Mermaids on my mind
Finally, I am back at my drawing table. And charged with the delicious task of illustrating a month for next year’s NPR calendar. Yay! The piece must show my public radio listening experience. While I was sketching, I heard an interview on WMEA 90.1 with an author of a new book on biodiversity. He mentioned horseshoe crabs, critical to testing the toxicity of antibiotics. Who knew? There are so many species we know nothing about yet our very survival depends on them. I started drawing an underwater scene, which had to include a horseshoe crab and a mermaid. Plenty of mermaid folklore...
Read MoreWhatever floats your boat
It probably comes as no surprise that boats keep showing up in my work. This piece is currently at the Gem Gallery in the front room exhibit of the members’ collective. I have drawn this boat several times. Just love the color and shape. Even illustrations seem to feature boats pretty often. This was an unused cover for last year’s Cast Off bookjacket. Peg knit the boat piece for me, since I don’t knit. Had fun drawing lots of yarnish things, though. And I drew several boats for Greater Portland Landmark’s Activity Guide… This one is refers to Captain Lemuel...
Read MoreAt a loss
Thanks to ties that bind bloggers, I have worked on a star to send to Jillian Curtis, who is collecting stars for a Holocaust Memorial in her yard. One mother’s act to educate her children about history, horrific persecution, and genocide. An act of remembrance. A few summers ago, Faith York, island neighbor, songwriter, and musician, led the Peaks Island Chorale in a performance of Songs of Freedom. One piece was called I never saw another butterfly based on a poem written by Pavel Friedman, a child in the Terezin Concentration Camp in 1942. Faith asked my daughter to sing a solo with...
Read MoreRickshaw Girl wins again
I am still glowing with the Lupine Honor and now comes another: the Jane Addams Honor Award for Rickshaw Girl! From the Jane Addams Peace Association press release: Three books have won honors in the Books for Older Children category. Rickshaw Girl by Mitali Perkins, with illustrations by Jamie Hogan and published by Charlesbridge, is a contemporary novel set in Bangladesh. In clear prose and detailed black-and-white drawings, ten-year-old Naimi excels at painting alpanas, traditional designs created by Bangladeshi women and girls. Her talent, though valued by her family, cannot buy rice or...
Read MoreCirque de Synchronicity
It’s that time of year again: mud season in Maine and the circus is in town. In memory of my dad, William Hogan, a Shriner, I take my daughter and friends to the annual Kora Shrine Circus from Lewiston, Maine. It’s the cheapest trick in town and remains entertaining after 7 years in a row. There’s something nostalgic for me, wandering amongst the men in their burgundy blazers and fez, ever accomodating. I know I went to circuses as a kid, but not one of them stands out. Maybe that’s why I’m drawn to them as an adult. I went to an early Cirque de Soleil show in...
Read MoreBim, BEM, Bum: Bergey!
About four years ago I met Joshua Bergey, who told me he was working on a book about his illustrator grandfather, Earle K. Bergey. I honestly couldn’t conjur up an image of his work at the time. Recently, I assigned a project to my illustration class to draw the future. This prompted bringing in some books, Infinite Worlds by Vincent di Fate and Science Fiction of the 20th Century, an Illustrated History by Frank M. Robinson, both borrowed from my neighbor/illustrator, Doug Smith. Doug is both a fan and collector of pulp fiction art and science fiction illustration. Earle...
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