The late Patti Malmborg Reilly (1956 – 2013) originally produced these sketches for a special edition (Number 286) of Illinois Audubon magazine in 2003. The goal was to design the best, most artistic issue of the magazine ever in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the National Wildlife Refuge System, with a special focus on Illinois. My contribution to this issue of the magazine was an article called Pursuing the Blue Goose Across Illinois, which describes a trip I took across the state to visit every National Wildlife Refuge.
The article was illustrated with several excellent photographs by Jim Miller of Dunlap, Illinois, and these three sketches by Patti. Although Jim’s photographs turned out very well in the black-and-white format of the magazine, Patti’s sketches were somewhat faded, and mostly placed in the background beneath the article’s text. Because of this design, the sketches could easily be overlooked. I have always felt bad about that.
When I was putting together ideas for Side Channels, I decided to include a revised version of Pursuing the Blue Goose Across Illinois as Chapter 22. The Illinois Audubon Society and Patti then gave permission for me to include her three sketches from the original article.
Bend in the River appears on page ix, just after Debbie Scott Newman’s Foreword. Cattail Marsh appears on page 90, facing Chapter 18, Nature Along the Margins at Cooper Park Wetlands. And Backwaters, Wetlands, and Bur Oaks appears on page 133, following Chapter 23, Eulogy for an Oak.
I hope that readers can now fully enjoy these fine sketches. I know that Patti was pleased.