Illuminara

I spent the day in a trance, drawing babies and angels. I filmed it and put this together. The world seems so strange at times, but let’s just love the new babies being born (they see more than we do) and it will all come out right.

I was searching through my stacks of sketchbooks going back many years. I saw this page, and it seemed to want to be seen today. This is the first day of school in Westport, and this fairy in the “Time for Change” bubble made me smile. My prayer and wish is that all the children [...]

This is a page from my first published book, PUP IN SCHOOL (Crown Books for Young Readers). I created this book because when I was teaching at the wonderful Atrium School in Boston, I noticed that when I wanted to talk about ways we could get along better together in class, using animals rather than [...]

Babies are no fools. They sense and see and feel exactly what is going on around them. They’re innocent, though, too, in that they are vulnerable and subject to our actions and choices. And, they’re learning how to deal with motor skills and how to handle all that sensory in-put. They’re amazing. I believe the [...]

This is a study of a child rider, one of the many I made before writing and illustrating A BLUE RIBBON FOR SUGAR. There is nothing more wonderful than studying the movements and linear grace of children, but drawing horses in motion is just as hypnotizing.  I probably love no other occupation as much as [...]

Sketching at Longshore Club pool, the toddlers are adorable to watch. Their exhausted parents are constantly lifting, grabbing, chasing or coxing a child closer.
I love the way the light played on the water and on people as they sat by the poolside. The life guard did that thing I’ve seen life guards do before, sitting [...]

I read that Chief Seattle said, “The wind gave our children the spirit of life.”  The wind is pure energy, unseen.  As a child, I used to feel and hear the wind whip across the flat Texas plains, and I felt I was being spoken to by a divine and noble presence. Even the sorrowful [...]

I am not sure why, but when I began this Spirit Painting, commissioned by the mother of a girl under the age of 10, I felt strongly compelled to paint a “blue person”. There was no way around it. Every time I painted a figure (many have come and gone underneath this layer of paint), [...]

Dolphins are the most wonderfully lively and magical creatures on earth to me.  When we sailed in the Virgin Islands, they followed us in our sailboat, leaping in the wake of the boat.  Native American animal wisdom teaches that dolphin energy is akin to children and playfulness. I think that feels true, they play so [...]

There was a lot of action at Compo Beach this weekend. The sun was warm and intense, the breeze was cool and babies were happy.  I started sketching at Joey’s by the Shore, and had fun watching the toddlers waiting for ice cream.  This is a detail, if you’d like to see the full sketch, [...]