Moon Watchers
Landscape, landscapes
There is Landscape and then there are Landscapes. I specialize in both I guess. Almost every morning I go out and draw what I see in nature. Often it’s a kind of nature journaling. This work most closely aligns with the traditional Landscape genre. Here are a few examples:
These are mostly landscape drawings not “paintings” per se. And they include lots of wildlife. Drawing is useful in that it allows me to quickly keep up with the things and “actors” I see as I view and participate in nature, the landscape.
When I’m in my studio however, “nature” is replaced by the art making practice and traditional art making materials: paper, watercolor paints, chalk, etc. And a different form of landscape emerges. The algorithm changes a bit. My emotions and judgements are fairly consistant but the questions I ask of them are quite different.
I have many more examples of both kinds of Landscape and landscapes. I’ve been in love with nature from the very start and focused on landscape-oriented art all through art school and graduate school, which in the 1980’s included photography and site-specific and traditional sculpture. My comfort in both ways of working, which are seamless to me, is their immediacy and directness and the challenges they offer me. And is no shortage of challenges to look forward to as my vocation evolves.
(And I should add, that my portfolio of illustrated children’s books trends decidedly to natural and animal subjects. So despite the differences in the questions asked of me, the answers come from a similar need to celebrate and hold up all that I can encompass of nature. It’s all congruent. What may seem like the work of a dilettante is whole cloth to me and I hope you see that too.
2024 calendar poster for sale
My 2024 calendar poster is available for purchase. Order yours now to get it in time for the New Year. 18 x 24,” shipped flat & folded or rolled in a tube. Please indicate with your order; prices vary. Order at Etsy
This is a fully functional calendar with highlighted holidays. Whimsical text in lower right says “It was not the best way to start the day but the twins felt that by afternoon, the little bird would have a mostly positive memory of flying and would soon forget her dusty crumpled feathers.” © Rob Dunlavey 2023
Trees: stumps & driftwood
Landscapes have stories to tell. They tell stories of past lives and new ones adapting to current situations. Tree stumps and driftwood tell tales of violence and calamity, greed and the death of trees. Driftwood symbolizes the circuitous and ignominious journeys trees take and the eventual gift they provide when their wandering comes to an end. Birds are the nurses who care and bards who fashion meaning out of the chaos and calamity of a tree’s life story.
Below: paintings from my studio that say something (but what?) about the broken but proud fellow citizens who journey with us. Say hello to a tree today :)
A School Notebook
My daughters have gradually moved away from home and started adult lives of their own. Things that were part of their teenage lives are stored in boxes or have been dispersed. One such item is a lined paper notebook. I started using it recently for my doodles. This is something I do while I wait for paint to dry in my other sketchbooks.
Mazza Museum Summer Conference 2023
The Mazza Museum, located in the heart of the campus of the University of Findlay in Findlay, Ohio is not on that many people’s radar screens. But if you are a children’s book illustrator or author, librarian, children’s librarian or a learning specialist, the Mazza Museum is an incredible treasure and resource. The museum boasts a rapidly growing collection of over 19,000 original works of picture book art: sketches, book dummies and final artwork in all media.
University of Findlay’s Mazza Museum is the world’s largest collection of original artwork by children’s book illustrators. The Museum’s goal is to promote literacy and enrich the lives of all people through the art of picture books.
The museum holds two conferences a year. The Summer Conference is a 3-4 day event with three keynote presentations each day by book illustrators and other creators. An array of diverse breakout sessions and book signings fill out the full days. I was there for the entire conference despite not presenting until the last day. I was able to catch memorable presentations by my colleagues:
Squarespace AI: Crystal Cities edition
This text was generated by the Squarespace AI tool:
“…the talented artist known for their breathtaking drawings, has recently captivated audiences with their stunning renditions of castles and cathedrals. Each masterpiece intricately captures the grandeur and architectural marvel of these historical structures. With impeccable attention to detail, Crystal Cities effortlessly brings these castles and cathedrals to life on paper. Every stroke of the pencil seems to breathe life into the stone walls, towering spires, and intricate embellishments. The drawings are a testament to Crystal Cities' mastery of perspective and their ability to convey a sense of awe and wonder. Whether it's the medieval charm of a castle or the ethereal beauty of a cathedral, Crystal Cities' drawings transport viewers to a bygone era, evoking a profound sense of history and admiration for human craftsmanship.”
Crystal Cities (selections from 2022)
I’m assembling a small book of my Crystal Cities from 2022. There are approximately ninety five that I’ve tagged.
This exercise helps me see what trends might be emerging in this practice. Here is a small sampling of these elaborate doodles. Lately, I’ve done a lot of them —and it’s 2023. What this usually means is that I don’t know what to make pictures of so I default to Crystal Cities. Interesting!
Whale Fall Meet & Greet: April 22nd at Wellesley Books
Melissa Stewart and I will be having a “Meet & Greet” and signing books at Wellesley Books on Earth Day, Saturday, April 22nd at 2-3 pm. More Information.
Whale Fall: Exploring an Ocean-Floor Ecosystem (Hardcover)
By Melissa Stewart, Rob Dunlavey (Illustrator)
$18.99 ISBN: 9780593380604
Availability: On our shelves now. Published: Random House Studio - March 14th, 2023
ABOUT THE BOOK
This fascinating nonfiction picture book filled with stunning illustrations details the end of life for a whale, also known as a whale fall, when its body sinks to the ocean floor and becomes an energy-rich food source for organisms living in the deep sea.
When a whale dies, its massive body silently sinks down, down, through the inky darkness, finally coming to rest on the silty seafloor. For the whale, it's the end of a 70-year-long life. But for a little-known community of deep-sea dwellers, it's a new beginning. First come the hungry hagfish, which can smell the whale from miles around. Then the sleeper sharks begin their prowl, feasting on skin and blubber. After about six months, the meat is gone. Year after year, decade after decade, the whale nourishes all kinds of organisms from zombie worms to squat lobsters to deep-sea microbes.
ABOUT THE CREATORS
Melissa Stewart has written more than 200 science books for children, including Tree Hole Homes: Daytime Dens and Nighttime Nooks; the ALA Notable Book Feathers: Not Just for Flying and the SCBWI Golden Kite Honor title Pipsqueaks, Slowpokes, and Stinkers: Celebrating Animal Underdogs. She co-authored 5 Kinds of Nonfiction: Enriching Reading and Writing Instruction with Children’s Books and edited the anthology Nonfiction Writers Dig Deep: 50 Award-Winning Authors Reveal the Secret of Engaging Writing. Melissa maintains the award-winning blog Celebrate Science and serves on the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators board of advisors.
Rob Dunlavey is the illustrator of In the Woods by David Elliott, which received three starred reviews, and Owl Sees Owl by Laura Goodwin, which garned four starred reviews and was named a School Library Journal Best Book of the Year, among others. His artwork has been featured in the New York Times, the Boston Globe, Businessweek, and the Los Angeles Times.
Doo-doo doodle
A doodle from my sketchbook. A warm-up exercise.
Winter
The Rest on The Flight into Egypt
I enjoy reinterpreting subjects from the long arc of Art History. In this case we see the bedraggled Holy Family approaching a campsite in the desert. This theme, a family of persecuted refugees, interpreted by many famous artists allows for displaying one’s ability to draw and paint the following: figures in a landscape, donkeys, old men and young maidens baring their breasts in acceptable and holy fashion. And of course there’s the Christ child in his meek and mild mannered post Nativity normalcy. Being a refugee is hardly normal however. Please take note!
Grackles at Night
These birds have stopped wondering how they became part of this painting. They do have some questions about being active after dark. But perhaps, the bright reflection in the water is what has drawn them from their normally vigilant slumber. Maybe they are confused and find it impossible to reconcile day and night. Or perhaps, it is just the hidden moon playing a trick.
The Night Heron
Night herons are real birds. This drawing however is from a specific memory of a heron hunting at low tide below the piers in Nantucket harbor. The world was getting ice cream and strenuously having a good time. Meanwhile, the heron focused on the mud for things to eat. What do you think of that?
Heat Wave Therapy
If you’re looking for a new way to forget the latest heat wave for a little while, try what I do: draw pictures of cold things, cold memories. My go-to is a snowy forest scene where the trees have their trunks sunk down in the snow. These are made with crayon or pastel. The snowy blue shadows might be colored pencil or watercolor. Have fun and stay cool.
Mysterious Landscapes
Paint first, Think later. This is a good way to get started. But sometimes we have to wait a very long time for something less sublime to staff the picture. When the people and critters fail to appear, I realize that this is the way God intended it. We are surrounded by silent and mysterious landscapes. If only we’d listen!
Recent Crystal Cities paintings
I’ve said it before, “Crystal Cities are what I paint when I don’t know what to paint.” This is how I prefer to work: into the moment, reacting to my materials and methods, with the confidence that some useful meaning or justification will emerge. It’s a strategy and a form of self-interrogation that relies, somewhat comfortably on a limited set of artistic variables. They don’t teach this in art school! It is borne from necessity and makes its own mysterious path.
Don't You Wonder?
If one pays attention to the news, it seems that humans love to fight. So many do it. We all love a good fight. But just for once (and maybe forever), I’d like to know what we would talk about and do if we weren’t preoccupied with fighting and being mean to each other. Don’t you?
War Theme
The war in Ukraine is close to all our minds and hearts. I try not to focus on it directly as if it were an illustration assignment to solve. But imagery arises easily when onion-domed Crystal Cities appear on my paper.