Posts by jamiepeeps

Skywatchers Downeast

Posted by on Nov 17, 2023 in Book: Skywatcher, Children's Book Illustration, Illustration, Island Readers & Writers, Pastels, Publisher: Tilbury House, School Visits, Travels, Zines | 2 comments

These have been heavy times, for Maine and for the world. I hope you’re holding on OK, dear readers. The natural world has been a tremendous solace. It’s a privilege to find sanctuary there. It lifted my spirits to see my book, Skywatcher, featured in Waterville’s Story Walk along the Messalonskee Stream. Serena at Waterville Creates, Miss Liz at the Waterville Public Library, and Amarinda at the Children’s Discovery Museum combined talents to create the catchy text that accompanies the book pages. It was a much needed exhale, to stroll along outdoors and read my book...

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The Lobster Lady

Posted by on Jun 23, 2023 in Children's Book Illustration, Drawing, Illustration, Pastels, Peaks Island, Publisher: Charlesbridge Publishing, The Lobster Lady | 4 comments

Ahoy, it’s me, the Bluffer. Last summer I hiked up this trail in the White Mountains, thinking of my looming deadline for The Lobster Lady by Alexandra S. D. Hinrichs. It was a challenging time, juggling two book deadlines at once for the first time in my career. This sign spoke to my doubts about my ability to capture the iconic Virginia Oliver, aka the Lobster Lady. When Charlesbridge art director, Kristen Nobles, contacted me about the assignment in early 2022, I was ecstatic about the opportunity to illustrate a picture book biography about the oldest person lobstering in Maine,...

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Leap Frog

Posted by on May 11, 2023 in Book: Oxbow Island Gang, Children's Book Illustration, Illustration, Peaks Island | 0 comments

I love collaborating with my island neighbor, author Rae Chalmers. Her newest Oxbow Island Gang story, Leap Frog, is the fourth book I’ve illustrated that has published this year. How lucky am I?! Late last fall when she handed me the manuscript, she also gave me this little fellow to cheer me on. It’s also the fourth book in her series, and we have our process pretty much down. She gives me a list of things to illustrate for each chapter and a month or so later I show her rough sketches. She gave me this cup by McKone Pottery and I swear drinking her husband’s coffee from...

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Maine Art Educators Spring Conference

Posted by on May 3, 2023 in Art Classes, Book: Skywatcher, Illustration, Maine Art Education Association, Maine College of Art, Zines | 3 comments

What could be finer than meeting up with Maine art educators at the Ecology School at River Bend Farm? I was delighted to speak this past weekend at the MAEA awards ceremony and lead two zine making workshops. Bonus: my former MECA student, Liz Long, was my ride! She’s now in her second year teaching Commercial Art at PATHS. After finding our dorm room, we strolled to the river. We walked past other teachers painting en plein air, the Ecology School farm, and this row of trees. All the workshops were held in these yurts, which looked like stubby pencils to me. I brought a batch of...

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Starship Unity

Posted by on Mar 29, 2023 in Horse Island | 0 comments

detail from SKYWATCHER by Jamie Hogan When fellow children’s book creator, Lucky Platt, invited me to visit the Unity Public Library last week, I was thrilled! I received this completely adorable handmade star book as an invitation to a Storyteller Supper at her house on March 24. How cool is that?! handmade star book by Lucky Platt My visit would be the culmination of a 3-day Star Party. Sweet! graphic courtesy of Unity Public Library After a delicious dinner with new friends, Lucky and her partner, Jim MacDonald, brought me to the nearby Unity Elementary School for a presentation by...

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Oh, Chickadee!

Posted by on Mar 15, 2023 in Children's Book Illustration, Illustration, Peaks Island | 2 comments

Forcing Spring, pastel on paper by Jamie Hogan, March 2006 This winter is going out like a LION, isn’t it?! Here we are hunkered down for yet another snow storm. It was in March 2006 that I drew this little chickadee with a ceramic vase holding branches about to bud, a hopeful gesture titled, Forcing Spring. Fast forward to last March on this very day, when I was working on cover ideas for Jennifer Jacobson’s manuscript Oh, Chickadee! sketchbook from March 14, 2022 photo © Jamie Hogan I’ve always been enamored by chickadees. When McSea Books offered me the opportunity to...

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