Mini Lisa  1.75" x 2.5" painting by Judith Hunt medium- gouache and watercolor  Painting a copy of the masterpiece Mona Lisa* as a miniature was quite difficult but I approached it as both a learning experience and a challenge. This was an illustration assignment from Highlights for Children who wanted the painting redone small so they could reproduce it many times and add  "mistakes" to

 Wonder Woman and the Terrors of the Abyss © Judith Hunt Had to do another WonderWoman painting to give to the buyer of the Wonder Woman vs the Robot Bugs done for the Wonder Woman Day IV  auction that benefits the Rhapael House in Portland Oregon. My painting of Wonder Woman vs the Mechanical Insects was chosen to be in an art show and I wanted to display the original rather than a print. The

The new pvc greenhouse * (see bottom note about building plans) was finally tested by a snowstorm snowstorm of 6" inches. We built this greenhouse last spring after the old one collapsed during a heavy wet 3' snowstorm. We decided to design and build one that we could repeat more of cheaply and easily The insides showed very little stress...it helped we put in 3 sturdy supports directly

I have been  member of  The Maine Illustrator's Collective for the past 3 years. I do their blog editing, most of the writing,  coordinating their new website, assist with advertising and show promotion. Because of this I have gotten to know many of the professional illustrators living and working in the upper New England area.Connecting and networking with other artists who have walked the

Recently finished one of many illustrations for a book called Memorial Day. The illustration was refreshing to do...a charming older serviceman in uniform.... white haired with an interestingly wonderfully lined face that showed his years of life and service engraved all over it. I tried to incorporate the feeling of the Flander's Field poem...a hillside filled with red poppies into the

It is never too late to give thanks so here's my post Thanksgiving Day post. Yesterday found me contemplating all day what I had to be thankful for while I harvested & cooked our farm food for the feast. No matter how difficult things have been and no matter many hours I had to work in my early years juggling children's needs and my art as a single mother it will never ever be as hard as many

Previous Advertising  It is that time of year...."to buy or not to buy"..... advertising in an Illustrator's Annual. I have to have perspective to be able to justify the cost so here it is: The ratio of artists-to-jobs  has increased tremendously since the 90's, with cutbacks in the purchase of freelance art occurring throughout the print industry. Budget poor publishing companies hit hard

Well, the ever dependable farmhands cleaned the pond, put away the leftover gallon perennials, put the winter snow supports in the farm's greenhouse (no collapsing greenhouses this year!), helped me store all the tropicals and the banana trees in the basement, and harvested the carrots and potatoes with very little moaning and slacking off  this last Sunday so I decided to give them a big fall

Last night,  two wild critters had a duel on the farm's porch. We went outside after hearing a commotion and smelling a godawful smell. A stinky skunk and a sneaky possum were facing off over possession of  the compost heap bucket. The possum won the battle by climbing up onto the table and into the bucket of scraps. Smart possum.

During the research process of  illustrating a book for Treasure Bay on the 1906 San Francisco earthquake I came across wonderful old film footage. If  it ever is possible to time travel then I'm getting tickets for the 1900's City of San Francisco. The below video features 2 old films combined to show before and after the earthquake. The Call Building (tall baroque building on left)  and

I found myself getting weepy over these videos... this era brings back memories of my older sister and brother and their involvement with what was going on during this time period: the Vietnam War, drugs, protests, and especially the freedom to imagine without restrictions . The endless possibilities of Don's generation is all there in his art. I don't think the people of the world have this

That said I had to do research for a couple of jobs for a more fantasy like rendition of a horse and this is some of what I ran across in my internet travels. It is interesting to notice that the horse figures in art everywhere, both old and new. I wonder what we would depict if we had no horses on this earth? Imagine a carousel with not a single horse.  The painting  I am doing is not based

    I picked this photo to post as it looked like Don and these guys were a fun bunch.  (left to right) SF illustrator Don Ivan Punchatz, Pat Boyette,  art collector Dave Karlen,  author Don Mangus, comic book artist Kerry Gammill,  Lone Star Comics owner and Texas fan legend              Buddy Saunders, and comic book artist Steve Erwin Photo by Roger Huebner When I

 Well, I surprised myself!  I was bitten by the motorcycle bug! Me, the practical, no nonsense, lets get this stuff planted and no backsass from you farmhands!  Me, with hands tough and chapped from working the soil, the same me who slaves over a hot stove all day cannin' every last friggin' pear from the farm's over abundant fruit trees. That Me...I'm still pinching myself to see if I  wake up

The November Maine Illustrators Collective's Classics Reimagined Art Show is interestingly themed as all the new art is based on old classics. Reception is on Saturday Nov. 7 12-3 at the Freeport Community Library Members books will be signed and sold and the art shown is also for sale. Lots of fun interpretations of old classics to look at. The "classic" painting I submitted you can see at

I contacted, Amy Williams, the director of  Rhaphael House the charity that benefits by the WW Day event, inquiring  if the "buyer" of my WW Day 4 painting was contacted since last week. Several people, after reading my earlier posts, have contacted me and let me know that they could not get their bids through during the auction proceedings and the auction site was malfunctioning. To my dismay I

The week culminated with me finishing and uploading the first book, Ellis Island, of a series called "Our Nation's Pride" . Uber patriotic....but does require me to look up lots of historical facts so am trying to make sure that what is shown as the TRUTH is not made up. At this same time I was disturbed to hear from a few friends and family that when they had tried to bid on my Wonder Woman

Been a weird week... Dealt with a family emergency Saturday which left me overwhelmed by Saturday night. Then on Sunday I realized, as I was returning art from the Spooky Show and participating in the quarterly MEIC meeting, that I had not checked the auction for my WW art on Saturday. I checked  and was sickened to find out that the painting sold for $50. This particular painting took 60

It's the end of the growing season here in Maine. The frosts have come and it even snowed a bit. So what is  left in the field's farm to feed the famished farmhands for the next month or so? Potatoes, onions, carrots, beets, and parsnips, of course! Here's a quick and easy recipe..guaranteed to get them back to work in a jiffy! (Don't tell them it's healthy and they won't grumble) Roasted

Illustration from Prunes and Rupe © Judith Hunt/ Filter Press Art around the farm is fitted in around life in general...the harvests, the canning, the wood collecting and splitting, the repairs, the seeding, the transplanting, the watering, clearing and plowing land, the endless weeding. Some artists make their art their total focus 'til they are too old to do much else other than art. Their

The studio library where every book is much used.  The old studio stairwell is covered with paintings. sculptures, odds and ends...  In the farmhouse there is a library room of reference books and old children's books, comic books, photo reference books, art annuals, art books, and, yes, National Geographics.... and in that room sits a ancient architect's drafting table, loaded down with a

First the sun came out and it was nice. Then the clouds came and it rained and got really cold. Hard frost rolled in for two nights in a row leaving blackened withered plants looking like scarecrows.  Winter has come to Maine a bit early methinks. The last of fall leaves (sugar maples) behind the farmhouse.  A bird's eye view of Ellis Island © Judith Hunt Busy with the Ellis Island book,

I learned to use a bobcat out of sheer necessity working at a large nursery in Scarborough, Maine a few years back when I was not doing as much art as I was sheer physical labor each planting season. I filled large landscaping  trucks with mulch, compost or topsoil trying nervously not to ruin their shiny new trucks.. I got the hang of it pretty darn quick. Bobcats are nice and easy; quick to

Fall spells the end of the cut flower season on our farm and the end of seemingly endless watering,  replaced by a whole new chore list: storing the temperates and tropicals away under the basement grow lights, digging and storing the winter's supply of potatoes, beets, onions, and carrots, picking the last of the pears and apples, digging up the dahlias and cleaning them for storage, collecting

There is a reason for the name of this Epiphyllum. It's huge fragrant  blossoms (sometimes over 9") open in the evening, close at dawn, and wilt. The smell is intoxicating and heady, filling the greenhouse with it's scent. So far it has bloomed 5 times over the summer. The last buds for the season are going to bloom in the next 3 weeks. Then it's back to looking like a huge ugly Christmas