Page 34 - South Mississippi Living - September, 2018

ARTS birds of a feather
Gulfport Mother
Combine Talents for Whimsical Book
story and photos by Susan Ruddiman photos courtesy of Sarah and Michael Hewes
Sarah Hewes is an artist who is known for her detailed and realistic bird paintings. Michael Hewes is an attorney who penned a serious thriller two years ago. Together the Gulfport mother and son have collaborated on a whimsical book about a chicken, titled The Tempestuous Trial of Maybelline Meriweather.
“The book might not be for everybody. They have to be kind of like Michael and me,” Sarah said.
“Which is a little weird,” Michael answered.
The story, about a free spirited chicken who is accused of stealing an egg, is a delight, especially with the illustrations depicting the characters in the town
of Avian Mile. The main character was inspired by a chicken named Maybelline that lived in Michael’s dorm when
he was a student at the University of Southern Mississippi. Many years passed with Michael attending law school,
and joining a practice in Jackson before returning home to Gulfport in 2003.
“I had started thinking what would happen if a chicken was put on trial for stealing another bird’s egg?” Michael said. “I was driving home from a deposition, and the first couple of stanzas came to mind.”
While those words came quick, he worked on the story for several years. That was no easy task because every third or fourth word had to rhyme. As
he was building on the tale of the town characters, quite often he would come up with a species of bird because the name would rhyme. His selection of birds in the tale did work out most appropriately — the prosecuting attorney is Canary Mason and Maybelline’s attorney is a mockingbird named Atticus Peck.
Michael knew the book called for
illustrations. He looked to his mother, who has
a fine arts degree. Her work is published in two books and her
paintings hang in corporate and private collections throughout the South.
“I’ve been
painting and
looking at birds for
50 years, but when
Michael asked me, I
had to consider what
he could get out of me, and if I could do this,” Sarah said.
“I showed the first painting Mom brought over to Kay, my wife. It was fantastic. I said, ‘I think Mom’s got it,’” Michael said.
With the manuscript complete and some illustrations in hand, Michael shopped for a publisher. He found a good fit
with Scott Campbell of River Road Press of New Orleans. “By that time we had four paintings done. Scott immediately said yes. Then he said, ‘by the way Mrs. Hewes, I need 50 more paintings in the next three months.’ Mom got to work,” Michael said.
While Sarah already knew how to correctly paint each bird species, her
& Son
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