Claudia McGehee Illustration

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Iowa City, IA
Claudia McGehee Illustration

I'm an Illustrator-Writer living in a tallgrass prairie state. I find inspiration around every corner. Some days I write about pictures.

Some days I draw about words. It's about telling a story. Please visit http://www.claudia-mcgehee.com Commercial illustrator and author/illustrator of children's books

09/26/2025

Today, a beautiful monarch skimmed above the crowd for several minutes as hundreds of us in Iowa City gathered to protest an egregious ICE assault that occurred in the heart of our downtown yesterday morning. The butterfly uplifted my spirit as we galvanized to support Jorge González Ochoa and his family immediately, and for ALL of us facing these unsettling times. Take care, stay vigilant, speak out.

09/22/2025

A few more hours of summer here in North America, the fall equinox begins around 1:19pm CT! Hopeful wishes for a good harvest in all your endeavors. I love this quote from Robin Wall Kimmerer’s recent book “The Serviceberry: An economy of Abundance”. Having been the recipient of generous friend’s gardens all summer, this quote ran especially true. I paired it visually with a new waxwing and chokecherry piece. Go forth into the new season with open hearts and baskets. And give “The Serviceberry” a read, perfect for this equinox season.

09/17/2025

My personally declared totem animal 🦊They randomly show up in the woods, on the trail to cheer me on. I cameo them into picture books as much as I can, and embrace the adaptability, playful, intuitive, transformative symbolism. This little spot in scratchboard, with a watchful eye left open to the world.

09/16/2025

Late afternoon studio time

09/12/2025

Weekend. Recharge. Spending time in nature and reading are two of my go-to’s! If you have children’s book readers in your life, the Anderson Art Center in Red Wing, MN will be hosting the annual Minnesota Children’s Book Festival this coming Saturday, September 13th, with presentations by many wonderful authors and illustrators, and fun activities throughout the day! Children’s book writer will be presenting our poetry picture book “Rings of Heartwood”, along with Molly’s other new titles. Check it out if you’re in that neck of the woods 🌲 🌳 🌲 for more information. Illustration from “Rings of Heartwood”

09/11/2025

It dawns a beautiful September day, as it often does, as it did 24 years ago. Sometimes sunshine is a sad conduit of memory. I think of this ordinary day, when the leaves are just turning, a reminder of the passage of time. One of the most powerful aspects of the 9/11 Memorial plaza is the grove of swamp white oak, planted to symbolize strength, durability, renewal, hope, most likely turning colors as I type. This oak species, *Quercus bicolor*, is poignantly also native to all three states directly affected by the attacks (New York, Virginia and Pennsylvania). Today, I’ll take some time under a tree, stare up at the changing canopy, and remember those lost during this event. Violence against others, large scale or small, has no place in human society.

09/10/2025

Hiking couple here symbolizing our wedding anniversary today; Dan and I have been walking life together for 37 years (and that’s a lot of clicks!). Here’s to many more trails ahead, Dan 💚 (and picnics at the end of them!).

09/09/2025

Yellow creeping up on us…I hope you can get out for a walk today and find this certainty 💛

09/08/2025

I recently caught the “tail-end” ☄️of a BBC piece on the comet 3I/Atlas, detected back in July by a super telescope located in Chile (NASA funded!). CI looks to give earth a close fly-by in October. Cool that we have so many spacecraft (at least for now) to record and observe and learn from such a beautiful entity. It’s an elder comet with an unusual icy core, hailing from a distant universe at the rate of 135,000mph…I’ve got my thumb out! Meanwhile, a haiku and illustration for the occasion, and to open your week with a little note of wonder. (And also in celebration of Star Trek Day!).

09/05/2025

Looking forward some weekend mellowness. Colors coming on. Perfect for some en plein air sketching. This, “Girl in the Glade”, scratchboard and watercolor and dyes 🍁

09/03/2025

Nature refreshed with rain today. I had a sheltered tea outside by a newly purchased bronze colored mum plant. This isn’t my favorite hue of chrysanthemum, but it was my mom’s, and somehow, along with the warming cuppa, I felt she was sitting along side me 🧡

09/02/2025

Beautiful, sturdy, purple stands of ironweed (Vernonia fasciculata) today out in our local woodland/prairie mix park Hickory Hill. A nice late summer offering for the pollinators still partying out there. Letting nature nurture me right now! This image from “Tallgrass Prairie Alphabet”, I is for Ironweed

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Iowa City, IA

Website

http://www.claudia-mcgehee.com/

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