“Tourist season is here. Where can a Portlander find some peace?”

In May 2026, the Portland Mercury commissioned me to create the lead image for a humor piece about locals avoiding tourists in the summer.

I wanted to show two competing factions: gawking tourists trying to discover a local place vs. frustrated locals doing anything to keep them out.

I composed the image so the reader is inside with the locals, sharing in the stress of being in the next place the tourists want to take over. The color palette reinforces this, with harmonious greens and soft grays of the Pacific Northwest inside, and louder, warmer colors outside.

Read the article online here!

Editorial for the Portland Mercury

Visual exploration:

I presented four sketches for consideration, each exploring different ways to represent Portland and the tension between people who live there and those who visit.

I explored bridges as visual symbols for Portland, as well as donuts and cameras as symbols for tourists. We chose the fourth sketch, showing a battle at the door, and added more locks and symbols of Portland to root us firmly in place.

The article was published online and in print on May 14, 2026.