Holiday Restock #2

Prints, prints, prints! If 2021 holds ANY certainty, it’s that the birds with flies series will be expanding, and any opportunity to create fishy goodness in art form will be explored. While I wait for the final prints to be delivered, I can share here what will be added to available print stock for holiday giving needs, and a peek at some in-process goodness to come.

Birds with Flies

Now joining the Black Throated Blue Devil and Black Throated Green + Rooster’s Regret: the Common Yellowthroat Colonel, Tennessee + Nine Three, and Yellow Canary! After initially printing only a collector’s run of hand-detailed prints for the first two buddies, these new additions are offered as straightforward archival prints ready for the frame.

have you ever seen such purdy poo

Scat in the Woods

Created initially for a Yankee Swap company party, this gag gift is the perfect bathroom art for all your nature-inclined friends. While I can’t say it was a pleasure to create [what a life, researching excrement samples of woodland critters] I can confirm it is accurate. Archival prints with 5x7” dimensions for quick and easy framing.

Sneak peek at a favorite detail featuring brookie cutie and purple haze

Commission Love

When my first real print collector reached out to show me where they ended up in her cabin, I was smitten: right at home alongside the work of esteemed nature and scientific illustrators, out in the woods where they should be. Even better: she followed up with request for more birds, plus some fishy goodness. I jumped at the idea of bringing Maine and Montana together through wing and water, and graced with the trust to see the concept through in larger format. This piece is a doozy and is taking more time than anticipated, but I am enjoying every moment

Another sneak peek at the aerial view through the eyes of a magpie

While the final piece is still in process, here are a few sneak peeks from below the surface and above, featuring only a few of the characters at play. The gauche is making for some fun textural depth, and my obsession with linear detail had a field day in these feathers, currents, and connecting elements.

This piece will head out west to Big Sky over the holidays. Crunch time!

Holiday Restock #1

My brain scrambled trying to make sense of how to be with family and loved ones this holiday season. Like many will probably come to conclude, plans are going to incorporate much more space than usual. We’re also dealing with more stress, anxiety, and general uncertainty [or at least that’s what every commercial is screaming at me] which has meant more therapeutic doodling on my end. So why not share the anxious love!

I’m super behind on almost every project, including coloring book publishing. Thankfully, it’s easier to order a bunch of prints and cards than it is to publish a book. Here are some of the options now available:

SENDING LOVE

Front of card, ready for you to color in

First up, we’ve got the notecards that double as coloring pages! I was so excited to complete this initial concept, which will be expanded over the winter months [and however long quarantines and social distancing continue] so stay tuned. This card features scenes from nature ready for color to be added by either you before sending, or the recipient of your note. The cards and envelopes are made of 100% post-consumer recycled paper — yay!

FROM THE FLY TIERS DESK

Handsome gent, on call to send to your birding buds or fly tying muses

Here’s a familiar buddy from the Maine warblers and classic streamers series, now in notecard format with room to add your personal fly recipe, or give your fishing buddy shit from a distance. I’m so excited to get these handsome buggers out into the world besides in fine art print format! Same deal as the coloring notecards: 100% recycled post-consumer paper to make these cards and envelopes.

SALMO BANANA

The most magnificent fish, now in card format

And now, a sneak peek at a project still in the works that just can’t stay in hiding anymore — at least this guy can’t. Have you ever seen a fish so graceful, so elegant, so…yellow. Have a fishing buddy who won’t have bananas on his boat? Send him one anyway, with room for a personal note on the back. Bananas are great boat snacks.

Welp, that’s all I’ve got for the moment. This is all a glimpse into a much lighter side of work, and I hope it brightens your mailbox someday soon. Pre-order now and expect to get your packs in the mail before December [fingers crossed!] While you’re at it, buy out my remaining fine art prints so I can order new stuff.

Maine Adventure in a License Plate

A long time ago, a nerdy kid who loved to draw heard the Maine state license plate would be changing from a tired little lobster to a black-capped chickadee, perched in a white pine. That kid — despite not having a car — was giddy by the idea of seeing thousands of birds on the road, especially since lobster was never a favorite food. She mused that someday, maybe she could make a license plate…odd dream for a kid, but this is what happens when you have hours of unstructured time in the woods and road trips.

Canoeing in the Maine woods

Two decades later, a license plate design has become a very real possibility. I’ve been a part of Maine Outdoor Brands since the start of Confluence Collective, immediately drawn in by the collaborative energy and possibility of bringing companies and organizations together around a shared love: the Maine outdoors. It seemed like the perfect way to get to know a new industry, make friends, and nerd out about nature with people who wouldn’t zone out when I gushed about the floating the Androscoggin or asked a million questions about the Allagash. By creating a way for outdoor recreation start-ups to share space with industry giants, a tiny org has lifted the Maine corner of the world beyond what could be achieved individually by involved brands. For me, it’s meant being present at trade shows, punching my way into meetings with brands way above my weight, and challenging goals to be more than I alone could dream up.

Hiking Tumbledown Mountain with friends — great way to spend a summer day

It’s been interesting to progress evolution in my own brand, but also see growth patterns in this community organization as well. My inquiries shifted from watershed insights to questioning the perpetuation of white supremacy in outdoor culture — and MOB was here for it. At first there was the usual verbal support, nodding of heads, agreement in rooms and so forth, followed by the obligatory “what can we do?” Then came tangible challenges: I was ecstatic to work on some illustrations with MOB and at a member event, I was made aware of a vanity plate campaign potential to raise funds for the organization and foster outdoor industry growth here in Maine. I tried my best to quiet the screaming nerdy kid while jumping at the opportunity to collaborate on design, though I doubt the enthusiasm was covert. I found myself drawing scenes from backwoods camping, canoe trips, island kayaking, and questioning how we got this far without paying homage to our native brook trout. What a fun project.

A view of Katahdin from the bow of a canoe in the Kettetegwewick region, known to many as Debsconeag Lake wilderness area. Maine’s copious outdoor recreation areas are well known for stunning mountains, stately conifers, and beautiful rivers. Less often do we consider the role of colonization in our experience of these places.

Behind the sketches, I also heard echos of conversations with friends and collaborators on indigenous land recognition, perpetuated erasure of cultural heritage and contemporary existence, mixed with reverberations of the outdoor industry’s reputation for white-washing the “great outdoors” and dictating appropriate means of interaction, appropriate attire, appropriate nature enthusiasts. The “wilderness” we are painted is one with brush very much in hand of white leadership. I’d been exploring land recognition and decolonized histories of natural spaces for Confluence Collective programming, and was thankful this license plate collaboration was happening at a time in our national narrative where social justice, equity, and racial awareness are coursing through public content. My work with Confluence Collective amplified these themes to incorporate respecting the places we recreate beyond conservation principles [often also curated by whiteness] to include indigenous context, questions of access, and intentional reflection on outdoor culture we foster in these spaces. Other outdoor brands were speaking up on these concepts to varying degrees, some with effective thoughtfulness and others exposing problematic corporate influence, and still more remaining silent. There’s a level of anxiety around doing or saying the wrong thing — an excuse worn out by decades of inaction and perpetuated harm. Knowing silence on this movement was not an option, and battling internally on the problematic performative allyship that comes along with land acknowledgements in public-facing spaces, I centered in on approach and impact: what could a pebble of information create in community ripples?

Finding inspiration in the outdoors is easy to do around Maine

Fly fishing is my primary form of outdoor recreation; we’re incredibly lucky to have native brook trout like this in our waters!

Part of the appeal to a plate design was the potential to reach a wider audience, essentially anyone who registers a car, and have that interaction be one filled with love and appreciation for where we live. This reach also offered opportunity to share information, to challenge each other to make sense of our statehood and learn from our past instead of perpetuating harm. In Confluence Collective programming, these acknowledgements were contextualized in experiences and interactions; could something without personal touch in the time of COVID-19 offer similar benefit? It can seem like a lofty goal to place on a product of governance, but why not have some thoughtful intention in all parts of life — even the mundane? I jotted down an incomplete recognition of Penobscot Nation land rights and noted Katahdin’s sacred status in the design description and sent it along to MOB.

Canoeing around Rangeley in late Spring

What followed were weeks of conversation: would MOB be perpetuating colonial land grab by depicting a sacred mountain for their campaign? Or were we blinded by a colonizer concept of land ownership? Who could come into the conversation to ensure respectful and thoughtful incorporation? What relationships did/did not exist, and how could building relationships help direct not only this project, but the future of the organization? ED Jenny tapped her network, looped in Wabanaki Council contacts, and brought Darren Ranco [Chair of Native American Programs, Associate Professor of Anthropology + Coordinator of Native American Research, University of Maine] into the conversation. We learned about the complicated affiliation of Katahdin singularly to Penobscot Nation, and expanded our view to the full Wabanaki coalition of tribal entities. We swapped language with colonial connotation for something more open, and more focused on the overall intention of our plate design: to focus on our outdoors as a place to love, to investigate ourselves and our world within, to celebrate and enjoy:

“In looking to represent the state outside of the rocky coastlines many visitors know us by, I focused on an outdoor scene that felt most like home, and most like what Mainers see. This scene features Katahdin near the west branch of the Penobscot river: a watershed that spans the width of our state from western mountains to downeast, and remains a critical part of the homeland of the Penobscot Nation. Known as Kettetegwewick, this region holds a canoe route and public land access to Katahdin, known by many hikers as the end of the AppalachianTrail and held as a sacred site by all the Wabanaki Tribal Nations located in what is currently called Maine: the Penobscot Nation, the Passamaquoddy Tribe, the Aroostook Band of Micmacs, and the Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians.

While this is a specific site depicted, the design is intended to be reminiscent of any backwoods canoe trip or hiking trail in Maine with mountains on the horizon, conifers lining the bank, and expansive woods and waters. The famous brook trout and flying predator, the osprey are depicted to represent familiar wildlife encounters. We hope this design encourages Mainers to connect with and be surrounded by nature, experience and investigate, get lost and awaken through an adventure of their own.”

MaineBiz feature of the Maine Outdoor Brands ADVENTURE Plate campaign

The ADVENTURE plate has been proposed as a way to support Maine’s future in outdoor recreation, and celebrate this wonderful place we live. With a goal of 2,000 preorders required to make this license plate a reality, be sure to share this project with those around you and sign up for your own!

Preorders are available here. If we reach 2000 and are approved to move forward into production, funds generated will be used to support programs and initiatives in Maine to increase access to entrepreneurial resources and careers in the outdoor industry. Be sure to keep tabs on Maine Outdoor Brands as they monitor our progress in this campaign and continue to support outdoor entities across the state.

Tight lines,

Bri

First Prints EVER!

Well, almost: first prints ever NOW AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE!! It’s been a complicated dance of not wanting to dump money into myself + global pandemic, convincing myself otherwise, back and forth finding the right printers, papers, and processes, and FINALLY you can view all available prints here. Basic details to keep in mind:

• All prints are on 310g archival Hahnemühle rag paper, giving a little texture while maintaining all the lovely details I obsess over endlessly

• These giclee prints are created using giant inkjet printers far to expensive to buy as an individual artist

• All prints are hand-detailed: I can’t NOT do this. Plus, you’ll end up with a 100% unique print as a result

I think you’ll like how they came out. Here’s a peek at what’s available now:

Feathers and Flies:

Black Throated Green + Rooster’s Regret — now available as 8”x8”, 12”x12”, or 14”x14” prints

This series will slowly but surely become available as individual elaborations go on in the background of other life/work. For now, the first 2 warblers with heritage streamer flies are ready for you

Fishy Stuff

It should be no surprise that some of the first prints I ordered feature fish. So far, we’ve got a few species illustrations embracing imperfect and unique specimens, as you’d encounter on the water. Think scientific illustrations, but less about perfection and still embracing painterly detail.

Also: stickers! I’ve had a drawer full of random stickers from events and expos, and now with quarantines and continued physical distance, at least you can get a fishy friend to hang out with. This offering will change over time as new designs come out, and feedback is welcome. Once I get through what I’ve got [and thus have spending money to order new stuff'] I’ll update with new, bigger options. This process will take some time, and I appreciate your support along the way!

This new process of stocking merch and fulfilling orders will no doubt come with some learning curve. And, you know, the whole global pandemic thing could throw a wrench in shipping times. For now, I’ll plan to be in touch with any notes and encourage you to be open about questions and comments along the way.

Now…go help an artist out and buy some cool art!

simple buddies

a product of procrastination at some point this winter

Detailed and nuanced visual work is really, truly the best. It’s the most satisfying to me, as I can work through practice to insert more and more complexity to a visual moment.

I’ve focused on the details so much in the past, but with access to an iPad and thus removal of financial barriers to trying new things out, I’ve really loved more simplistic and bluntly communicative images. They allow for a different kind of humor, which inherently appeals to the many dry takes and quips buzzing around my brain at any given moment — now they can exist in the outside world with the aid of imagery.

sabiki rigs on the mind as smelt start running

I’ts been super fun, and now I think these simple buddies will become a regular way to pay homage to the smaller-and-still-significant parts of existence. Furthermore, they provide a less-involved way to actually implement stress management through artistic practice without taking a full day to reset; instead, I can blow off steam as needed with quick drawings.

As writing practice also picks up in 2020, expect to see more of these buddies as we go.

a little valentine — love can even bring spin casters and fly fishers together!

simple illustration created for a blog post on Confluence Collective’s website

The Jump

Sometime, somewhere back in the depths of my subconscious as my young self made plans for the future, I convinced myself art couldn’t be a job. I couldn’t make money doing something that felt so selfish, so focused on my own expression or thoughts, so unstable and unreliable. Reality reinforced them: student loans are crushing, cost of living is a big deal, and the pressure to contribute immediately can be dizzying. I distracted myself with these very tangible worries and spoke to them through traditional work ethic in traditional work spaces. By moving my focus away from internal artistic motivations, I quietly became numb and accepted the divorce of art making from my every day experience. After all, who am I to take time for myself to explore creative process and find joy in work when so many people live their whole lives without it? Who am I to burden someone else with the 9-5 while I explore ill-defined artistic potential? I settled for the smaller celebrations of creativity still found in even the most mundane if you look hard enough, and convinced myself they were sufficient.

STUDENT WORK: shadows of a past dream with new light on ‘em.

Despite my best efforts to become totally engrossed in the work at hand in the traditional ways — to live within the restraints others suggested and I internalized — whispers and reminders of self poked through. Eventually, I couldn’t talk over them.

I changed course. I started something new that allowed me to be more intentional with my time and rethink the necessity of corporate culture. My privilege allowed me to get to this point: I had [and continue to rely on] a support network that enthusiastically encourages me and sees potential beyond my own blind spots. I saved money, have a partner who kicks NGO ass, and I have a home. My dog even encourages me to be more kind and loving to myself. I also had cultural archetypes doing similar exciting things that provided the tiny reinforcement of “if they can do it, so can I” to sink in — our systems of society do not treat others so kindly, and this is not lost on me.

The jump started with a strong surge of mission and purpose with my privilege in mind, to which art became a tool: my new work could be communicated and expressed in visual forms that had impact individually AND served mission progress. Who knew?!

RIVER THOUGHTS: simple illustration communicates the anxieties and otherness fly fishing culture can inspire in even the most badass fly fishers — but especially for fly fishers who already feel other. This piece was designed in reflection of a colleague’s anecdote and journey, shared with a greater community and met with understanding.

REDFISH: from a series of juvenile fish species. By highlighting well-recognized fish species, illustrations can inform on early life morphological identification points to ensure safe and healthy encounters while also reminding us of our own journeys of growth we undertake throughout our lives..

Initially, this all began through the re-connection to self: I started doing what I grew up doing and drew my observations, and continued exploring identity. Fish, birds, moose, dogs — I rediscovered my artistic practice and somehow managed to progress style and approach in a way that was gratifying. I couldn’t stop.

CUTTHROAT: detail from an upcoming publication in collaboration with an amazing human.

Then projects started forming. I could create a series of work to reinforce a mission. I could collaborate with other minds to make something entirely new. I could…I could…I could — almost endless. Amazing to see what possibility exists when you remove your self-imposed restrictions.

I am writing this as a humble exploration and extension of this possibility. Can I serve mission AND buy groceries? If I can somehow work this out and maintain a creative lifestyle, it’s worth putting some effort in to try.

There’s still a lot to discover, many collaborators to meet, and plenty of mistakes to make. Thankfully, fish, birds, and my other usual subjects are kind ones…or apathetic, at the very least. Let’s hope for some empathy and understanding from fellow humans. I say this to encourage a shared journey: I want to further goals beyond my own, and I want to be better. I am working hard to evolve, and I hope my work encourages and supports others in this necessary journey to self. And heck, every once in a while, hopefully it dumps humor all over human emotions and experiences to make us all feel a little bit closer, a little more seen, and a little bit more of a community.

All that to say: after months [+ years] of convincing myself to invest in myself, I finally got shit moving!

Let’s try this out.