Fifth-graders illustrate Chronicle

CORNWALL — It seemed a great way to promote the work of talented young people, as well as a way to avoid a sometimes dreaded task. Hendon Chubb’s plan was successful on the first part. Not so much on the second.

“I was asked to illustrate the June edition of the Chronicle,� Chubb explained. “I had to do several small drawings. I’m not that excited to draw. I’m an artist, but more of a painter. Drawing is not really my thing.�

In a town full of artists, using clip art to bump up the visual appeal of the Cornwall Chronicle’s homegrown pages would just not be right. So local illustrations were found, ones that capture the spirit and look of Cornwall. The May issue, for instance, features images of wild turkeys, tiger lilies and dogwood blooms, softball and baseball players, a flag-decorated grave and a man in a dog-pulled wagon piled high with Chronicle copies, drawn by Roxanna Laughlin.

Chubb had approached Cornwall Consolidated School art teacher Diane Dupuis, who was happy to rally fifth-graders to do the drawings.

The flaw in the plan was that Chubb neglected to tell them inked sketches were needed, so they would copy well onto the printed page.

“They did them in pencil,� Chubb said. “They were wonderful, and I didn’t have the heart to give them back. I very carefully traced over each line with pen. It ended up being much more work than had I done them myself.�

But the results, as they say on television, are priceless.

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