyle, the long-suffering housekeeper on the classic TV series Father Ted ,has a few of the funniest scenes I’ve ever seen. Just thinking about them makes me laugh. Like when she falls off the windowsill…good Lord it’s hilarious.
Beatrix Potter is undoubtedly the most famous female illustrator of all time. Just like L.M. Montgomery above, her books have never been out of print. Peter Rabbit is an enduring character, and her illustrations continue to bring joy to kids (and adults like me) around the world a hundred years later. One day I hope to visit her estate in the Lake District.
L.M. Montgomery is one of my favourite writers and our Canadian pride and joy. Anne of Green Gables is a modern classic; it’s never been out of print since its publication in 1908. I’m working my way through her archive of over twenty novels and hundreds of short stories. Her work has also provided me with the source material for two of my absolute favourite tv series of all time: Road to Avonlea and Anne of Green Gables (the 1980s series, not the recent crap, thank you very much).
Emily Dickinson- the 19th century poet whose mournful poetry some people find depressing, but I like the melancholy of it.
Julia Margaret Cameron – one of my favourite artists, she took up photography in her sixties…in the 1860s! I started seeing her photography pop up on the web in the late 1990s, but didn’t know they belonged to her. I drew a lot of her photos in those days because I was drawn to the pre-Raphaelite Victorian tragedy of them (lots of Madonna/child poses). She is credited as being one the first “artistic” photographers.
I had some time over the holidays to work on more illustrations, including a portrait of Florence Welch, the lead singer of Florence and the Machine. I’ve always thought her look was reminiscent of pre-Raphaelite paintings, so here is my homage. I also made an illustration that celebrates the history of printing (yes, my letterpress modelled for this one).
I feel pretty fortunate to have illustrated portraits for some pretty great magazines recently, including the legendary TIME Magazine. Here are portraits of two doctors and one alumnus.
TIME Magazine
AARP Magazine
Middlebury College Alumni Magazine
This summer I drew a lot of chefs. First I drew four chefs for Men’s Health magazine.
Then I drew 10 pastry chefs for Philadelphia Magazine!
And delicious food! (drawing cookies makes me want to eat cookies)
