Happy New Year!

Happy Holidays (aka Christmas)

For quite a few years since 1998 I've been asked to illustrate newspaper supplement covers for the Valley News, a daily that serves a portion of Vermont and New Hampshire. They are usually printed a few days before 'Black Friday'. There's always two covers with a holiday theme, and they have to tie into each other. As I was going through some of my archives, I realized that somewhere along the way that the word 'Christmas' was dropped. I think it was right after the first year that I did them.

These covers are from this year.

These are from last year. Notice after the 'snowstorm' there's a guy snowblowing.

Here's the covers from 2007. Not my favorite, but I remember being in a time crunch.

And here's the first one I did back in 1998. I did it very cartoony. I'm most definitely a cartoonist at heart!

Revelry!

Quick study

Right on the Nose

Here's an illustration that has proved to be a very popular card. 'Right on the Nose'. When I was working on it, I had in mind that it could be a scene from a children's book. That's the look I was attempting anyway! Below are some sketches of cows I had done for it. I'm really bad about keeping a sketchbook the way other artists do. Mine are always on loose paper, which usually get tossed away when I clean my studio. 

Studio Addition

Here's my new drafting table. It's a beauty! It's a replication of a 1920's french drafting table. They are handmade to order and mine will be showing up mid-March of 2010. Years ago when I headed off to art school, I had a new table. Unfortunately, it was stolen in 1995. Since then, I've made due with an old loaner table from my good friend, Todd Casey. I ended up replacing the top, but one leg was broken, so it wobbles when you lean on it. I'm pretty excited to get this new one! I've already decided to change my whole studio around when it arrives.

Making Spirits Bright

Here's the first holiday card that I did. It's called 'Making Spirits Bright'. This card is a double sized image that wraps around from front to back. The fold goes right down one of the fence posts. I had two versions done up: one with a greeting inside, one blank inside. Luckily for me, both versions sold out! I added a little mistletoe above my signature (bottom right) to denote that it's a holiday card. I'm not getting them printed again until next season. Thanks to everyone that bought them!

Toasty

At long last I incorporated a dog into a card! I have more ideas for other dog cards later next year. This one has been really popular so far. Most people who buy this card don't even have a dog, but they like the New England 'feeling' it has. Dog people love dog stuff with their particular breed on it. Cat people like anything with any kind of cat on it. I'm more of a cat person, but I love those good ol' buddy dogs! This image really took quite a while, in fact it's the most labor intensive illustration I've done in years.

Vermont Sports Magazine Gift Guide

New England Illustrated cards are featured in the December 2009 issue of Vermont Sports magazine! If you are in Vermont, you can get the magazine at more than 400 locations. www.vtsports.com

World Famous World's Fair Poster Illustration

Back in August, the organizers of the famous World's Fair in Tunbridge, VT saw my New England Illustrated cards in a local store and contacted me about doing a poster for the 2010 fair. They explained that each year has a 'theme' The 2010 theme is 'pulling' and they wanted to highlight that aspect. I was sent passes to attend the fair and get inspiration. This poster is 16 x 20" and will be printed on thick, off-white stock to give it an 'old time' feel. That's also what I was going for in the design. Using sparse text, large fonts and having the main image so large, I wanted it to be interesting from a distance. Last year more than 50,000 people attended the fair. This poster is going to be done in an extremely small print run. Only 500 will be available! I will be doing a signing of the posters at the fair. It was a very fun job. I'm actually going to get one framed for my own home.

New Locations

• Brown Dog Books and Gifts - Hinesburg, VT
  
• The Pink Smock Gift Shop - Dartmouth Medical Center, NH
  
• Mendon Country Store - So. Burlington, VT
  
• Boxcar and Caboose - St. Johnsbury, VT
  
  Reorders from: 
  
  
• Welch's True Value - So. Royalton/Woodstock
• Healthy Living Market
  
• Bear Pond Books
  
• Norwich Bookstore
  
• Sugarbush Farm
  
• Homeport
  
• Stowe Street Emporium
• Vermont Gift Barn and Gallery
• Bennington Potters North
  

Black Bear-y Pie

Yum! Black berry pie. Black bear-y pie! I had this idea for a little while. I know, it's hardly an original idea, but I figured if I got my hands on it, it might be fun. I went through a few iterations. A dog, a kid, a goat, a cow, an apple pie, a loaf of bread...etc. This summer there were a few reports of bears taking down birdfeeders in our community, so I thought a bear would do just nicely. It's going to press soon and will join a few other new illustrations in the New England Illustrated card/print line up.