Africa Reboots

At top is my illustration for

a New York Times Op-Ed piece

written by Bono about his month-long trip

through Africa, and new developments there.

Below it is an earlier version featuring

portraits of Nelson Mandela,

Youssou N’dour, Kofi Anan
and others, but he rewrote the piece

with less emphasis on the people

so I took a more general approach.

You can read the editorial here

Recent Work

Some recent commissioned work.

Click on the images for a larger view.

This is a small piece for Travel and Leisure,

about a program which automatically donates

a portion of your hotel fee to organizations

like The Bodhi Tree, which among other things,

helps protect Bengal Tigers and their habitat.

This, below, is also for Travel and Leisure.

The article is about how more and more people,

when they travel, don't just want to have a vacation,

but to interact with local people, volunteer,

and experience the place more directly

through it's citizens and culture.

Here's a recent piece for an article

in Common Ground magazine

called Potholes and Pitfalls which talks about

how many private communities are struggling

with the costs of maintaining their private roads.

An illustration for Natural Health magazine

about ways to keep your blood pressure

in the safe zone, including diet exercise and meditation.

The Exquisite Corpse Adventure Update

I've been working on a project

with The Library of Congress

and The National Children's Book and Literacy Alliance

called The Exquisite Corpse Adventure.

As The Library of Congress site read.gov describes it:

Our "Exquisite Corpse Adventure" works this way:

Jon Scieszka, the National Ambassador for Young People's Literature,

has written the first episode, which is "pieced together

out of so many parts that it is not possible

to describe them all here, so go ahead and just start reading!"

He has passed it on to a cast of celebrated writers and illustrators,

who must eventually bring the story to an end.

Every two weeks, there will be a new episode and a new illustration.

The story will conclude a year from now.

The roster of writers is very impressive –

and aside from Jon Scieszka also includes

Daniel Handler aka Lemony Snicket, Gregory Maguire,

M.T. Anderson, Nikki Grimes, and lots of others.

My fellow illustrators are Chris van Dusen,

Timothy Basil Ering, Steven Kellogg and James Ransome.

The National Children's Book

and Literacy Alliance site describing the project is here.

The interactive book on the Library of Congress site is here.

It's a really wild story,

I have illustrated Episodes 3,7, and 15 so far. Here are my illustrations:

A Poem for Halloween

The Hawthorn Berry

Let’s take a trip
to East Londonderry
and pay a visit
to The Hawthorn Berry –
the last old gothic apothecary.
It’s a gathering place
for weary undertakers
to relax and chat
over nightshade boilermakers
and other odd toddies.
They talk about funerals
and dead bodies–
the tricks of the trade,
how crypts are made,
and helpful hints
like which tints of makeup
make cheeks appear rosiest.
Which headstones are costliest.
Which coffins are coziest.
Even the nosiest
eavesdroppers, gawkers,
and local loud talkers
find the atmosphere calming.
it must be the candles
and herbs for embalming
down at Hawthorn Berry –
the last old gothic apothecary.

© calef brown 2009

Harvest Festival Poster

I created this artwork for poster, banner and print use

for the Ferry Building Marketplace in San Francisco,

and their yearly harvest festival.

The Ferry Building is such a wonderful piece of architecture.

The repetitive arches were architect A.Page Brown’s symbolic nod

to the aqueduct in Rome. He wanted to represent the

importance of water and waterways to cities.

Dooce.com

A very flattering and kind mention

of my book Polkabats and Octopus Slacks

here on the well known blog Dooce.com

Thanks to my sister Phebe

for introducing me to Dooce, one of her favorite blogs.

The Crystal Bowling Ball

A short video I made of the poem The Crystal Bowling Ball from my book Flamingos on the Roof.

Read beautifully by JohnMcDonough.

The Audio CD is available too, from Recorded Books.

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