It has been a delight to share with my students the incredible resource of people. Over the years, I’ve had the great privilege of connecting them with inspiring individuals such as Lois Ehlert, Dave Nice, Gregory Martens, Colette Odya Smith, and—as seen in this “Behind the Professor” sketch—Dr. Gaylund Stone. There’s something powerful about the presence of someone who lives their craft with humility and depth. In moments like these, my students are reminded that more is often caught than taught.
A quiet study of restraint at altitude. Framed through an aircraft window, the world below drifts by while the interior remains still—objects worn, familiar, and waiting. Subtle distortions in perspective and muted tones emphasize the tension between motion and pause, progress and endurance. This piece captures the discipline of waiting while suspended between departure and arrival, where patience is not passive, but practiced under pressure.
Rocks from Rooster's Wife by Russell Edson.
Two old men were performing autopsies on each other.And as they worked, putting this in a glass jar and that in a chamber pot, they talked of rocks; arthritic rocks, and rockswith rotten teeth; rocks with gout, and rocks with bad stomachs; rocks with hair in their ears, and rocks withscrotums hanging to their knees; rocks with gall stones, and rocks blind with cataracts.
Suddenly one of the old men says to the other, Did you know you were pregnant?No, says the other old man.Then holding up a rock, he says, Look what I found in your womb.Spank it, says the other old man, And see if it cries…
Trying to meld the moody tones of pulp noir with the playful romanticism of 1950s lifestyle illustration. Inspired by the fairground scene from the 1942 Veronica Lake classic, This Gun for Hire.
Petite ink doodle of a bunny I saw on my walk this evening. He was peeking over a street curb and I thought he’d be awfully cute taking a peek over a stone wall.
As the Saviors of Uldum expansion is about to be released, I thought I would take time to draw one of the members of the League of Explorers. Here is the greatly esteemed and renown Sir Finley Mrrgglton.
One of my girls with lots of patterns. The girl keeps in blue and purple and the background and sunglasses is kept in green, orange end yellow tones. I have always had a hard time using less color and this is my practice in keeping a more stringent color theme.
The tables were covered in white paper. Crayons, pastels, and smooth sticks waited quietly. Then came Lucy’s glittery purse—her 8-year-old hands had filled it with stones to pass along, one by one, to the strangers around the table.
We traced them. Pushed them. Held them.
Then we let the colors lead:
-Red for emotion.
-Yellow for curiosity.
-Blue for memory.
Each color came with music, with story, with space.
At the Museum of Wisconsin Art, we made marks not for meaning but for presence.
Thank you to Ann Marie and MOWA for the invitation and trust. And thank you to the participants—some new friends, some old students—for showing up and making lines that listened before they spoke.
