The Lobster Lady
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,...
Read MoreLeap Frog
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...
Read MoreOh, Chickadee!
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...
Read MoreArt Camp
My island neighbor, dear friend, and author Nicole d’Entremont, has taken up drawing with a passion. She began creating what she called Trumpoons back in 2017 as expressions of satire fueled by outrage. This led to drawing more, taking sketchbooks on her travels to Vietnam and New York. She took her first drawing class this January with the legendary artist, Martha Miller, at Maine College of Art, and was transformed. Nicole enrolled in a portraiture class with Martha in June but it was cancelled because of Covid-19. She approached me about teaching her, and I was honored yet unsure I...
Read MoreVote by mail
Readers of this blog may be aware that I am a devout snail mailer. This valentine I made a few years ago attests to my love for letters in all ways. collage © Jamie Hogan It was of course gratifying to illustrate a post office scene in Island Birthday by Eva Murray, where islanders congregate. illustration by Jamie Hogan from ISLAND BIRTHDAY by Eva Murray And with the writing of letters comes the collecting of stamps. I made this drawing/collage for Carson Ellis’ #transmundanetuesday drawing prompts on Instagram with a swell batch of stamps from Petronella Periwinkle. “Is...
Read MoreBear and the Oxbow Island Gang
It’s for real! Rae Chalmer’s debut chapter book is here: Bear and the Oxbow Island Gang is an environmental mystery set on a Maine island for readers 8 – 11. Last fall, after reading Rae’s manuscript, I began illustrating the story by doing small, preliminary sketches for the cover. She’s a fellow Peaks Islander, so instead of scanning and emailing my rough ideas, I brought my sketchbook to her house a few minutes away. So analog and refreshing! These are a few more ideas, which all reflect an island setting that residents of Peaks may find familiar. I also did...
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