The Animal Charmer

Behold, my final large piece for my senior thesis, illustrating Francis Hodgson Burnett's The Secret Garden! Here we see Mary's new friend Dickon in his natural state, entertaining two rabbits, a cock pheasant, and a squirrel while resting in his beloved moor on a late winter's day.

My thesis has been a lot of fun but it has also been very challenging. This medium can be tricky and very time-consuming, and as a result this past semester has been one of my hardest at MICA. Still, I believe that I've learned a lot from this process and next time I start a similar project I will be smarter. In the future I hope to experiment with loosening up my technique and maybe incorporating some painting and drawing to add even more texture and to hopefully make things move a little faster. For now, though, I'm very proud of the work I've done and I look forward to showing it at commencement in May. I plan on making a book jacket for this project over this break and maybe adding in a few more spot-type things in my spare time to round out the series. It's actually quite nice to carry a bit of sewing around with you when you don't feel like your life's blood is on the line.