Island Birthday has landed!
Like an airplane long awaited, Island Birthday by Eva Murray (Tilbury House) has landed in bookstores! “Hogan’s lively, brightly colored pastel illustrations bring the distinctive island setting to life. This book engagingly invites young readers to explore a different lifestyle from a child’s perspective.” —Kirkus...
Read Moresketching natural history
What a thrill when a box of new books lands on your doorstep! Yesterday was Publication Day for John Muir Wrestles a Waterfall by Julie Danneberg, my first book illustrated with colored pencils. Charlesbridge Art Director Whitney Leader-Picone had seen my Sketchbook Project postings, and wanted to mirror the pencil sketching Muir did in wilderness travels. You can read more about that meander here. I’m all for drawing directly from nature. Last week I brought Maine College of Art’s senior illustration majors to the Harvard Musuem of Natural History in Cambridge, MA. With over...
Read MoreOsher Map Library: to heaven and back
When Art History professor Sue Nutty invited Maine College of Art faculty to tour the nearby Osher Map Library, I jumped at the chance. I’ve had a thing for maps, always. They are fascinating documents and lovely to look at. Maps have served many a visual purpose in my work over the years. In a self-promo postcard during my collage phase, I showed how I playfully exercise my skills with deadlines, and on top of the world, to boot. This editorial illustration was for a business article about the European economy. Livin’ large, I guess. When I illustrated Stephanie Pearl McPhee...
Read MoreSnow Queen
What better way to battle the epic winter we’re having: working on a poster for The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Andersen. All this ice is brilliant inspiration. I drew a jagged ice palace in my sketchbook after a walk backshore. These are 4 of the rough ideas I showed to Portland Stage Company. During one of many blizzards, I got carried away with the idea of a snowflake mask. With winter blues swirling outside, I worked on a color version for a web banner. Another version includes the roses that pop up in the play. In my over 2o years of island living, I’ve not seen Casco Bay...
Read MoreSweet ‘Art @ the PMA
Cabin fever from all these blizzards has left a pile of hand-made valentines, all red and pretty for this week’s First Friday Sweet Art @ the Portland Museum of Art. My first batch is 20 one-of-a-kind, signed on the back cards, made beside a crackling fire with love. After the storm, it was back to Maine College of Art, where the entire Illustration Department, students, alums, and faculty are also crafting feverishly towards this First Friday. But first, an island car must be dug out. What?!! The town car, too? A double whammy when there is no island garage or you had to park on the...
Read MoreIsland Birthday
When Tilbury House editor Audrey Maynard approached me with a manuscript by Eva Murray, right off I was intrigued. A picture book by an admired author that combines bad weather with a mopey kid on a remote island? It all sounded…familiar. I put together a pencil dummy book and asked the 8 year-old across the street to be my model. He gave me his awesome drawing of a plane! I’ve drawn this Peaks Island native before. He made an appearance in my 2011 Sketchbook Project, counting chocolate eggs. His whole family is a great source of inspiration, in fact. I used their colorful...
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