about the artist...
From a young age, other people's stories; in books, on film, in pictures, inspired me to imagine worlds beyond the one limited by the tidy farms and wooded hills of southcentral Pennsylvania. They also inspired me to go out and have a few real, grungy, sweaty, mosquito-bit, saddle-sored, paddle-blistered, tiger-noshed, owl-taloned, my-air-tank-is-redlining-at-ninety-feet adventures of my own. Flipper, Sea Hunt and Jaques Cousteau led me learn to dive. Fury of Broken Wheel Ranch, The Black Stallion, and Tornado (Zorro's trusty steed) led me to train my own wild black horse. J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings inspired me to learn swordfighting, archery, camp rolled up in a wool cloak, and teach my patient half-Arabian gelding to work without saddle or bridle. Wrestling a (very small) tiger and extracting a recalcitrant barn owl named Barney from under a wildlife rehabber's fridge happened to me because Mowgli and Tarzan made living in the jungle look like so much fun. Even as an adult, Pirates of the Caribbean led me to spending Halloween on a pirate ship (technically, a privateer), and taking the helm (and painting the gun doors, and checking the bilges), watched over by a young sailor woman who had walked the same planks as Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom (on the Lady Washington). I hope my own stories, fiction or fact, illustrated or written, might inspire someone to have their own adventure, their own learning experience, and to reconnect with the world of wind, water, earth, and fire and other living things. That's why we're here.
Special thanks to Dave Tristan, Steve Carey, Becky Zinn, the Pride II crewmember who shot the pic of me at the helm, and others who committed these memories to film and digital.
Special thanks to Dave Tristan, Steve Carey, Becky Zinn, the Pride II crewmember who shot the pic of me at the helm, and others who committed these memories to film and digital.
In Native North America it is said that orca and wolf are the same spirit wearing different shapes for land and sea...
In any place where there are seals, there are legends of the
Seal Folk who take off their skins to walk on land in human form...
Storyteller/psychologist Clarrissa Pinkola Estes Ph.D.., in "Women Who Run With the Wolves" talks about the problem of losing your "sealskin/soulskin", and how faerie and folk tales teach us the answers...
Orca looms large in the myths of the Northwest Coast, and there are stories of the whale folk who take off their fins to walk on land in human form. The fin becomes a boat...
Orca: also known as: mak-eh-nuk, keet, skana, swordwhale (zvaardwalvis), agliuk, niss'onkhgessyak, pictwhale, epaulard, kosatka drava, vaghund (hunting together like dogs), akan, grampus, svinka, innuatu, sadshi, repun kamui (master of the open sea)...and in Australia & New Zealand, just orcs.
In the tales of J.R.R. Tolkien, the Elves, in the end, sail west to the
Blessed Realm, leaving humans to their world of Middle Earth. In my tales, and illustrations, they are still here, disguised perhaps, but very much involved in teaching, making connections between humans and the rest of the Natural World. Bringing us back our sealskins, soulskins, our lost fins.
I've been drawing animals and the natural world, and telling stories, since I could hold a crayon. I am a voracious reader (especially fantasy, and non-fiction: nature, biology, history), but draw from experience. I live with several cats, a small team of sled dogs, and a lot of books. When I'm not training horses or dogs, you might find me in a mosquito infested salt marsh, in my sea kayak, Makenuk's Fin
In any place where there are seals, there are legends of the
Seal Folk who take off their skins to walk on land in human form...
Storyteller/psychologist Clarrissa Pinkola Estes Ph.D.., in "Women Who Run With the Wolves" talks about the problem of losing your "sealskin/soulskin", and how faerie and folk tales teach us the answers...
Orca looms large in the myths of the Northwest Coast, and there are stories of the whale folk who take off their fins to walk on land in human form. The fin becomes a boat...
Orca: also known as: mak-eh-nuk, keet, skana, swordwhale (zvaardwalvis), agliuk, niss'onkhgessyak, pictwhale, epaulard, kosatka drava, vaghund (hunting together like dogs), akan, grampus, svinka, innuatu, sadshi, repun kamui (master of the open sea)...and in Australia & New Zealand, just orcs.
In the tales of J.R.R. Tolkien, the Elves, in the end, sail west to the
Blessed Realm, leaving humans to their world of Middle Earth. In my tales, and illustrations, they are still here, disguised perhaps, but very much involved in teaching, making connections between humans and the rest of the Natural World. Bringing us back our sealskins, soulskins, our lost fins.
I've been drawing animals and the natural world, and telling stories, since I could hold a crayon. I am a voracious reader (especially fantasy, and non-fiction: nature, biology, history), but draw from experience. I live with several cats, a small team of sled dogs, and a lot of books. When I'm not training horses or dogs, you might find me in a mosquito infested salt marsh, in my sea kayak, Makenuk's Fin
the wild black mare...
A brief history of my time...
I draw from experience: in writing or illustrating, it helps to have felt the wind in your hair, the thunder of flying hooves of the whisper of running dog feet on snow. From watching Fury of Broken Wheel Ranch and a thousand westerns in the 60s to 4-H horsemanship projects to training my own mustang to being a working student at several stables, I've always been an avid horseman. I've been mushing recreationally (with a two or three dog team) since 1995, sea kayaking since 2000, and scuba diving since 1997 (I tend to do more snorkeling now). I
walked aboard my first tall ship just after the first Pirates of the Caribbean film came out, though I had been sailing with the Longship Company since the early 80s. I've done living history (medieval, Viking, early American Rendezvous) since the early 80s.
Society for Children's Book Writers and Illustrators member. A professional organization for those interested in writing or illustrating books
for readers from toddlers to young adults: published professional writers/illustrators, and the Not-yet Published.
Cover art for Winterdance Dogsled Tours' "Iditarod Dreamer, A Rookie Team's Journey".
Art for local Siberian rescue
Art for non-profit website promoting animal welfare.
Photography for local educational farm.
Sketches (storyboards) for local screenwriter for use promoting her screenplay (privateers, War of 1812).
2009: Holiday card for Pride of Baltimore II, Baltimore's iconic tallship, a reproduction of the wicked swift and agile privateers of 1812.
Life sized, portable, arctic animal murals for bibleschool program.
Environmental Educational Art: Displays for Nixon County Park
Illustrations for salamander display in new amphibian and reptile room.
Touch Room mural: Forest.
Touch Room mural Ocean.
Watershed project (under WREN Grant): mural of East Codorus Creek Watershed on wall above new water fountain.Educational display replacing old, purely decorative mural. Aerial landscape/map interpreted in a way that show's the water cycle and our impact on it.
Chipmunks: researched, written and illustrated on eleven feet of brown paper (laminated) to show (in particular children) the secret underground life of a chipmunk burrow.
"Soil, It's not just dirt". Concept by NP naturalist, illustrations by me; cartoon salamanders to make concrete certain concepts of soil conservation.
"How Does Your Paw Measure Up?" Concept by NP naturalist, bear paw illo on display glass barrier in main display room.
Raptor Red: full sized portable mural ("standee" of painted plywood) of a Utahraptor for Dinosaur Weekend. (Utahraptors are about the size of a horse).
Art classes: kids' wildlife sketching, watercolor for all ages.
Design: Passport for 4000 (acres of) Hikes series.Identifying signs for native plants.Interpretive sign at Rocky Ridge Park. Illustrations of New
Freedom Train Station and other points of interest. Props for Reptile Week and Dinosaur Weekend (lifesized portable murals). Wetlands posters for Envirothon.
Other
Scrivenings (fanfiction category: based on the works of JRR Tolkien): www.fanfiction.net and others. Nine stories posted to good reviews. several pickier websites asking to post stories. Nomination for several awards. I consider this practice for writing my own original story cycle.
Cover and interior illustrations for "Stardark Songs": a collection of poetry by well-published author Nancy Springer.
Illustrations for short story in Humpty Dumpty Magazine: "Where Do the Animals Go in the Winter?"
T-shirt designs for Dreams From Home, a cottage industry: consortium of artists based in
Cranbury NJ.
Sales to Pendragon Gallery, Annapolis MD.
Paintings in the collections of several authors and artists: Nancy Springer, Real Musgrave, Gil Fitzgerald, Joan Vinge.
Gaming Art
Cover illustration for "Dragon" Magazine (TSR: the gaming company who made the fantasy role-playing game Dungeons and Dragons famous). Full color painting for magazine cover.
Illustration for Bill Fawcett of Mayfair Games. PO Box 48539 Niles IL 60648-0539. Gaming Company doing modules for fantasy role-playing games, did interior illos for the following:Shipwrecker, Deadly Power, Throne of Evil, Ice Elves, Elven Banner, Fantastic Treasures II, Monsters of Myth and Legend. Interior illustrations for "Quest for the Dragon's Eye" and "Quest for the Unicorn's Horn" by Bill Fawcett, choose your own adventure style books for young readers, published by Berkeley Books.
Conventions
EveCon, Aberdeen MD. Artist Guest of Honor.
Novacon, Lancaster PA. Artist Guest of Honor.
Unicon, Silver Spring MD. Artist Guest of Honor.
Archon 7, Overland MO, Best Display, Best Original Concept (fan category).
Chicon IV, Chicago IL. World Science Fiction Convention. Art Show awards:Best Humor, Best Color (fan category).
Philcon 82, Berta
Philcon 81, science fiction convention honors: Berta Award (Best Exhibit, fan category.
York Academy of Arts, York PA. Majored in commercial art with illustration,photography, fine art minors. Graduated; 1974-1977
