Kidlit Con Providence
A week ago today I was in the thick of children’s books everything at Kidlit Con Providence, and I’m still unpacking all the goodness. I checked into the Hotel Providence with my travel mates, Lyn Smith and Kirsten Cappy. Author and illustrator Jarrett Lerner joined us in the hotel bar for dinner. He got our robot groove going. This year’s organizer, Charlotte Taylor, gave welcoming remarks and thankful applause to author and blogger, Mia Wenjen, who gathered the panel participants last fall. I learned about the conference via her @Pragmatic Mom. LeUyen Pham gave a stellar...
Read MoreThe Half-Light
While feverishly working on next season’s posters for Portland Stage Company, I took a welcome break from my studio to see Monica Wood’s incredible The Half-Light on St. Patrick’s Day. A year ago I was doing the same mad dash to finish all the poster illustrations in less than two months. Portland Stage juggles many factors in choosing their season, not to mention the logistics of casting, contracts, and commitments. It means a killer deadline for me, too! I’d forgotten about all these ideas not chosen. The story involves Iris, a divorced secretary trying to find her...
Read MoreAwesome Opossums in Orono
Author Lyn Smith and I traveled north to Orono on Monday to visit the awesome Asa C. Adams Elementary School. What a warm and welcoming learning place filled with color and history! The knotty pine halls are lined with fantastic art by students from Pre K to 5th grade. Librarian Diana Smart and art teacher Nancy Fitch had prepared well for our visit, with an Arts and Literacy celebration prior to our arrival. We were tickled by this decorated door to the library! Lyn read aloud What Makes an Opossum Tick? to each of the 6 groups who gathered during the day. I detailed my process of making...
Read MoreWhat Makes a Book Tick?
I’m so excited What Makes an Opossum Tick? by Lyn Smith is now published!! She and I will be guests of the Graves Library’s Pasco Lecture Series next Sunday, March 3 at 2 PM. Hope you can join us! We’ll also be celebrating our book at the Peaks Island Library on Saturday, April 6 at 10 AM. After illustrating Lyn’s first book, A Porcupine’s Promenade, I knew she had another story up her sleeve. I blogged about it HERE after I delivered the illustrations last September. Now that it’s out, here’s more details of my process. The illustrations began...
Read MoreValentine’s a poppin’
I’m tickled to be part of the Illustration MECA Valentine Pop Up shop at Maine College of Art’s Artist @ Work! Being a total fiend for paper, greetings, red/pink, and LOVE, I was ready with my house of cards. It opened this past First Friday on a bitter cold night. Yet Portland’s still HOT. Senior illustration major Elinor Cania, effervescent as ever, greeted valentine shoppers with hearts galore. I drew her last year when she modeled jewelry in the MECA Fashion Show. Eli specializes in spectacular hand-lettering, with a dash of wit. Here’s one of her cards: The...
Read MoreBeing Earnest
“The truth is rarely pure and never simple,” once said the legendary Oscar Wilde, a Dublin-born writer of poems, novels, and plays. When I began illustrating The Importance of Being Earnest for Portland Stage’s production, I was eager to tackle the Victorian era fashion. Aspects of dress, etiquette, and courtship were at the center of all my visual ideas. In my first sketch, I included a portrait of Wilde, as if he is serving up his witty farce like a confection. In others, I tried variations of figures, flowers, and romance. I couldn’t resist using a parasol as a...
Read MoreVisit JamieHogan.com
