Travel Art...Minus the Glamour

I did some art for the New York Times travel section last week, art directed by Shannon Robertson and Angelica Rogers. The topic was legroom in Coach, something I'm familiar with after many years as a travel writer. (Every year it seemed the seats got narrower and closer together...or was I still growing?) The conversation in the column was about the aggravation and aggression that close quarters generate. I drew it two ways for them to choose from. First I drew a conventional composition of unhappy travelers elbowing and scowling at each other. Then I tried to think what they reminded me of. Knees shoved up, shoulders hunched––and I thought of kiddycars, adults shoehorned into seats designed for children. This added the aggressive element that I was reading about. And why not make the kiddycars into small airliners? The space allotted for the illustration allowed me to decapitate two figures on the left, a natural consequence of modern travel.

The Zen of Snorkeling

This is one of four illustrations I just finished for Shambhala Sun magazine, art directed by Liza Matthews. It makes me want to explore the underwater mysteries of Lake Harriet, which I can see from my studio window. Might be a bit cold; the ice just melted this past week. No exotic fish, mostly sunnies and northerns. Someone snagged a six foot sturgeon in the lake a few years ago. It was older than I am.

I am not a Camera

There is a stairway up to a public balcony on a church opposite the Radcliffe Camera, giving you the best view there is of Oxford. The sweep of the High, the spires of All Souls, the narrow streets, glimpses of grass-carpeted quadrangles hidden away from the foot traffic. But it is the Camera that holds the attention. A baroque church dome divorced from its boring liturgical parts, or maybe a church built for one person. I've never been inside, but a photograph taken from this ground level perspective greets my eye when I wake every morning. It is my favorite building in Europe, but most people I tell about it think it is a one-hour photo shop somewhere in Boston.

Airplanes, etc.

My parents once expressed hopes that I'd find a job in the airline business, so they could fly for free. A very sensible idea. The closest I've come is doing art for airline advertising. Fifteen years ago I did a daily ad for one airline. This week I've been doing some paintings for another. As a mapmaker, it's a good fit. But illustrators seldom are flown anywhere on assignment. I get to go places more often as a travel writer. I used to fly all over to write about ski destinations, but since I no longer ski I am looking for a different gig. Beaches maybe, or cities with interesting cafés. I once introduced myself as the food and wine editor for Skiing magazine. I could do the same for another magazine if asked.

Travelers With Dumbbells

Some of the niftiest illustrations are done on topics that are hard to visualize, I suppose because it gives me license to distort reality, to be really imaginative. This, I think, was for an article about exercises you can do while traveling, something I travel to get away from.