Bernie Fuchs has passed away after a struggle with cancer. As an illustrator who grew up with Fuchs work all round me in its many permutations, I feel the loss of his artistic voice. He was a giant of his generation who was also a gentleman of modest presence. He was an artist who drove himself to excel and to invent and reinvent his style, point of view, and sustain an extraordinary level of taste and quality in every illustration and painting that he produced. We are lucky that, through Leif Peng's blog, we can see the highlights of this gentleman genius' career. I encourage you to visit www.todaysinspiration.blogspot.com as a tribute and a source of inspiration. He will be much missed and well remembered for what he contributed to our world.

Ancient olive trees. The fun part was trying to capture the shimmer and texture of the leaf canopy of this ancient tree near the monastery in Corciano.

A quick painting of the 'Eta Beta' in Corciano, just around the corner from the piazza. Newspapers, cards, sporting news, etc. Got a great pop up card here. The cat showed as I was wrapping it up and graciously modeled just long enough.

Close up of the amazing grain rolls, about 5 feet in diameter that were in every field. Some were wrapped in plastic, others bound in wire or string. Textures were fun to get.

A very quick sketch at the gate of Montepulciano, even painted in some townies. Traffic all round and two solicitors hitting up everyone for donation and signatures to "fight the drugs". Oh sure.....

Oh, this was a beastly hot morning near Corciano. The building is an abandoned fattoria, which was just in front of a pig farming operation. The hot wind was blowing the right way, most of the time. Drenched in sweat by the time it was necessary to quit.

if one was ok, two was certainly better, painted while braced on a steep hillside of olive tree orchards. a little later in the day, early afternoon.

quick sketch done 'al aperto' just outside Cortona

here is a painting form the ramparts of Corciano, in Umbria. A hot morning

Italy! Just stepped OFF the plane and will post a few images shortly. 4 weeks in Umbria teaching for the University, and an extra week in Rome. Stay tuned. Now I know that I SHOULD Facebook this, but hey, I am a little old school....

This just arrived fedex. "No Easy Way" describes the book and the process of getting there, but the results are really quite pleasing. 32 pages. Period costumes! Human drama! Baseball! History with a great moral. Lucia Monfried and Irene Vandervoort get the design kudos, and the award of the century for patience. Solid story and if you have kids who like baseball, especially TED WILLIAMS, then this is a great book about perseverence, drive, and Ted's amazing .406 1941 season. Coming out this Fall.

The paperback version of this showed up today. This was a fun cover to paint, and a good manuscript to read. Got 1o year olds who care about baseball or history? Got Redsox fans in the family?The art director did a good job on this one, I thought, especially with the warmer surround of the image.

Philip Nix, a dear friend, just retired from Sonoma Country Day School, the remarkable institution that he founded on a dream and a promise 26 years ago. Many children, ours included, and their parents, have been propelled forward by that promise. I was inspired by Gilbert Stuart's portrait of George Washington to paint Philip as "Father to his Country - Day School" after seeing Stuart's rendition of our founding father that is on display in the Phoenix Art Museum. He was amused. It was good.

Having suddenly forgotten how to link my blog, i am, instead, gonna recommend that you go to: lisaberrett.blogspot.com if you want to see great design and drawing all at the same time.