To celebrate National Poetry Month, I’ll be doing a Wicked Wild Poems book signing at Nonesuch Books on Sunday, April 28th at 10am. Hope to see you there!
Lettering Workshop
I’m excited to be teaching a hand-lettering workshop next month at Canopy Portland Waterfront! It will be held on Saturday, November 11th from 10am-noon at the Salt Yard Cafe + Bar. You can find tickets and more info here on Eventbrite.
Wicked Wild Poems Available Now
Wicked Wild Poems is officially on shelves! It was pretty exciting (and surreal) to see it on the Maine Children’s shelf at Sherman’s in Portland today:
If you’d like to order a copy, they’re currently available to order from:
Thanks again to McSea Books for the opportunity to work on this dream project!
Wicked Wild Poems Available for Pre-order
I am very excited to share that Wicked Wild Poems is officially available for pre-order!
From publisher McSea Books: From salamanders to seagulls and every tree, bush, and animal in between, these are poems that celebrate the familiar wild living things we cherish from the Maine woods to the craggy windswept coastline.
Available for pre-order at: Sherman’s Maine Coast Book Shops, Bookshop.org & Amazon
I spent the better part of last year working on illustrations for this 32-page picture book, and am so psyched to be able to share more when it’s officially released on September 1st!
The Great State of Illustration in Maine
Really excited to have my work included in this show at the Brick Store Museum in Kennebunk! The exhibition features the work of 80 illustrators that live or have lived in Maine and I’m honored to have my work featured alongside artists I’ve looked up to for years - including many friends, former teachers, and teaching colleagues.
You can read a Portland Press Herald article about the show here, and find more info on the show from the Brick Store Museum here. I was glad to check out the show myself at the artist’s reception last week - many thanks to The Illustration Institute for organizing and curating such an amazing exhibition. I highly recommend checking it out if you can - on view through February 2023!
Wicked Wild Poems
I am SO excited to share a project I’ve been working on these past few months: illustrating a book of poems for McSea Books! Here is the official announcement and cover reveal:
Stephanie Mulligan at McSea Books has bought world rights to Wicked Wild Poems (of the Pine Tree State) by Diane Lang (Fur, Feather, Fin - All of Us Are Kin) illustrated by Hannah Rosengren. This compilation of witty verse mirrors Maine and all her splendor from the mountains to the sea and creatures in between. Publication is planned for 2023; the author and illustrator represented themselves.
It’s been so much fun to illustrate Diane’s poems - and so great to work with Stephanie at McSea Books throughout the process (check out the McSea Bookshop here). Can’t wait to share the finished book when it’s published next year!
Pollinator Week Fundraiser
Pollinator Week is here! I wanted to celebrate with a fundraiser for a non-profit working to support pollinators - so I will be donating 25% of the proceeds from each sale in my shop this week (June 20th-June 26th) to the Pollinator Partnership!
The Pollinator Partnership is a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting the health of pollinators through conservation, education and research. You can learn more about them and check out a great list of Pollinator Week Resources here.
You can find lots of pollinator-themed goods in my online shop here; all orders received through this Sunday will count towards the fundraiser. Plus, every order plants a tree thanks to my partnership with One Tree Planted (which you can read more about here). Thanks for your support!
MECA&D Holiday Sale
I’m excited to be a part of Maine College of Art & Design’s online holiday sale again this year! I have a selection of zines, pins, stickers, totes, prints, and seed bombs in the sale, including:
This year’s sale features over 40 local artists including MECA&D students, alumni, faculty, and staff. Check it out at mecashop.meca.edu - open now through Friday, December 10th!
New York Botanical Garden
Today I thought I’d share some photos from a recent trip to the New York Botanical Garden!
Hymn of Life - Tulips by Yayoi Kasuma, 2007
I had never been before, but it was especially interesting to visit during the current Cosmic Nature show featuring beautiful installations by Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama (check out NYBG’s gallery here).
I Want to Fly to the Universe by Yayoi Kasuma, 2020
My Soul Blooms Forever by Yayoi Kasuma, 2019
Of all the different gardens and areas to explore, the Conservatory was definitely my favorite:
I don’t often find myself in the Bronx but was happy for the chance to check out the gardens between My Morning Jacket shows a couple of weeks ago! I was especially psyched to see so many pollinators - bees, swallowtails, and monarchs by the dozen.
Upcoming Workshop at MECA&D
I’m excited to be teaching another online workshop at Maine College of Art & Design in November! Read on for a description and click the link below to find more info on the Continuing Studies website:
Saturday 11/13 from 10-11:30 am + Sunday 11/14 from 10-11:30 am
Learn how to illustrate a portrait of your favorite houseplant in this online weekend workshop! On Saturday we’ll start with some different drawing techniques and observational sketches, experimenting with color mockups of your plant. On Sunday we’ll work on a finalized portrait, to be illustrated in whatever media you enjoy working with. All levels of experience are welcome to join.
Eco-Friendly Alphabet Zine
This summer, I received a grant from the Maine Arts Commission to adapt my Eco-Friendly Alphabet poster into a zine! I proposed printing 500 copies to distribute for free throughout southern and mid-coast Maine - and am really excited to share the finished zines along with a list of local businesses where you can find them.
Using the hand-lettered alphabet from my poster, I designed a front and back cover to fit with my original mid-century modern theme/inspiration - along with a new pattern design for the endpapers:
Below is a list of local businesses who will be offering them for free:
44 North Coffee (Stonington)
93 Main Electric Bike Café (South Portland)
Desert of Maine (Freeport)
The Good Supply (Pemaquid)
Heart & Mane (Portland)
Highland Farm (Scarborough)
Hills & Trails (Biddeford)
Lois’ Natural Marketplace (Scarborough)
The Naturalist’s Notebook (Seal Harbor)
Pinecone + Chickadee (Portland)
Portland Food Co-op (Portland)
Rosemont Market & Bakery (Cape Elizabeth)
Rosemont Market & Wine Bar (Portland)
Swallowfield (Northeast Harbor)
Many thanks to the Maine Arts Commission for funding this project, and to all of the awesome local businesses above for offering space to share these zines!
New Partnership with One Tree Planted
I’m happy to announce that I've partnered with One Tree Planted to plant one tree for every order received in my shop! One Tree Planted is an environmental nonprofit dedicated to global reforestation. They partner with organizations in four regions (North America, Latin America, Africa, and Asia) to restore nature and biodiversity.
Here's how it works: each month I will tally orders received in my shop, donating $1 for each order (one dollar plants one tree). Every tree makes a positive impact for nature, wildlife, and people. To learn more about the benefits of planting trees, check out this page on onetreeplanted.org.
You can also find some great photos of recent projects by One Tree Planted here. As of August 2020, they have planted 11 million trees! Many thanks to One Tree Planted for making these partnership opportunities available to small businesses like mine - and for all of the important work they’re doing.
Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge
I’m also excited to share this second component of my Culminating Project (check out the first one here) recently completed for grad school - an illustrated map of the Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge here in southern Maine:
Last fall, I read two of Carson’s books - Silent Spring and The Sense of Wonder - and knew there was a refuge named after her in Maine but had no idea how expansive it was. Since my Culminating Project focused on utilizing illustration to foster a sense of place and stewardship, the refuge was the perfect place for me to explore and illustrate. Here’s a detail of the top-left corner to show a bit more detail:
I began the map by making a list of public access points along the refuge (since most refuge lands are closed to the public to protect sensitive habitats and wildlife). Then I visited each spot, especially taking note of the educational signs posted throughout the refuge detailing wildlife found there. Below are some of my favorite trails with zoomed-in details of their accompanying map from the full illustration:
CARSON TRAIL
Upper Wells Division, Wells
This trail starts at the refuge headquarters at 321 Port Road in Wells. It follows a 1-mile loop through the woods with some beautiful spots overlooking the Merriland River and Little River.
TIMBER POINT TRAIL
Little River Division, Biddeford
This trail in Biddeford has definitely become one of my favorite places to visit in the refuge. The trail starts at the end of Granite Point Road along a beach, winds through the woods, and ends with a stunning view of the coast from Timber Point. I even came across a pollinator garden when walking the trail last fall and am especially looking forward to revisiting it this spring.
CUTTS ISLAND TRAIL
Brave Boat Harbor Division, Kittery
Another amazing trail on the refuge is the Cutts Island Trail in Kittery. This one is 1.8 miles long and loops through the woods, ending with an overlook of Chauncey Creek (a scene I illustrated towards the bottom-left corner of my map).
If you’re a local reading this, I hope you’ll check out some of these spots for yourself! You can also find prints of the illustrated map here in my shop; 20% of each sale will be donated to The Friends of Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge (learn more about their work here).
Mount Desert Island Map Collaboration
Today I'm excited to share the first of two new illustrated map projects - created as part of my Culminating Project for the M.Ed. program I just completed through the Institute for Educational Studies at Endicott College! A main theme of my project was exploring how illustrating a map could foster a sense of place in and stewardship for the natural world, and I collaborated with students at the Community School of Mount Desert Island on this map of MDI:
It was so much fun to work with students by meeting over Zoom and hearing about their research done on the island. Students from each class at the school contributed to the final map with artwork, design ideas like sunrises/moon phases and the seasonal changes of a maple, suggestions for places to plot on the island, and wildlife they had seen there. Here is a section of our map to show a bit more detail:
Many thanks to the Community School for working with me on this project! Check out more of their work at thecommunityschool.me.
Seeds for Pollinators
This Saturday is the first official day of spring and seed bombs are back in stock just in time! I wanted to share some photos since the packaging is new this season — our Seeds for Pollinators branding and seed bomb recipe remains the same, but they now come in new tins of 12 each:
It’s been a while since I’ve posted about these seed bombs since first releasing them, so I thought I’d share a bit about them here. Seeds for Pollinators is a collaboration between my husband Kyle and I that we originally released in May of 2017 — Kyle’s a horticulturist so he designed the seed bomb recipe and I designed the product packaging. We have two mixes:
Our Bee Mix includes: Borage (Borago officinalis), Carpet of Snow Alyssum (Lobularia maritima), Dyer's Coreopsis Mix (Coreopsis tinctoria), Lemon Balm (Melissa officinalis), Persian Catmint (Nepeta mussinii), and Tithonia (Tithonia rotundifolia).
Our Monarch Mix includes: Butterfly Weed (Asclepias tuberosa), Lovage (Levisticum officinale), Phacelia (Phacelia tanacetifolia), Purple Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea), and Purple Top Verbena (Verbena bonariensis).
Each seed bomb is handmade with organic compost, clay, and non-treated seeds. You can check out the updated listings for both mixes here in my shop!
MECA Online Holiday Sale
Psyched to be a part of the MECA Holiday Sale online this year!
The sale will go live tonight at 6pm and stay open through Friday, 12/11 at 6pm.
You can find more info and a list of vendors here, and shop the sale here starting at 6pm tonight.
This year’s sale features hundreds of handmade items by MECA students, staff, faculty, alumni, and friends of the college. I hope you’ll check it out!
Arts Messaging Campaign in Portland
I’m excited to share two designs that were chosen as part of Creative Portland’s Arts Messaging Campaign! Creative Portland has been working with the City of Portland on their Stay the Course public health campaign - installing designs from local artists around the city to reinforce safety practices like hand-washing, wearing masks, and social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Here are the two designs that I hand-lettered, inspired by the traditional style of sign-painting:
They were recently printed on banners/installed by Creative Portland here at 770 Congress Street in Portland:
(For scale, “Wash your hands often” is about 5 x 5ft, and “Thank you for wearing a mask” is about 7 x 7ft!)
Many thanks to the Creative Portland/volunteer installer team for printing and hanging these! I’m grateful for the opportunity to use hand-lettering to share these reminders about simple things we can all do to keep ourselves and each other safe. Keep an eye out for other designs around the arts district if you’re local, and find out more about the work of Creative Portland here.
Illustration Lab Online Workshop
Next month, I’m excited to be teaching a 2-day youth workshop online through Engine! You can check out the details below and click here to sign up.
Upcoming Class at Maine College of Art
I’m excited to share that I will be teaching this online class at Maine College of Art in November! Scroll down for a bit more info (and click on the title below to learn more on MECA’s Continuing Studies page).
Taking Your Sketches to the Next Level
In this online class, you will learn how to turn simple sketches and doodles into more finalized pieces. Looking at different types of illustrations for reference and inspiration, we will explore the many possibilities for creating finished artwork based on your interests and what types of things you like to sketch for fun.
You can also check out a quick time lapse video I filmed for the class, here:
Earth Day Every Day
Psyched to share this new illustration today:
Wilfred Weisser's iconic 1967 poster, "Make Love Not War," was my original inspiration for this design (read more about his poster here). To commemorate the 50th anniversary of Earth Day on 4/22/20, I wanted to illustrate a modern take on a 60's protest poster; one that could serve as a visual reminder to celebrate and protect the earth every day of the year.
For every 11x14" print sold here in my shop this year, $5 will be donated to the World Wildlife Fund (learn more about their work here).
The illustration features hand-lettering with artwork done in a mix of digital line work and gouache. Below is a detail of the center of the print with names of each tree and sea creature featured, including these three endangered species: the Blue Whale, Green Turtle, and Whale Shark (each name is linked to a WWF page with more info about them).
9/7/20 Update: I am also excited to share this new tote-bag version of Earth Day Every Day! These totes were made in New Hampshire out of 100% recycled materials (65% recycled cotton + 35% recycled bottles) with a top zipper closure and dark green handles to match the ink. Like their print counterpart, $5 will be donated to WWF for each tote bag sold this year. You can find them here in my shop!
