The McCallum Gallery is pleased to announce the addition of four very accomplished Artists to the Gallery. You may click on each of their Bio's to check out their accomplishments in their respective fields in the Fine Arts. If you are in the area stop at the McCallum Gallery to see the wonderful works of these artists. The web site is under construction, but their works will be shown under the artist names. Enjoy!

"DRAW ME IN" another Arts Cool program, sponsored by the Greater Port Clinton Area Arts Council was a big success with over 35 children in grades 2 through 5 participating. The program consists of children writing their own book and also Illustrating it. They all gathered at the Jodie McCallum Fine Art Gallery in Marblehead, OH. Jodie and her Husband, Grant were on hand to walk the children through the various steps of creating a children's book. Several of the children had ideas as to what their book was going to be about, while others gathered around Jodie after the session, to bounce their ideas off of her.

All of the art supplies, for each child, were available Free, by the Arts Council for the "DRAW ME IN" program.

Carol Morgan, the chairperson of this program, has also arranged a "Meet the Authors & Illustrators" on Monday, August 24th at 7:00pm at the Ida Rupp Library, in Port Clinton. This reception will be for family, friend and the community; to meet these budding young authors and Illustrators, who will be explaining and showing their books. Punch and cookies will be available - so stop on down and meet some of the areas new literary stars.

Our busiest "Art if it All" ever featured the talents of the DBC Jazz Band, featuring Mike Calhoun at lead guitar. Mike is a Grammy Award winner that founded the "Dazz Band" and is now playing with DBC. The overflow crowd ended up watching and listening to the band from the sidewalk and parking lot, after filling the patio seating area. This Jazz group will be performing at our October Art of it All event, scheduled on the 10th 2009.

The Lighthouse Resort's Ritskis Bar & Grill, in Marblehead, did a fantastic job providing an array of mouth watering munchies for the large crowd, it certainly went over in a big way and many people mentioned that they were heading to Ritskis after the event for their evening meal. Mutachs, our local grocery store, also should be mentioned for their suggestion on the wine selection for the event -believe me, there wasn't much of any spirits or food left after the event!

The Visual Arts was also well represented as many of the Gallery Artists were on hand to field questions and explain how they render the wonderful works of art that they have within the gallery. Jodie is presently working on a Christmas Book for 2010, her studio is within the Gallery area, so customers can view the progress of this book. It will be distributed by Borders, Barnes & Noble and Books-A-Million next year to co-incide with the 3/D Nativity Set highlighted below.

The next Art of it All event is scheduled on the third Saturday of August, the 15th. From 1:00pm - 9:00pm. So mark your calendar. Experience the Performing, Visual and Culinary arts at their best at the McCallum Gallery, in beautiful downdown Marblehead, OH - see you there!

Experience "The Art of it All" stop on down to historic Marblehead, OH on JULY 18th from 1:00pm to 9:00pm and enjoy Jazz and Blues, food and chilled white & red wine while several of our Gallery Artists demonstrating their unique talents on our beautiful Gallery patio. Click on image above to view the details. We'll see you all on Saturday the 18th.

Enjoy the wonderful scenic oil paintings of Donald Boncela, the top painting is named "Tranquility" and the lower one is titled "Monument Cove - Acadia National Park" The exquisite detail and rich colors bring Donald's painting to life. The Artist will be painting a series of scenes of the Lake Erie Islands & Shores, which will include, to name a few, the historic Marblehead Lighthouse and the scenic Cliffs of Catawba Island. Stop in the Gallery to view these wonderful pieces. Gallery hours are from 11:00am - 7:00pm (closed on Tuesdays).

This is a detail of some of the figures in the Nativity Set pictured below. If you would click on these images you will see the detail that the mold makers have achieved, it did however take several trips overseas to accomplish the results. The figures above are roughly 2 1/2" high

Jodie's 3/D Poly Resin Nativity Set is in production and ready for ordering. They are being distributed throughout the United States, Canada and Europe by Dickson's Gifts of Seymour Indiana. We are showing a Pre-Paid Order form above. We will be ordering a limited supply for the Gallery in Marblehead, OH. If you would like to place an order, click on the image above for a larger version - fill out the form and mail it to the gallery or stop at the Gallery, if you are in the area, and drop the order form off. 419-798-3318. mdcpub@cros.net

Jodie entertains a tour group from Tiffin, OH. The tour group was shown how a children's book is developed. Starting from the manuscript from the publisher, to the rough sketches generated by Jodie, and then forwarded to the publisher for comments or a "go" to finished artwork.

The group was also treated to coffee and bakery and each person received a gift bag filled with greeting cards and a book mark that was designed by Jodie.

If you would like to schedule a tour group of 12 to 26 people, just contact the gallery for the details. 419-798-3318 or mdcpub@cros.net

Over 100 visitors enjoyed an afternoon & evening of smooth jazz and cool blues by Keith Barber, and the skills of Colin Budd at the pottery wheel. Benjamin Budd (not shown) demonstrtated his expertice in the art of sterling silver jewelry design. The food was provided by La Habana, a little Cuban Restaurant located just a few doors away from the gallery. Wine was flowing and many people mentioned what a great time they had at the event. The next event will be on July 18th from 1:00pm to 8:00pm. C'mon down and see what you have been missing, bring some friends!

Haley, a young and up and coming artist visits the gallery. She was one of 60 artists that was selected to be featured in the gallery. Jodie & her husband, Grant, were asked to judge an art show by the elementary students of Danbury school.

21 month old Emma shows Jodie how good she can color - she climbed up on Jodie's chair and made Jodie a nice picture, Mom signed Emma's name and it is hanging on the wall next to Jodie's drawing table.

A young artist and his eager sister help Jodie with her latest book. The artist encourages young artists to participate when she is working on a piece of artwork, when time permits.

If you are traveling to or through the "Lake Erie Islands & Shores" on the Saturday the 20th of June, make sure to stop in at the McCallum Gallery and sample the "Art of it All," on the Gallery Patio. - fine jazz, fine food, fine wine & demonstrations by fine artists. Experience why this venue is enjoyed by so many, be apart of the festivities as we offer all of the arts - the Performing, Visual & Culinary.
See you on the patio from 1:00pm - 8:00pm. Saturday the 20th of June.

Two new releases by Jodie McCallum. One shows antique cars at Put-in-Bay, this is a Sunday afternoon ritual and attracts hundreds if not thousands of kids of ALL ages. Candy is thrown from the cars to eager kids waiting on the sidewalks. Jodie has taken a little "Artistic License," as she is showing children throwing candies to the older folk - kids like to fantisize you know!

The second Illustration shows the children of Lakeside, OH enjoying the end of another fun summer. Some are walking home from the beach, while others are enjoying painting, reading, planting flowers, birding and a host of other fun things. This little community is called the Chautaugua of Lake Erie, as it is a learing center to enrich the quality of life for all people, to also, foster traditional Christian values and nurture relationships through opportunity for renewal and growth. Lakeside has been preserving these values and heritage for over 135 years. So welcome "Sunday Afternoon at Put-in-Bay" and "Lakeside-The Chautaugua of Lake Erie"

The original artwork and signed and numbered, Limited Edition Prints are available.

This is the finished spread for page 30 and 31 of the new book "Fall Festival" to be released this Fall. You can see the modifications to the sketches (below) have been made. Five of these spreads are being forwarded to the publisher today. The remaining 9 spreads are being completed and are scheduled to be forwarded in batches of 4 or 5 by the deadline of the end of May.
The reason we forward them in batches is to allow the graphic artists the time to add the lettering on each page and to "paginate" the book so that it will be ready for the printer, in China, to meet the tight press deadlines.
After the last batch is forwarded, from the studio here in Marblehead, to the publisher in Birmingham, AL, it will be electronically forwarded to the overseas printing facility. It will be printed and bound in quantities to supply the major distributors here in the United States & Canada.
We will be ordering the book from the publisher for our scheduled book signings by Jodie this Fall here at the Gallery in Marblehead. Jodie will also be signing them at Borders in Sandusky, Books-A-Million in Perrysburb, OH. an other local gift shops in Port Clinton area.

....the only modification by the editor was to "turn the boys head, so the apple looked more 3 dimentional." Jodie has started to transfer the other approved images to her watercolor art board, in preparation for the finished full color pages in this book. It will take her sevral weeks, about a month, give or take a week to complete the book. I will be posting one spread (2 pages) of the completed artwork.

The book will be forwarded to the publishing company in stages. This allows the graphic artists to begin their work in scanning and composing the lettering that goes on each page. If they had to wait for the Illustrator (Jodie), to complete all of the artwork, it would be difficult for the graphic artist to complete their job and still meet press deadline. This book will be printed in China, (we have no choice in this matter). The color separations will be forwarded to the printing company in China and it will be their responsibility to complete the printing and binding of the book by late August for shipment to the warehouses of the various book stores......look for the full color page posting of one of the spreads shortly.

....the pages 20 and 21, shown here, are in rough sketch form. This allows the editor the chance to review what the artist has interpreted from the supplied manuscript. We are only showing One two page spread as the book contains 16 spreads and would be a little redundant to explain the same proceedure repeatedly.

The Editor reviews the sketches and makes any modifications at this phase. If the Editor wants changes after this point it gets a little expensive, as the Illustrator has to change the Illustratiion in question, to conform to the changes requested. Kinda like building a house and changing the blue prints after the fact!

We will show you the sketches, when we get them back from the Editor, that reflect any changes. Until then, have a great day.

Have you ever wondered how a children's book is created? Well we will walk you through the various stages. Be sure to stop in the Gallery and monitor it's progress. This image is the cover of a new Halloween Book (Fall Festival). It has been commissioned by a publisher in Birmingham, AL,. The manuscript has been approved and forwarded to the Jodie McCallum studio and gallery in Marblehead, OH. The interior pages have been sketched to follow the manuscripts storyline. A copy of the sketches will be forwarded to the publisher for review, they will make any adjustments that they want at this stage. The sketches will be overnighted on Friday, April 17th. So do stop by and view the beginning stage of this books creation. Images, in sketch form, will be shown as the next step...............