The Postcard Is not The point, Part 2

This project—traveling with a tiny printing press, a sketchbook, and a set of postcards—was never about keeping up. Well, not exactly. Yes, it was about being present, and noticing what felt like a postcard waiting to happen. But it quickly evolved into recognizing that some images could wait—that they’d stay with me, gradually turning into ideas I could act on. This post is about one of those: castles and jackdaws. It’s also about practical things. What, in retrospect, c

Jun 9, 20255 min read

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Finding Life in Still Animals

He was a punk rocker, no question about it. Cracked me up. This porcupine didn’t come easily. Leaving the Black Barn Studio last Saturday, he was my least favorite drawing. Not today — I love him. A pose that’s held — a pose that’s made I have plenty of experience with life drawing from human models. Drawing dead animals, not so much. I’d look for the overlaps. A model holds the pose for a short time. The artist draws quickly to capture the story, emotion, and energy befo

23 hours ago3 min read

The Words Came Easily

I swore I wouldn't share the innards of my illustrated journal. Working unobserved is what keeps me honest there. But here I am, opening a narrow window into my most recent pages. I’ve blurred the words in the examples here and am getting on with it. I journal to give myself pause. A little “meta” time to notice what I’m experiencing. An entry starts with brief ideation (words/thumbnail captured on a back page in the same journal), followed by a first layer of tone, texture,

May 42 min read

What a Horse Taught Me About How I Make Pictures

Reckoning In my last post, I described my picture-making process as sequential: beginning with ideation, then testing visual structure, and finally rendering the idea. I thought I understood it. I didn't. I punted last time, not just in saving the third step for a later post, but about all of it. Let me pick up where I left off and see what a horse taught me about how I actually make pictures. The Year of the Fire Horse I recently gave myself a project: to make a series of po

Apr 133 min read

ABOUT ME

In 1985, my thesis took me from the tidy academic world of MIT to the muddy valley of Armero, Colombia. This contrast between academy and mud would set the pattern for my future. For the next 20 years, I worked as a project specialist, policy advisor and manager in Latin America and the Caribbean. Finding solutions to often messy challenges.Ten years ago, I stepped away from this work (...)