Air Serenbe Residency

For the month of October, I had the honor of being the Artist-In-Residence at Air Serenbe, the nonprofit artist residency program of the Serenbe Institute in Chattahooche Hills, Georgia.

Weeks of solitude, peace, and quiet, I lived in a fully furnished cabin adjacent to the Serenbe community completing my book projects for Scholastic and Lee & Low Books as well as exploring their progressive little town.

I even had the privilege of being filmed by a very talented and local filmmaker, Mr. Blake Williams of Proper Medium who’s done an awesome job of showcasing my drive and passion for what I do as an illustrator in his short video for Serenbe.

Because, unfortunately, many people just don’t get it.

The wonderful ladies at Scholastic, Kate and Laura, who nominated me for this residency.

This may be hard to believe but I am approached by many people who assume that I choose this path as an artist for fame, praise, and recognition. Even though I appreciate their kind words and these small perks, I couldn’t care less about any of that; I am not compelled to do what I do for the validation and approval of others.

I am an artist because I love to create, and I’m fueled by my passion to educate others, advocate for racial equality, and share diverse narratives. And I love knowing that I can make a difference to a child’s wellbeing with the art I create for children’s books.

I don’t think many people understand this, but thank you, Blake, for creating this video that provides people with a facet who I am, how I work, and why I’m driven to make art.

I hope you enjoy it.

Lessons Learned

I finally finished the winter cabin this past week!  It's now surrounded by trees, covered in snow, and nicely settled in its new home in a small, black frame. Unfortunately, I did encounter some challenges with this particular, paper illustration...  

I forgot how decisive you have to be with this medium.  For example, once you put the glue on and stick the paper down, there's no turning back unless you want to start over again.

Secondly, it helps to have a clear idea for the finished illustration.  I was constantly changing the vision I had for the cabin towards the end, and I wished I spent more time with the sketch.

And lastly, I needed to measure everything out before I began using my X-acto knife.  I can't tell you how often I had to re-do something because I didn't take the time to measure it first.

So, there you have it, folks.  It's still a learning process for me when it comes to paper.  But in the end, the cabin was not a complete, snow-covered disaster.  In fact, I'm happy to have learned these lessons.  I'm now even more confident that I will be able to create better paper illustrations for another day. :)