I recently worked on a project for the Wall Street Journal Online which tracked the rate at which the arctic ice cap has melted over the last quarter of a century. Click here to see the astonishing rate of decrease since 1979 – with the past six years or so of particular worry (you may have to turn your popup blocker off for the link to work… sorry). The magenta line is the median ice extent and is an average of where the ice would normally be on September 1st of each year (around 7.5 million sq miles). As you can see above this summer only reached 4.4 million sq miles. The graphic also covers how arctic tourism industry is booming as visitors want to catch of glimpse of the environment before its gone.
About 10 years ago I did an illustration for the Vermont weekly ‘Seven Days’ about a couple getting caught in a blizzard while hiking up to the Stone Hut which sits atop Stowe. The hut was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1936 and is a special place; perched as it is atop the famous Nose Dive trail. Recently the Stowe Guide contacted me about reusing the art though I recalled having sold the original (pre-computer days: no scan). But I had a few sketches and drawings stored away and thus did a Dr. Frankenstein and stitched, spackled and redrew the drawing above. The original story by David Healy is a great tale and can be read here.
This is another illo for the “Soapbox” column in Publisher’s Weekly.
Author Steve Weinberg laments the fact that once you are a bona fide published writer, you immediately become besieged by people looking to get their manuscripts (of varying degrees of quality) published.
He writes:
“When my telephone rings, I almost always check the caller ID before I answer. If the number and name look unfamiliar, I assume that the caller probably is (a) a prison inmate, or (b) a would-be author seeking advice about publishing a book.”
Only 30% of people visiting Alaska get to see the summit of the second highest peak in North America, because it is usually obscured by clouds. Fortunately, we were blessed with great weather.
Most people know it as Mt. McKinley but the locals prefer to use the original name, Denali, which means “The High One” in the Athabaskan language.
I’ve been working on this stuffed bunny for a while. I’m not sure if she’s done or not. I’m trying to decide if she needs a necklace or a scarf. More to follow, most likely!
I just finished creating these designs for the Village Voice media kit (the packet they give out to advertisers and clients and such). It was fun working up this subway tile theme, though I underestimated the amount of effort doing all these little tiles would take. I seriously dreamt in tiles for quite a few nights.
As part of the project I also created this logo which adorns the front of the media kit and various other promotions.
Recently Corrie and I were able to visit my brother Danny in New Hampshire. We met his new dog, saw my painting from a previous post, and went for a hike. This watercolor sketch is of the view from Danny’s home on Squam Lake. All of the photos from our brief but fun-filled trip can be seen here.
This illo for Publisher’s Weekly was for a story about a book with a tricky title. Robert I. Sutton’s “The No Asshole Rule” proved difficult to discuss on public airwaves, and the way the interviewers approached the title varied greatly. An NPR producer killed the interview after a producer got squeamish, and anything-goes satellite radio actually asked him to mention the title frequently as they figured their audience would enjoy hearing it on their radios.
I was listening to the audio book of Frank Herbert’s Dune while working on this. Nothing like an epic story to keep you glued to your desk while working on a deadline.
You can see more of my work for Publisher’s Weekly here.
started out as a simple birthday card…
