Here's a recent piece for The New York Times Well blog about menopause and how to manage the side effects. I enjoyed making her look really uncomfortable. Thanks again to Peter Morance for the gig.

The sketch:

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 Here's a piece I worked on a few weeks ago that came out this past Sunday for The New York Times Sunday Review. The article is about the failure of imagination on the part of civilians in responding to veteran's experiences. I like this graphic approach and the double vision dreamlike portraits. The strong colors imply trauma and strong emotions. Thanks to Erich Nagler and Aviva Michaelov for another fun assignment.

Here's my comp. The hat was too old fashioned, so I ended up changing it to a helmet.

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Here's a commission I finished recently for a pilot. It's all cut paper collage and ink...no digital manipulation on this one. The plane is made from sliced images of the ground and landscape as seen from above, which connects the plane to the earth and gives it weight. I'm always amazed that these heavy tin cans always get off the ground! The various sky and clouds are a link to the different types of weather one encounters in the sky, and make visible invisible elements like heat and wind that push and pull on airplanes. The golden ink lines make one think of maps, travel, and flight plans.

 

© shannon freshwater

 A couple weeks ago I did a piece for the NYT Well blog about the importance of palliative care. Thanks once again to Peter Morance for the assignment. I hope you all have a great holiday season! Cheers!

 

©shannon freshwater

Here are a few Post-Its for Giant Robot's big Post It Show 9. It is always fun to get a low pressure opportunity to experiment on these small pieces. There were over 250 artists and over 2500 pieces of art and I submitted a whopping 31 pieces! Below are a sampling of my favorites. The opening was last weekend (with people lining up and camping out in the cold and rain a full 24 hours before doors opened) but there are plenty of great works still available. Stop by or purchases artwork online! Thanks to Mark and Esther for continuing to invite me to participate and Eric Nakamura for continuing to put on the show. Also check out this great interview and write up about the show.

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 Here's today's piece for the New York Times Letters section about JFK's assassination and it's 50 year anniversary. Thanks to Alexandra for working with me on this, it turned out great!

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I've been neglecting my blog this summer but not to worry, there will be more posts soon.

For now here's a piece from today's Washington Post about training officers to look for signs of mental distress before resorting to lethal force. Thanks to AD Marianne Seregi.

 

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 Today I have a piece in the New York Times Op-Ed about migrant labor. I love how it fits on the printed page! Big thanks to Matt Dorfman!

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 Here's my most recent piece for Scientific American Magazine about CT scans and radiation exposure. It was fun creating the image from scratch and trying to copy the look of a real CT scan. I did lots of research and am blown away by the beauty of these scans and x-rays. Thanks again to AD Ann Chin.

Here's my mock up sketch. The editors ended up wanting me to show more of the body anatomy and an accurate looking CT scan. I used a different kind of scan in the sketch.

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 Here's a recent piece for the New York Times Science Times about pain medication and their link to heart problems. I was in the midst of a bad cold when working on this illustration and was ironically slightly drugged myself. Despite the loopyness I think it turned out pretty good. Thanks once again to awesome art director Peter Morance!

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 A while back I made this painting for a Soulpancake video and recently a class of 5th and 6th graders at Community School in Roanoke, Virginia watched the video and came up with their own work inspired by my piece! I loved answering their questions about my work and it was really cool to see what they created. It feels great to have an impact on kids as my usual editorial illustration can be a bit heavy. Thanks a bunch to Ms. Cherilyn Colbert, their art teacher, for facilitating such a rad project and taking the pictures!

Here is some of their art which was displayed at an art festival. I am super impressed! They look great!

 Tonight I have a new piece in a group show at The Art Grist gallery. The show is a tribute to Salvador Dali. When they approached me about the show I was a little hesitant because I'm not a huge Dali fan although I love the surrealists. However, I started looking through his work and found a pixelated image of his wife which intrigued me. I've always likened the term pixelated to someone who is slightly eccentric or mentally disordered, and I like the idea of the fractured mind.

Come out and say hi if your in Highland Park for the artwalk!

I created the image in Photoshop like I would an illustration, so I have had giclee prints made, and will have prints for sale as well as the framed print on display.

Here is the inspiration:

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I've been doing these Civil War drawings for years now and I thought they would make cool dish ware. Here are two ceramic bowls that I recently hand painted.

© shannon freshwater