Prickly Picture Book Program on Peaks
Many thanks to the Peaks Island Branch Library for hosting our Prickly Picture Book Program on Saturday morning. I couldn’t resist making something sweet and prickly, too. (Do try this at home, a pile of warm brownies pierced with toothpicks is a very fun sculpture to make and then eat!) It was a pleasure to have Lyn Smith, the author of A Porcupine’s Promenade visit Peaks Island. As a reading specialist, Lyn enjoys reading aloud. She makes these porcupine noises that I just cannot fathom how. I talked a bit before making a visual presentation, about how I came to illustrate...
Read MoreBetween Books and Blizzards
When I saw the forecast a week ago, I dared to ship all my original art to Tilbury House instead of driving there in a blizzard. Not an easy decision, given I’ve had this work in my head and on my table for the past five months. Whew! Ana and the Sea Star by R. Lynne Roelfs will be out in Fall 2017. Driving down front to the post office on Peaks Island, all was quiet before the storm. Even us chickens. I’m a snail mailer from way back, so the island post office is an almost daily destination. Isn’t it cute? Once the storm picked up steam, I ventured out for a weather report...
Read MoreTake something like a star
I have stars on my mind. It never fails that I am working out of season when illustrating a picture book. Last July I was feverishly drawing deep snow for A Porcupine’s Promenade. As the ice forms outside, I am drawing a summer day at the beach for Ana and the Sea Star (for Tilbury House, coincidentally located on Starr Street in Thomaston, Maine) When we decorated our tree, I noticed how many star ornaments we have. This one, from former island neighbors Deb Deatrick and Scott Vile, is a joy to rediscover every year. The letterpress poem by Robert Frost always shines a light on...
Read MoreLibrary Love
Happy National Library Week! I’m still floating from last week’s Maine Library Association’s 27th Annual Reading Round-Up of Children’s and Young Adult Literature. No better place to be than in a fine flock of kidlit advocates. Winning a Lupine Award with Eva Murray for our book Island Birthday is a spectacular honor. Inspired by Maine artist, Barbara Cooney’s Miss Rumphius, the Lupine is presented to a living author or illustrator who is a resident of Maine, or who has created a work whose focus is on Maine, shown through the characteristics, plot, or setting....
Read Morelong live lunacy
Have you heard? There will be a full moon on Christmas for the first time since 1977. I’m well versed in lunar cycles, thanks to my contributions to the Lunar Calendar since 1983. Over the years, I’ve had the honor of creating the color cover several times, always a treat. These are a few of the ideas I presented to publisher Nancy F. W. Passmore for the 40th edition. The calendar is a vertical format with a fold, and I like to cross that, if possible. Nancy is fond of the idea of keeping her moon boat afloat, so she picked the bottom left. I was happy to develop the one idea...
Read MoreWarm wishes
What a full and fruitful season this has been. I’m happy to announce my new website and shop, Jamie Peeps Island! You’ll find select originals, prints, and books that I can sign and ship directly to the darling of your choice. When I saw this at the First Friday event for the Wake Up Alice exhibit, I thought yes, fill my cup please! Besides enjoying a steady swell of viewers to the show, I connected with hearty Tilbury House editor, Audrey Maynard. And she bought my Alice! Thanks, Audrey! The entire weekend was abuzz with holiday spirit. Just the trigger for me to design my...
Read MoreVisit JamieHogan.com
