Ben Franklin

I drew this piece for a dear friend who recently retired from teaching social studies. As a history buff, she always admired this founding father. And why not? To name a few accomplishments, he served as a statesman, inventor, scientist, publisher, printer, and abolitionist, as well as the first US Postmaster General. Of all the founders, he was one of the biggest believers in democracy.

Signed prints of this piece are available here, in my Etsy shop.

Historic Hemp

In honor of America's 235th birthday, here's a unique portrait of our most famous founding father. Nancy Stamatopoulos from Whole Health Magazine asked me to illustrate the following quote:

“Make the most you can of the Indian hemp seed and sow it everywhere.” - George Washington, 1794

Our nation's first president grew hemp on his Virginia farm. He presumably made this proclamation because it's fiber is useful for making rope, paper, and clothing. Of course, what made this assignment provocative is hemp's membership in the Cannabis genus, making it a close relative of marijuana. It was fun to place the father of our country in a counter-cultural context. I'm curious what today's tea party movement would make of this depiction? In any case, I hope you have fun today, celebrating the red, white, and blue (or is it green?).

Here are a few ideas I cooked up for this assignment:

Happy Birthday America!

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