Pastels ici!

I am thrilled to share that my pastel, Regatta, is included in Paintings of Portland by Carl Little and David Little. The book spans two hundred years of art in all seasons featuring my pretty city across the bay. Check it out!

I did this pastel years ago for a show on Peaks Island, and it’s in the collection of Bill and Patty Zimmerman, wonderful patrons of the arts.

Regatta, pastel on paper by Jamie Hogan

That’s Fort Gorges, which I pass on every ferry trip, and I love seeing it under clouds of all shapes. Pastel studies of seascapes and changing light have kept me busy between illustration projects for many years.

These drawings are usually small, so I can fit my sandpaper and pastels into a bag for drawing on the fly.

Marsh Spirit, pastel on paper by Jamie Hogan

This is a larger pastel, done in my studio, where photos I took and my memory combined to inform the composition.

Gunnel’s Garden, pastel on paper by Jamie Hogan

I document my daily walks, and never tire of this beach.

Golden Hour, pastel on paper by Jamie Hogan

In fact, this beach also appears in Ana and the Sea Star. I will be signing copies of this picture book next Saturday, November 24, at Take a Peak on Peaks Island from 11 AM – 1 PM. The sweet story by R. Lynne Roelfs makes a perfect souvenir of summer.

Last Saturday we saw French Pastels: Treasures from the Vault at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. I only wish it was triple is size. A single, sumptuous pastel by Mary Cassatt was a favorite.

But look! Her box of pastels!

Signage describing the medium said, “Works in pastel hover somewhere between drawing and painting; held in the hand, the medium is capable of graphic, linear mark-making as well as lush, painterly effects.” I do love the immediacy of working so directly with color. And it’s messy.

I want this book, even if my French is spotty. Does it count that I use Sennelier paper and pastels?

How delightful to see sketchers drawing a Degas piece!

This is an excellent exercise in slow looking. Most people waltz through museums, chatting. To sit, look, and draw is a commitment that yields great insight. Try it sometime, even if you don’t consider yourself an artist. We all are, truly.

More big news! Soon Lyn Smith’s book, What Makes an Opossum Tick? will be published! Here’s one of my illustrations, done in pastel, of course.

Illustration by Jamie Hogan from What Makes and Opossum Tick? written by Lyn Smith

She will be reading and signing her latest book at the Center for Wildlife on Saturday, Dec. 8 from 1 – 4 PM. With cookies! And wild things!

Now that Maine has an early blanket of snow, I’m thinking about all those wild ones, adapting to climate change. This arctic fox appears in A Warmer World by Caroline Arnold.

Illustration by Jamie Hogan for A Warmer World written by Caroline Arnold.

I’m back to the drawing board now, dreaming up a holiday card. If you want to be on my mailing list, email me your snail mail address.

Stay cozy, foxy peeps!