175th Anniversary for a Lovely Church and Congregation

St Paul’s Episcopal Church in Doylestown is holding many festivities this Saturday, April 22, on the occasion of the 175th anniversary of its first service in the church in 1848. The community is invited starting at 1:00 pm to visit this beautiful Gothic Revival church and enjoy the conviviality that I know, firsthand, is the hallmark of St. Paul’s joyful and generous members.

St. Paul’s owes its existence to Mrs. Elizabeth Pawling Ross, who would ride her horse 26 miles from Doylestown into Philadelphia faithfully every month to attend Holy Communion at the Episcopal Church there. She eventually petitioned the diocese to create an Episcopal parish in her hometown of Doylestown, which in the 1840s was little more than a village crossroad between Philadelphia and Easton. I was happy to draw Mrs. Ross for a coloring book that St. Paul’s will have available Saturday for children to color, while their parents are having refreshments or touring the graceful interior of the building.

Starting at 1 pm Saturday, in front of the church if the weather is fine, a brief ceremony including a greeting by our town mayor and a reenactment of the opening of a time capsule from the church’s inception will take place; from there visitors may stroll from docent to docent inside, hearing interesting facts about the history and architecture of St. Paul’s, chatting with uniformed members of the Bucks County Civil War Round Table, enjoying refreshments and a colorful timeline display in the parish hall, seeing the Mercer tiles in the chapel below and even viewing the lovely enclosed columbarium garden. At 5 pm the same day, St. Paul’s excellent choir will sing a choral evensong service, and on Sunday morning at 10 am the rector, Fr. Daniel Moore, will celebrate a traditional Mass using prayers and hymns of the mid-1800s. Everyone is welcome at these events.

I was pleased to design the logo above for St. Paul’s occasion, which is being used on banners and t-shirts and the like for this year of celebration. I did this illustration below a few years back, depicting the church’s Easter Vigil procession.

St. Paul’s is a very charitable church within our community – for decades it has run Christmas in Doylestown, which benefits local shelters, and they now have a small ‘community food pantry’ in front of its steps for anyone in need. At this weekend’s events there will be a spot for donations to help the underserved in the community and the parish will also host a meal for those in need on Sunday, apart from the festivities – a regular occurrence for this generous church, which does not forget its mission even in the midst of its celebrations.

For all events at St. Paul’s, see their website here.

Free Coloring Book for Children

Last year I created some artwork for Mike DeSantis’ CPA website and in the process Mike introduced the idea of using a little cartoon of his dog as a friendly mascot for the business. Mike had used “Bart the dog” as a fun part of his business before, telling long-time clients that Bart helped around the office – he even gave Bart a phone extension on the menu!

After the pandemic hit, Mike searched for an idea that could honor the workers in healthcare and also help children through a worrisome time in their young lives. In thinking about the Bart cartoons on his website, he came up with the idea of a coloring book for youngsters that would teach safety tips on staying germ-free during flu season. The book, called “Keep the Germs Away,” is dedicated to all the doctors, nurses, hospital workers and first responders who risk their lives on the front lines to help others, and I drew the illustrations.

Mike has donated 100 copies of the book to Doylestown Hospital’s Children’s Village. Each coloring page has a simple suggestion supporting good hygiene for children, and features Bart the Dog, the friendly mascot of DeSantis & Co., P.C. The director of Children’s Village, Teri Windisch, said of the gift, “Our kids and families loved the “Keep Germs Away” coloring book from Mike. What a great way to reinforce what they have learned during this tough time!”  The coloring book is also available to anyone for free download from Mike’s website www.descpa.biz and he’s allowed me to put it on my site too, free on this page HERE. So get out your markers and sharpen up your pencils!

Free Coloring Sheet for World Bicycle Day

Anyone can download my bicycle coloring sheet below for free, to celebrate World Bicycle Day! See the link below the drawing.

A young girl goes on a fantasy adventure under the sea – what will she find? Download, print and color this picture – maybe add your own secret treasure to the scene! Can you make up a story to go with your artwork?

I’d love to see any children’s finished art – you can email a snapshot to me at achillesportfolio@gmail.com.

Click on this link to download, and then print –

achilles_undersea_drawing_coloring_sheet-1Download

Download My Free Coloring Sheet

A young girl goes on a fantasy adventure under the sea – what will she find? You can download this sheet I drew for FREE, print it out on your printer and color it in. Click the ‘Download’ button below the image.

I’d love to see snapshots of your finished art – you can email them to me at achillesportfolio@gmail.com. Can you make up a story to go with your artwork?

achilles_undersea_drawing_coloring_sheet-1Download

Gilbert & Sullivan Coloring Pages

I’ve added a new illustrated item to my Etsy shop: a digitally downloadable pair of coloring sheets, for those who like to color as a hobby and are fans of G&S. That’s a pretty selective niche, you say? That may be, but I’ve had requests for G&S coloring books before, so I’m starting with these two pages to see if there is viable interest out there for a series. I’m a huge fan of Gilbert & Sullivan, having illustrated a number of posters for the Bucks County Gilbert & Sullivan Society, and hope these provide some quiet entertainment for friends who feel the same.

These two drawings are of main characters of the operetta The Pirates of Penzance – Frederic, the young pirate who is freed from his indenture, and Mabel, the lovely lass with whom he falls in love. To see the coloring sheets and all ordering info, just visit my Etsy shop HERE.

With an Etsy Digital Download, the item you are purchasing is the electronic file you need to print off a drawing from your own home printer. There are no physical papers or drawing that are mailed to you, the purchaser. As soon as you pay the small fee on Etsy for downloading the images, you can print them out and start coloring – but I stress, you do need your own home printer to put the drawings onto paper.

To see the art I’ve created for Bucks G&S you can see my post HERE. There are plenty of other G&S characters to draw, and I hope to hear from customers as to which ones to draw next. Etsy has a message feature, so I invite friends to drop me a line for other coloring sheet ideas.