A new illustration of a character in my New England Series: Constance Cotton

Constance Cotton deferred most life decisions to her older brother Bartholomew

Constance trusted her older siblin in all things, even in her choice of husband, and thus she was as yet still unmarried. Quite honestly she did not mind her status as "unmarried sister at home" for she loved their home on Louisburg Square.

She found to be the unmarried sister of an unmarried older brother gave her a sort of power she had not seen in her married friends.

She ordered their life in her little journals, which she had hand bound in kid leather at Harcourt Bindery in Charlestown. She'd done so since she was a little girl and the neatly bound volumes lined the little private library office she kept off her suite of rooms on the upper floors of their Boston home.

Constance Cotton enjoyed her ordered little lifeand it was rather like an open book. There was little her brother did not know of her daily activities with the exception of one thing: Her little letters to her English cousin which she kept hidden in a secret panel in her little walnut desk.

Yes , Constance was an open book to her family save the letters hidden away, but she told herself it was not deception but simply inconsequential and in that she continued on with her well patterned daily life.

Constance sketch without color.

I found, when making the otter character of Bartholomew Cotton, that an unmarried sister that stood in as hostess to his running of the house seemed appropriate. I wanted her to have the surface of decorum and openness but with a little secret. This would also be a fun way to tie her to her English cousins.

A GIF of some of the layers making up Constance Cotton.

I've not been uploading as I'd hoped here, but Spring is always my most busy time. Getting the houses ready for the rental season and trying to keep up with my studio schedule always seems to eat up the calendar.

I'm still quite happy with my progress in general when I consider this time of year and my little daily "to-do lists".

I'm happy with Constance and also still enjoying my little character studies. Again, I've not real plan to correlate them all into any sort of coehsive story line, however, as they grow and formulate upon my journal pages and in my imagination, We'll see where we are come this Winter.

I do know, this Summer, I plan to set aside time to make a little family tree/character wall in my Summer studio with these fellows and perhaps cotton wool strings tying them all together in some way. I think it'd be an interesting way to see them all laid out.

I hope you get a moment in your own busy day to indulge in your own passions.