tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-58975736350386520222011-12-06T21:23:25.356-07:00Recent projects, articles, travel journals, and personal sketchbook by Paul Mirocha.Paul Martin Mirochanoreply@blogger.comBlogger671100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5897573635038652022.post-2342292368409009632011-08-31T16:03:00.000-07:002011-08-31T16:03:03.820-07:00

Paul's painting of chocolate peanut caramel When Cytosport, maker of "Muscle Milk®" protein bars, decided to launch a new series of bars, they tried photography first. But to represent their product in the most delicious way possible, they needed a blend of realism and fantasy. That was a job for illustration. It had to look as good as it tastes. Cytosport called on me to do super-real

Paul Martin Mirochanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5897573635038652022.post-40398863364845317532011-08-22T17:19:00.001-07:002011-08-23T14:14:14.258-07:00

Or is that Desert Terror? I didn't know what a terroir was either, until I illustrated this book of food history and stories by Gary Paul Nabhan last winter. Desert Terroir will be published by The University of Texas Press in 2012. Cover design featuring Paul Mirocha painting. This story... well you're just going to have to read it. Terroir comes from the French word terre,

Paul Martin Mirochanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5897573635038652022.post-18185673777683946482011-07-20T16:06:00.004-07:002011-07-21T16:43:49.986-07:00

Do you have questions about bats? If not, you will after reading this new book by Rose Hauk, published by Western National Parks Association, illustrated by Paul Mirocha. Basic bat anatomy: so you know how to ask a good question. I have made a lot of scientific illustrations and I'm always looking for a new or better way to make an idea easier to understand. In this case, as usual, we

Paul Martin Mirochanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5897573635038652022.post-29745623076278348882011-07-20T14:41:00.019-07:002011-11-03T14:21:03.285-07:00

Downtown Tucson and the Sta. Catalina Mountains in the distance from the grounds of the 1903 Carnegie Desert Laboratory. My car is parked outside my new digs. (Click for larger image) This past spring, I was invited to be the artist in residence at Tumamoc Hill, "Hill of the Horned Lizard", a Sonoran Desert preserve owned by the University of Arizona. I bought a sketchbook and dedicated it

Paul Martin Mirochanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5897573635038652022.post-33670885347397128782011-07-06T14:35:00.001-07:002011-07-06T15:54:40.838-07:00

The Mesquita (mosque) in Cordoba is still a marvel to me, and this was my second visit there. Artist M. C. Esher went there to draw, so I had to so the same.  A sketch I did on location in the Mesquita in Cordoba. 

Paul Martin Mirochanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5897573635038652022.post-13669257999472361802011-05-11T10:11:00.001-07:002011-05-11T10:17:43.436-07:00

Click image to enlarge Drucker labs use a lot of high-tech science to produce their organic nutritional supplements. But laboratory glassware is just not appealing to the customer thinking about what's for dinner. They had the science down, now for the organic part. To begin the redesign of their branding, Drucker started with the exhibit to be shown at their trade show last January. Here is

Paul Martin Mirochanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5897573635038652022.post-65863333994823032702011-05-03T10:52:00.140-07:002011-05-04T09:31:32.283-07:00

Singing Down Roots: Plant Folklore of the Sonoran Desert is a set of limited edition broadsides originally commissioned by the Arizona Humanities Council as part of a traveling exhibit on desert plants as characters in oral traditions of Southwestern Indian Tribes. Originally published in 1991, there are but a handful of these posters left. All are 22 x 35 inches, offset printed in duotone on

Paul Martin Mirochanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5897573635038652022.post-10664845479589449922011-02-10T12:55:00.001-07:002011-08-10T14:01:21.810-07:00

© Paul Mirocha This turmeric plant illustration is apparently so attractive that people regularly steal it and I have to write them about usage rights, etc.  There is good reason for the popularity of this plant. It's beautiful and delicious. Turmeric, a relative of the ginger plant, is the basic ingredient to curry sauce and gives it it's characteristic orange color. I remember seeing many

Paul Martin Mirochanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5897573635038652022.post-83009603415010933252010-10-06T10:41:00.001-07:002011-05-04T09:10:28.477-07:00

Sabores Sin Fronteras/Flavors without Borders is a series of bilingual, multi-cultural events, sponsored by the Southwest Center at the University of Arizona in Tucson. It's aim is to educate and celebrate local foods of the Southwest, unimpeded by local political issues and surveyors markers. Even US border patrol agents can't resist a good carne asada burrito made of beef from cattle descended

Paul Martin Mirochanoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5897573635038652022.post-35705646710730167562010-09-12T19:16:00.000-07:002010-09-12T19:16:26.056-07:00

This is more of a personal note, but it's what I've been working on recently. On May 5, my son, Leonardo was born. Four days later my wife, Christina Robinson, while still in the hospital, had a serious hemorrhagic stroke that sent her into the ICU for 10 days. It was in her right brain, so it resulted in paralysis of her left side. She spent two months total in hospitals including a

Paul Martin Mirochanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5897573635038652022.post-33328384291372244892010-07-23T09:49:00.003-07:002010-07-23T09:57:04.669-07:00

Pollinators are beautiful, cool, and important--and they are stressed out. Even if you don't know exactly what a pollinator is, you need this poster. Pollinators are IN for interior decor. The North American Pollinator Protection Campaign and Co-evolution Institute have been using my Pollinators painting in their campaign to raise awareness among humans about these essential and beautiful beasts

Paul Martin Mirochanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5897573635038652022.post-79843577952265757702010-05-26T13:41:00.001-07:002011-05-04T09:11:07.302-07:00

Any school kid can identify a monarch butterfly, even if they didn't pay attention in biology class. They are part of normal life. The more adventurous grade-school kids have even caught, banded, and released these butterflies so scientists can track and understand their amazing migration pattern. Common as milkweeds, we all notice them, and take as a fact of life that monarchs will show up

Paul Martin Mirochanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5897573635038652022.post-69501345942865016192010-04-02T17:14:00.004-07:002011-05-04T09:11:33.035-07:00

Exhibit panel for the new Tuzigoot National Monument visitors Center. Last year I received a commission from the National Park Service to create an introduction panel to the new redesign of the Tuzigoot National Monument visitor's center in northern Arizona. The exhibit panels may be in place by the end of this summer. The theme of the exhibit was a unique and interesting one: seeing the

Paul Martin Mirochanoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5897573635038652022.post-67372617478758403002010-03-19T10:11:00.012-07:002011-05-04T09:12:07.334-07:00

A symbolic Zia New Mexico garden (click to enlarge) There is no mistaking this local garden for big agribusiness. It is designed around the the shape of a traditional Zia Pueblo sun symbol, the same one that appears on the New Mexico flag. The garden is still a concept and a symbol in itself of the interdependence of nature and cultures. If it is ever built, it will feature a meticulously

Paul Martin Mirochanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5897573635038652022.post-25331409818575857612010-03-18T23:19:00.009-07:002010-04-23T15:11:45.394-07:00

A Painting without a good drawing behind it is like a body without a skeleton, like a jellyfish of of water. Well, almost. We usually don't look at each other's bones, but they are there underneath, forming what we see about a person. They are the unseen essence that gives form to life. Same thing with a painting. This is the final pencil sketch for the book cover. Pencil sketch From Moon of the

Paul Martin Mirochanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5897573635038652022.post-47144750375733089672010-03-05T10:22:00.001-07:002010-04-23T15:10:50.497-07:00

Taken out of context, the slide of the coyote feces on my slide talk, The Art of Business Thinking 1,  might seem like a random act of image-slinging for simple shock value. Well, maybe that slide was dog poop. But let me explain. The subject has to do with ridding ourselves of ideas, beliefs, or viewpoints--the ones that no longer serve us, but that we hang onto anyways. Sometimes it's

Paul Martin Mirochanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5897573635038652022.post-7705243526297037802010-02-13T13:58:00.001-07:002010-04-23T15:42:38.918-07:00

Outside us in space there spreads the immeasurable world. Inside us is our world of soul. We do not notice how what lives inside us flashes out and unites with what lives outside us. We are unaware of being the arena in which this union takes place. – Rudolph Steiner, from the lecture series, "The Meaning of Life" The painting above is the title page from Mr. Goethe's Garden, a

Paul Martin Mirochanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5897573635038652022.post-37235037287581535892010-02-12T12:39:00.002-07:002010-04-23T15:10:50.500-07:00

I WAS SITTING AT MY COMPUTER a few days ago, as the machine rendered out a 3d scene. I was on a deadline--I'd be up most of the coming night-- but I just sat, did nothing, and watched it create a "painting" pixel by pixel. It was a large scene and would take about an hour to render out into an image. As each little square was rasterized, I saw beautiful things and ugly artifacts appear out of

Paul Martin Mirochanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5897573635038652022.post-64423404049955133282010-01-26T20:37:00.162-07:002010-04-23T15:10:50.501-07:00

Long Beach, 1949 TAG MIX, the most recent group art exhibit by members of TAG, came down last week from the 801 Gallery in Tucson. (TAG stands for Tucson Artists Group, formerly the Thursday Artists Group, and originally named the Tuesday Artist's Group.)  I made a series of seven 8x10 digital prints last December for the show, which opened on New Year's Eve, 2009. I didn't get my prints

Paul Martin Mirochanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5897573635038652022.post-79722527712393513052009-12-09T13:50:00.007-07:002010-04-23T15:10:50.502-07:00

LAST WEEK, Tucson hosted an informal meeting of members of Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (hereafter called SCBWI) at Borders coffeeshop. Several people drove the hundred miles form Phoenix to attend. When talk turned to the relationship between the words and illustrations in a picture book, I mentioned an interview with Maurice Sendak that I had read years ago in the book

Paul Martin Mirochanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5897573635038652022.post-56244964342894960532009-11-17T08:47:00.019-07:002010-04-23T15:10:50.504-07:00

Pak Teh relaxing after a honey hunt, 2004 I was saddened by the email I got from Professor Mardan this morning from Malaysia titled, "Pak Teh passes away!" I think Mardan's note, quoted below,  speak for many people who knew Salleh Bin Mohammend Noor, affectionately nicknamed "Pak Teh." He was a grandfather, bee shaman, leader of the honey hunters, healer, Imam, and hero of our children's

Paul Martin Mirochanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5897573635038652022.post-30926396618722703762009-09-05T15:40:00.048-07:002011-05-04T09:09:53.851-07:00

Fire Ant by Paul Mirocha 2009 Are ants preparing for a war against humans?  No. Not exactly. They are just doing what any other species would do: seek out new territory, exploit resources, reproduce, and defend their family. But we have got to stop them, and it's all out chemical warfare! There are no arms limitation treaties and no Homeland Security Office--each citizen is on their own.

Paul Martin Mirochanoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5897573635038652022.post-51344872688209322672009-09-04T08:09:00.018-07:002010-11-23T14:12:37.596-07:00

Gate at Goethe's Gartenhaus, watercolor by Paul Mirocha, Weimar, 2002 I was going over my travel journals recently and found the one from the trip I made to Weimar, Germany in August 2002. I was there with author, Diana Cohn, to research the art for her picture book, Mr. Goethe's Garden. This book tells the story of a young girl, Anna, who becomes friends with the famous poet, playwright and

Paul Martin Mirochanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5897573635038652022.post-19801298942152177942009-09-02T12:29:00.129-07:002011-07-06T14:46:41.096-07:00

ARTe: Digital and Art, is a half hour documentary produced by Sooyoen Lee of Arizona Public Media, a PBS station associated with the University of Arizona. The video interviews photographer Jack Dykinga, illustrator Paul Mirocha, two filmmakers, and a poet, asking them how the digital revolution has changed their media. Sooyeon, with her cameraman and soundman, came to my studio in June

Paul Martin Mirochanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5897573635038652022.post-33939979109824388172009-08-30T13:14:00.004-07:002010-04-23T15:10:50.511-07:00

July 13-29, 2009 Christina, my wife and traveling companion, and I made a honeymoon trip to Spain. (Hereafter her name is shortened to Stina--but only I can use this nickname, I just can't type "Christ" that many times.) True, we had been married almost a year and a half, but we hadn't really gone on any extended trip yet, and this seemed like a good way to justify taking 3 weeks off

Paul Martin Mirochanoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5897573635038652022.post-52293064600076159442009-08-29T15:18:00.001-07:002010-04-23T15:10:50.512-07:00

Christina and I took a train to Madrid from Teragona, near Salou, and then the superfast Ave train to Sevilla. At speeds up to 186 mph, it took 3.5 hours to travel the 293 miles from Madrid to Sevilla. The prices are not much lower than flying, but this is the best way to travel. Imagine if there were a high speed train from the east to west coast of the USA. One could get from New York to San

Paul Martin Mirochanoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5897573635038652022.post-35099180958320739322009-08-29T12:24:00.018-07:002010-04-23T15:42:38.921-07:00

Well, consider this: Can you jump three times your body height, straight up into the air? Can you roll into a ball to protect yourself from a mean dog? Can you walk under water on the bottom of a stream while holding your breath for ten minutes? Can you dig a hole in the ground fast enough to escape from a wild cat? Can you eat fire ants with your tongue? Can you smell worms under the ground,

Paul Martin Mirochanoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5897573635038652022.post-1923584572964309862009-08-20T10:52:00.046-07:002010-04-23T15:10:50.514-07:00

A slide talk presented to the annual meeting of the Guild of Natural Science Illustrators in Fort Kent, Maine, July 7, 2009. This is part of an ongoing series on business development for artists and illustrators. My premise in this series of slide talks is: 1. that an artist can design a business based on the same business concepts and rules that govern any other business from Fedex to the owner

Paul Martin Mirochanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5897573635038652022.post-34636954857839948782009-08-09T15:08:00.018-07:002010-04-23T15:10:50.516-07:00

We shape clay into a potbut it is the emptiness insidethat holds what we want.–Tao Te Ching (translated by Stephen Mitchel)THIS VIDEO, called "The Vendor Client Relationship–in Real World Situations", has been going around the illustration forums and blogs recently. Produced by Scofield Editorial in Indianapolis, it has gone "viral" and gets almost universal rave reviews in comments from

Paul Martin Mirochanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5897573635038652022.post-80970558533827887282009-08-03T13:50:00.017-07:002010-04-23T15:10:50.517-07:00

IT WAS ONE HOT DAY IN 1928 at San Francisco's Playland-at-the-Beach, and ice cream seller George Whitney had an idea. He put a scoop of vanilla ice cream between two oatmeal cookies, squashed it down, and dipped it all in dark chocolate. He didn't know what to call it, so he just said "It's it". But he had made food history with the first ice-cream sandwich. The IT'S-IT is still sold

Paul Martin Mirochanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5897573635038652022.post-72995550615261898132009-05-13T13:31:00.010-07:002010-04-23T15:10:50.520-07:00

Reality is in the eye of the beholder. It's whatever you see out there. That subtle subjective factor is what makes drawing and sketching from life both profound and pleasurable. And it can be subtly tweaked in a painting, while maintaining the illusion of objectivity. Realism in art is not just a matter of technical skill, as some academic art critics think. You are working with small

Paul Martin Mirochanoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5897573635038652022.post-43573964868346388922009-05-13T10:30:00.013-07:002010-04-23T15:42:38.923-07:00

A reading from The Bee Tree. Turn the lights down low....AFTER sunset, all of the honey hunters gather around Grandfather while he tells the traditional story of the bees.LONG AGO, a beautiful servant girl named Hitam Manis worked in the Sultan’s palace. She and the Sultan’s son fell in love. He called her “Sweet Dark One.” But it was forbidden for a prince to marry any other than a princess,

Paul Martin Mirochanoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5897573635038652022.post-43112298352503654712009-05-12T13:30:00.011-07:002010-04-23T15:10:50.522-07:00

Everybody has them. Don't be afraid to ask. And you won't have to ask if you just get this new book, appropriately titled, Frequently Asked Questions About Coyotes. It's published by the Western National Parks Association and Illustrated by Paul Mirocha. FAQ Coyotes won a 2009 media award for publications by the Association for Partner in Public Lands. For instance, do coyotes chase

Paul Martin Mirochanoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5897573635038652022.post-62434095405881093352009-05-09T15:20:00.021-07:002010-04-23T15:10:50.524-07:00

ONE OF THE LESSER-KNOWN MYSTERIES OF SCIENCE is Cocinella psychoanalytica, order Coleoptera, family Coccinellidae, commonly called the rorschach ladybug. Why would such a common insect be absent from the entomological literature until recently. It is impossible that no one had noticed it before now since it is actually quite common in it's range--all of temperate North America east of the 

Paul Martin Mirochanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5897573635038652022.post-46431043146310207032009-05-05T20:08:00.007-07:002010-09-14T12:17:31.193-07:00

What could be more all-American than the hot dog? The Mexican hot dog? This recent import from south of the border may have improved upon that icon of American cuisine. There's even a new Spanish word for a street-vendor of the Mexican hot dog: hotdoguero. Hot dog historians argue, local chefs dispute how to make one, and the City of Los Angeles has made them illegal. But the tourists only

Paul Martin Mirochanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5897573635038652022.post-56568674824892449362009-05-05T19:59:00.011-07:002010-04-29T10:44:22.813-07:00

FOR MILLIONS OF YEARS, life was sweet for us black mamos. We lived like everyone else on Hawaii, taking it easy, hanging loose. We did what we had evolved to do: sip sweet nectar from curved, tubular and very abundant Lobelia flowers with our sickle-shaped bills. We weren't pretty, but that was fine with us. When the Polynesians arrived and started trapping our cousins, the Hawaiian mamos, for

Paul Martin Mirochanoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5897573635038652022.post-80861434313495743692009-05-05T16:07:00.005-07:002009-05-05T16:21:28.734-07:00

Hi-tech follows nature in ad series For this series of ads for Trimble Navigation, the art director wanted to create a 19th century science illustration feel in comparing these talented animals to these hi-tech global positioning devises.

Paul Martin Mirochanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5897573635038652022.post-30233411239755622822009-05-05T16:02:00.007-07:002010-02-12T12:21:54.149-07:00

It was a privelidge to collaborate directly with Barbara, the author, to create this cover image for the first hard-cover edition of her book, Small Wonder. It was also unusual for an author to be involved as, almost, an art director for her own book, but that's how involved she liked to be. I met with her to brain-storm ideas. She tried to describe from a vague dream image she had as she was

Paul Martin Mirochanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5897573635038652022.post-87719127798291393342009-05-05T14:14:00.002-07:002010-02-14T12:39:46.032-07:00

A bus stop in Seattle, "Who am I? What do I really want? Why is my dad always trying to take pictures of me?" Seattle: a Father/Daughter Trip  Last week my daughter and I went on a 2-night trip to Seattle. For reasons I won't go into, it was an eleventh-hour visit to UW, one of five colleges that accepted her application. The decision letter had to be post-marked Friday, May 1. We spent

Paul Martin Mirochanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5897573635038652022.post-31417893763431256602009-04-27T23:00:00.029-07:002009-05-13T09:44:29.159-07:00

"What you doin' here?""I'm, uh, taking some photographs.""What for?""I'm a photographer."That was my first conversation last Sunday morning, April 26, 2009. It was the last Sunday in April, and therefore it was also Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day. I was at a drive in theater with my Holga super-wide panoramic pinhole camera, exploring what I thought would be an abandoned place. It was

Paul Martin Mirochanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5897573635038652022.post-61920760302682848442009-04-27T22:13:00.012-07:002010-02-13T14:02:50.306-07:00

Perhaps this is the most difficult subject to ilustrate: DEATH. Especially that of an elkwith all that good meat going to the coyotes. But, in fact, individual death enables life in general to continue. Here's the actual specs I got from the editors of Bugle Magazine: Illustration 1 – late fall scene - dried grasses, fallen leaves, perhaps a little snow – with the elk lying dead on the

Paul Martin Mirochanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5897573635038652022.post-53560240346030523302009-04-27T22:06:00.003-07:002009-05-04T22:54:28.419-07:00

This article in a mainstream medical journal outlines ways doctors can use simple centuries old remedies from nature for the common "tummy-ache". As the article says, most of these complaints are caused by the stresses of growing up and may be eased in simple ways before resorting to expensive tests. After all, chamomile worked for Peter Rabbit. I read it with great interest and now use them

Paul Martin Mirochanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5897573635038652022.post-84947746545183120242009-04-27T21:32:00.005-07:002009-05-05T14:56:23.568-07:00

When Quaker Oats wanted to promote their new wild berry flavors, they first hired food photographers, but  the photographs of the bowl of oatmeal just did not do the trick. The ad agency called on me to do a super-realistic digital painting of the oatmeal and montaged it with the more whimsical bicycle image by illustrator Katy Dockrill. Although I had never met Katy, it was a delicious

Paul Martin Mirochanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5897573635038652022.post-43222324439936642262009-04-21T18:09:00.011-07:002010-02-14T12:37:43.952-07:00

I created this online sketchbook after my second trip to the Malaysian rain forest at Pedu Lake in the northern state of Kedah in 1999. Click on the image above to open it. The clearing where the great bee tree stands is like the "Grand Central Station" of the forest. It's a hub of activity. It's where butterflies come to meet. One morning at coffee, our friend Professor Mardan

Paul Martin Mirochanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5897573635038652022.post-35934194686992517142009-04-20T13:39:00.079-07:002010-11-23T13:59:14.678-07:00

"To know someone here and there who thinks and feels with us, and though distant, is close to us in spirit–this makes the earth for us an inhabited garden." —Johann Wolfgang von Goethe By Diana Cohn illustrated by Paul Mirochapublished by Bell Pond Books, a division of Steiner Books "Mr. Goethe, how did you ever learn to paint these plants so they look so alive? Mr. Goethe turned his

Paul Martin Mirochanoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5897573635038652022.post-88568550212323512742009-04-05T22:12:00.019-07:002010-04-06T14:56:28.469-07:00

View the Saguaro poster in detail. This 6 foot tall poster, illustrated by Paul Mirocha and designed by Campana Design for the National Park System, is a height chart for kids. However, it also makes a great design statement for almost any decor. I can't define that design statement except to say that the saguaro definitely deserves the largest poster that can be printed on a press.

Paul Martin Mirochanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5897573635038652022.post-4949753441397028332009-04-01T15:15:00.013-07:002009-04-06T09:10:16.064-07:00

Paul's llustrations for "Toss Your Cookies", a new award-winning game by Gamewright. At TheDiceTower.com, where "real men play board games," game industry reviewer Tom Vasel had this to say about "Toss Your Cookies": With wonderful drawings and terrific, sturdy components, Toss Your Cookies is a nice variant on the

Paul Martin Mirochanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5897573635038652022.post-58844224474661671582009-04-01T12:12:00.009-07:002009-04-05T22:08:47.730-07:00

Tucson in 1810: an imaginary view from Sentinel Peak (click image for detail) This project was an illustrated interpretive guide for the San Agustín Mission Garden reconstruction in the Tucson Origins Heritage Park. The challenge was this: nothing exists of the former buildings and garden–the area has been a landfill for decades. My painting of the Tucson basin in 1810, when it was settled

Paul Martin Mirochanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5897573635038652022.post-81421349138928450362009-04-01T11:28:00.012-07:002009-05-04T16:27:33.598-07:00

Two sisters selling JAMBU AIR, or water apples, Malaysia (photo:Paul Mirocha) After 8 years of working on The Bee Tree, a children's book publishedin April 2007 by Cinco Puntos Press, co-author Steve Buchmann and I, Paul Mirocha,the illustrator, returned triumphantly to Malaysia with printed copies of thebook to hand out to our Malaysian friends, hosts, and collaborators.The story takes

Paul Martin Mirochanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5897573635038652022.post-56336815675422979972009-03-30T17:39:00.034-07:002010-04-23T15:43:29.793-07:00

For almost a decade, Tucson desert dwellers Paul Mirocha and Steve Buchmann, along with co-author, Diana Cohn from Sausalito, CA, have been traveling to the Malaysian rain forest, half a world away, to work on The Bee Tree, a new children's picture book, featuring paintings by Paul Mirocha, published by Cinco Puntos Press in April 2007. The Bee Tree tells the story of a Malaysian boy, Nizam,

Paul Martin Mirochanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5897573635038652022.post-11670792840995560212008-09-04T17:22:00.001-07:002011-10-10T12:33:55.548-07:00

A slide presentation given by Paul Mirocha for the Guild of Natural Science Illustrators International meeting in Ithaca, New York, July, 2008.  .... Introduction: Why think about business? If you’ve ever sold a piece of your art, you’re in the Art Business. That may be a little uncomfortable at first, even represent a fundamental paradigm shift, but this is my subject. Most of us

Paul Martin Mirochanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5897573635038652022.post-2995638579353544522007-06-03T15:33:00.017-07:002010-02-13T16:31:04.778-07:00

“It feels as if it’s been taken off into another plane, another world. . . . It doesn’t feel at all like destruction.” That's what artist Andy Goldsworthy says in Rivers and Tides, as he regretfully watches the driftwood igloo he spent all day constructing, float gracefully away as the tide comes in. The igloo-like sculpture slowly begins to float, spiraling out into the deep water where

Paul Martin Mirochanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5897573635038652022.post-91154494142100241282007-05-16T10:20:00.014-07:002010-04-23T14:24:59.434-07:00

I've been back from SE Asia for ten weeks now. My little pocket trip journal has been sitting on my desk all this time, waiting, as I attend to other things. But my week in Cambodia is still fresh in my mind. Like water dissolving limestone, drop by drop, the memories sit and percolate. Eventually there is an opening and, in the dark, you would know each one by feel. It's almost time to write

Paul Martin Mirochanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5897573635038652022.post-21235790014517584712007-03-29T10:04:00.004-07:002010-02-13T16:26:19.440-07:00

In a new article today in The Star, my question, "What is the bee tree worth in Malaysian ringgits?" that I asked in my previous blog entry is answered. A bee tree is worth about 5,600RM. That's 1,483.44 US dollars. ___________________________ Nation Thursday March 29, 2007 Dept. probes illegal logging in Pedu rainforest Story and picture by TUNKU SHAHARIAH SUNGAI PETANI: The Kedah

Paul Martin Mirochanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5897573635038652022.post-30048332422502597192007-03-29T09:49:00.004-07:002010-02-13T16:27:05.565-07:00

Steve Buchmann and I both wrote letters to the editor after reading The Star's article "Honeyman feels the sting" of March 22. Steve's letter was printed in the Opinion page of The Star, largest English newspaper in Malaysia, last Wednesday, March 28, 2007. I'll quote it here: The buzz about Kedah’s bee trees IN FEBRUARY, I spent two weeks in Malaysia, including several days in a special

Paul Martin Mirochanoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5897573635038652022.post-38488502446932008702007-03-27T18:51:00.004-07:002010-02-13T16:27:47.468-07:00

Emails from Steve and I to Tunku Shahariah, the reporter who wrote the Star article "Honeyman feels the sting" about the endangered bee trees of Pedu Lake produced a gratifying response. She had already gone personally to Pedu Lake with the local forestry director, Kasim Osman, and Pak Teh to inspect the damage and this is her report. No, the [bee tree] in your book is safe for now. Only one

Paul Martin Mirochanoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5897573635038652022.post-22676850531754327362007-03-26T10:51:00.002-07:002010-02-13T16:28:20.239-07:00

The day after our meeting with the Sultan of Kedah, Makhdzir and I were driving together to Alor Star. We dropped "The Steves" off in the forest to do whatever scientist guys do out there. As you might guess by now, Makhdzir and I had another interesting talk. We were on our way to pick up free-lance writer Siew Lyn Wong, who was flying in from KL to interview Pak Teh and witness the honey

Paul Martin Mirochanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5897573635038652022.post-68304165700822969092007-03-22T11:56:00.002-07:002010-02-13T16:28:50.368-07:00

JUST A FEW WEEKS after our trip to Malaysia to hand out printed copies of The Bee Tree, I received an email from my friend Prof. Makhdzir Mardan in Malaysia saying that he had gotten a worried and upset call from Salleh Mohammed Noor, our friend, the hero of "The Bee Tree" affectionately nicknamed Pak Teh. Someone was trying to cut down the bee tree! My first reaction to this note was that it

Paul Martin Mirochanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5897573635038652022.post-80714504867388846632007-03-20T12:59:00.014-07:002010-04-23T14:04:30.821-07:00

Paul Martin Mirochanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5897573635038652022.post-66297094307207783252007-03-19T15:39:00.002-07:002010-02-13T16:29:23.514-07:00

I USUALLY WRITE "HOLIDAY" on my immigration card in the blank that asks for the purpose of my trip. It's not a lie, but it is not really true. I have a secret mission. I'm not necessarily laying on the beach or sitting in bars sipping margaritas. Although I might be. I am there to gather intelligence. For one thing, it's part of my job. That's what I tell the IRS and it is true. As an illustrator

Paul Martin Mirochanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5897573635038652022.post-43976434385127196972007-03-13T11:24:00.004-07:002010-02-13T16:31:33.225-07:00

[Note: you can enlarge the photographs by clicking on them. Then use your browser's back button to return to the blog] Tuesday, February 13, 2007, SunsetThe bee tree: somewhere in the forest near Pedu Lake, Kedah SELAGI ADA HUTANSELAGI ITU ADA PEMBUREAN TUALANG"As long as there is a forest, there will be honey hunters"--Pak Teh Nizam (in green) and Shukor (in blue) at the base of

Paul Martin Mirochanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5897573635038652022.post-13407084544536257712007-03-13T11:22:00.004-07:002010-02-13T16:32:48.196-07:00

Sunday, February 11, 2007Alor Star, Kedah "The Koran says that mankind is the steward of the natural world. SInce he has with his brain the capacity make decisions for right or for wrong action. He has the power to chose to do or not to do something. So therefore mankind is responsible to the frogs, the stones, everything."--M. Mardan, in conversation over breakfast "AMPUN, TUANKU!" "APON

Paul Martin Mirochanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5897573635038652022.post-85403022378986546602007-03-13T11:20:00.005-07:002010-02-13T16:33:09.240-07:00

Saturday, February 10, 2007,Sungai Petani, Kedahor "The Accidental Book Launching"TAK KENAL, TAK CINTA" Without knowledge, there's no love."--Malaysian sayingIn the end we will conserve only what we love.We love only what we understand.We will understand only what we are taught.--Baba Dioum, Senegalese poet "PAUL, YOU STEP OUT THERE NOW AND SAY SOMETHING," whispered Professor

Paul Martin Mirochanoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5897573635038652022.post-89503518445457440702007-03-13T11:18:00.002-07:002010-02-13T16:33:24.701-07:00

Friday, February 9, 2007Universiti Putra Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Durian and rambutans at a roadside standI WOKE UP BEFORE DAWN TO SINGING on my first morning in Malaysia. It was loud, like someone had turned the stereo on full volume in my hotel room, but in an unfamiliar and beautiful minor key. It was the call to prayer from the loudspeakers of the mosque next door to our hotel

Paul Martin Mirochanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5897573635038652022.post-75677483147987923022007-03-06T22:48:00.002-07:002010-02-13T16:34:38.565-07:00

[Note: you can enlarge the photographs by clicking on them. Then use your browser's back button to return to the blog] See my photo album from this Malaysia trip. Summary: After 8 years of working on The Bee Tree, a children's book published in April 2007 by Cinco Puntos Press, co-author Steve Buchmann and I, Paul Mirocha, the illustrator, returned triumphantly to Malaysia with printed copies

Paul Martin Mirochanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5897573635038652022.post-23258079177268928192004-09-04T17:17:00.000-07:002009-05-04T22:41:05.724-07:00

Can You (or I) Make a Living as an Illustrator? Business Planning for theOwner of a Creative Business Imagination is the most powerful force in the universe.--Albert Einstein From a talk prepared by Paul Mirocha for the Guild of Natural Science Illustrators international meeting in Madison, Wisconsin 2004. .... What? Me plan? Yes, Tarzan. You plan. You are not just an artist. You are not

Paul Martin Mirochanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5897573635038652022.post-66821089910710906412004-04-21T12:14:00.026-07:002010-02-13T16:35:09.200-07:00

or Mr. Paul Meets Hitam Manis If you come to Plum Village for one day, you have an idea of Plum Village, but that idea really isn't Plum Village. You might say, "I've been to Plum Village," but in fact you've only been to your idea of Plum Village. Your idea might be slightly better than that of someone who has never been there, but it's still only an idea. It is not the true Plum Village

Paul Martin Mirochanoreply@blogger.com2