warming up

It warms me no end to see another illustration of mine in Maine Magazine.

This one's all about the health benefits of sweat. I'm also pleased to share the pages with my MECA student, Spenser Macleod. He did an illustration for the poetry page. No sweat, Spenser. Cool.

For awhile, it didn't seem very wintery, but then, brrrrrrr, we had a good cold snap. I posted this cardinal on Facebook in honor of National Bird Day.

 

The very next day Mr. Cardinal was in the branches during a long-awaited snow blast. Was my art the draw?

A friend gave me some paperwhite bulbs. Not being much of a gardener, I went head over heels with the immediate gratification.

I drew her this in return.

It has since gotten even more glorious.

Over the mantel is the cover art for Nest, Nook, and Cranny, which I just learned from author Susan Blackaby has won the 2011 Lion and Unicorn Award for Excellence in North American poetry. Bravo! You can read the entire essay here, but this is my favorite quote:

"This year's winner, Susan Blackaby's Nest, Nook & Cranny, illustrated by Jamie Hogan, is not only a fine collection of poetry, but also succeeds as a book to be grasped and looked at. It somehow makes graceful the dreaded "informative nature poem" collection, transcending the genre of didactic animal books by its severe attention to poetic form, and Hogan's pastels and charcoal pencil drawings, given depth by the visible texture of her Canson paper, decorate without overwhelming the delicate verses."

I'll take that as a compliment!

Meanwhile, I still have whales on the brain. Yet with all my whale spotting, I only just noticed that there is a whale on MY DOOR.

A friend gave us these numbers nearly 20 years ago as a house warming gift: 2 thistle, 6 whale, 5 barnacle. And the whale is a humpback, too. Rather cosmic.

I am surrounded by all the right references, when I take a good look. These are just the tankers I need for my current illustration. Spied them from the ferry.

This illustration is about how humpbacks travel through shipping lanes. Really? I like thinking they are out in Casco Bay, singing their songs.

Back to both the drawing board and the classroom at Maine College of Art. Besides doing 9 more illustrations for Here Come the Humpbacks, I will have 7 new students in Illustration 2.

That, too, is sweet!

pencils + trees

In the manner of Kate Bingaman Burt, who made her mark by documenting everything she bought each day with a drawing, I sketched some of the gifts I received this year as thank you cards.

Did you see the moonbow in the sky last night? So awesome. My sweetheart gave me a pair of reading glasses that have little bulbs in the temples, so you can read at night, and ahem, not wake your neighbor.
Invariably, when the moon is getting full, I am energized. An insomniac. He also gave me a Luna Time Clock, so I can always know where the moon is. An insomniac AND a lunatic! Between that, and my lunar calendar, I'm good.

My daughter helped pick out this groovy wallet. Stylish spending. Love!

 Curious friends, Kirsten and Mark, gave us a little orange deer dispenser, adorable and useful. We watched Dr. Who together the day after Christmas. Wibbly, wobbly, timey, wimey fun.

Susan Blackaby, amazing author of Nest, Nook, and Cranny sent from her coast to ours a trio of rubber duckies to add to our collection. Oh, and some peeps! I feel a story coming on.

My potter friend, Peg, who knows I am dotty about patterns, made this mega cup, which I drink from now, plotting in my sketchbook.

Our neighbor, Eleanor, gave us a pretty bottle of gooseberry cordial that she made from trees in her yard.

 

Trees are so inspirational. Here's where I segue into my current Sketchbook Project. I was talked into this last year by Mary Anne Lloyd, and it was a blast. (Here is my sketchbook 2011.) Just like last time, it took me a long time to begin. Procrastination, also known as incubating, is a large part of my process. 

I've been simmering a book idea about tree houses on a back burner for over a year. Since "tree house" was one of the themes offered by the Sketchbook Project, I figured it would help get something going.

Sure enough, once I get drawing, ideas flow. I still have several pages to fill, but I did the cover this morning, inspired by our visit to Eyes on Owls in December.

I started out in the middle, thank you, Mary Anne. I began documenting the various tree houses I've encountered on Peaks Island. Here's one, where I'm not invited.

After I drew from observation, I needed some invention thrown in. Here's my resident fairy, perched on a pine cone with her acorn tea.

Drawing, looking, and reading has also broadened my idea of what is a tree house. My daughter got Wildwood for Christmas, and since she's still working on her book report on Lord of the Flies, I started reading her copy. I'm in love with the illustrations by Carson Ellis, and the story by Colin Meloy is rich in atmosphere.

There's a huge tree hanging over a bluff on the beach down the hill. Someday it may crash into the sea, but meanwhile, the roots are exposed, and got me thinking about Prue, hiding beneath a warren of coyotes.

 And here's a hint. A certain tree hollow is home for our letter box. I added Kooky in my drawing, as a brave guard. See if you can find it, all you letter boxers!

And what about this naked teepee, built in the fall by Susan? She was ritually burning old papers, writings. Purging in a ceremonial way. So this is a tree house of ash and memories.

Well, I have many more pages to fill. But it's back to work, illustrating whales. Yes, Charlesbridge, I am getting there! But all work and no play would make a dull pencil. Right?

nook books are here!

Hooray! I got my box of Nest, Nook and Cranny books! O happy Pub Day!

I worked feverishly a year ago on the illustrations for this book of poems by Susan Blackaby. About animal habitats, it was a delicious challenge to immerse myself in the wordplay and my own environment, my radar always on the look out for immediate reference.

The book is punctuated by spreads that define a particular habitat: desert, grassland, shoreline, wetland, and woodland. Except for desert, I could mine my own territory, more or less.

Since there is a beaver colony on Peaks, I thought I could do some direct research. However, they are elusive critters, leaving only their signature chiseled marks on downed trees. Probably why I drew this beaver leaving the picture frame in my first piece for the Wetland spread.



The interior is black and white, but for the spreads, I wanted to play with some paper combinations for a greater range of tonal values. I needed to revise this, and show the beaver, plus draw a less awkward heron in flight. Thanks for astute art direction, Whitney!



There are some things you just have to invent. I had to draw a bear and a hive, but couldn't find very detailed reference. I drew this pattern.



I inverted and warped it, printed it out, and tore the edges, for that layered, papery quality of a hive. I combined the collage with the bear drawing.



It figures that reference often comes too late, but maybe it will be useful for another time, like this honeycomb I found in the snow yesterday.



Even though I live on an island, there's plenty of woodsy inspiration for this piece, for the Woodlands spread.



I loved the pattern of the inside of an envelope for the tree, but needed to revise that. This is the final version in the book.



Whenever I could, I played with cut paper and silhouettes.



Most of the illustrations are simple with plenty of white to give the poems their space.



Look who visited the lowtide about 3 months after I finished my illustrations...



And this morning I noticed this on a neighbor's roof:



The author writes at the end, " As a writer, I'm often asked where I get my ideas, and I usually say that I poke my nose out the front door. I suggest you do the same. If you stay on the lookout for quirky, curious, and remarkable things, you'll soon discover them everywhere."

Well said, Susan!

It was hard to miss this quirky curiosity, spotted down my street.



Only a clever quack would come up with such a remarkable obstacle for those drivers blasting to the next ferry.

Thanks to Suz, Charlesbridge, and folks like Tim, who make the world an ever fascinating place.