the life aquatic

Hooray! Here Come the Humpbacks! has arrived. When the box of complimentary copies shows up, it's official. Since the non-fiction story by April Pulley Sayre is about a mother humpback and her calf's migration, my dedication is to my daughter, "who crosses water twice a day," her own six-word memoir, written in a comics class exercise.

Yes, we live the life aquatic here on an island, crisscrossing Casco Bay. She headed to the ferry one morning wearing a t-shirt she designed.

The same day I hung up a sparkly piece I bought from Maine College of Art student Devon Johnson.

The semester has begun, and I am excited to share the classroom with Devon and the rest of the class of 2013 illustration majors. In reviewing their work, I spied several interesting illustrations for an assigned article about ocean trash.

I, too, illustrated a trashy scene for Here Come the Humpbacks!

It's a daily reality here. All manner of things wash up. Sometimes a neighbor makes a statement, like this monstrous driftwood covered in lobster buoys.

On my daily walks with the dog, I collect any stray debris on the beach.

It's my personal beauty regimen. See, isn't this more beautiful?

Illustrating a non-fiction picture book is more than just drawing. It's getting immersed in the subject. I learned a LOT about whales while working on this book. Every bit of trash I pick up is one less particle of plastic being ingested by sea life.

I came home and found another surprise: my adoption package from Whale and Dolphin Conservation! Here is Salt, my plush toy that represents a humpback first identified in 1975 who has 12 known calves and became a grandmother in 1992, the year we moved to Maine.

Besides a certificate of her history, I received her family tree and a DVD of whale watch videos. Cool!

Meanwhile, my better half was doing his part to preserve the ocean. He designed this poster for an upcoming rally about tar sands.

And what's a rally without a banner? A group of hardy islanders gathered to pull one together, but saved the actual painting task to Marty.

So we draw, paint, and care about our world. Right now there's talk of snow again. Here's a view from Here Come the Humpbacks.

Could be Salt and her kin, making their way back home.

boston blast

The whales have made their journey to Charlesbridge at last. If I didn't deliver my illustrations for Here Come the Humpbacks a minute sooner, I might still be obsessively redrawing them all. There wasn't even time for me to lay them all out together until I arrived at their offices.

I'm proud of these! I have the dusty blue sneakers to show for it, too. I wasn't at the publisher long enough to take off my coat. But I sported my whale t-shirt by Miles to Go with pride.

With business complete, we visited my nephew, Garrett, who graciously gave us his two cent tour of Emmanuel, an institution of higher learning and angelic proportions.

Here's an old angel of mine, dropping some snowflakes. We saw a few in our travels while in Boston.

We ventured alongside the mobs to the Museum of Science. The geckos are a wondrous marvel!

So many varieties, and each with unique personalities. I was envious of this contented sleeper.

It would've been fun to sketch these fellows, but there wasn't room, or any sitting place. Here's a skink I drew for Nest, Nook & Cranny. Can you tell the difference?

The MOS has fantastic permanent displays and live demos, too. We enjoyed Mind Games, all about the mysteries of perception. Love this vintage optical illusion.

Ever since art school, I can't resist a good skull. I did the below as a freshman, layers of self from skull to skin.

There's also a fantastic display of taxidermy. Where was this marmot when I was working on A Warmer World? He could have posed for me!

Here's the illustration I did, without him.

There's critters all over Boston. Spotted Lack and Mack crossing a major intersection, bringing to mind Robert McCloskey. They still ignore the signs!

We headed to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, where we waited in a line outside to stand in a line inside.

The new wing has brought plenty of buzz, but it's still the old courtyard that remains the best draw.
Again, too many people for contemplative sketching. There is so much to take in, my mind melted.
Never too tired to browse the bookstore, though!

We found these exquisite orchids in the Living Room, a chic retreat from the collections, where you can relax.

I drew an orchid and a golden toad on the last page of A Warmer World, two examples of fragility in our changing world.

That reminds me: today is Leap Day! Happy hopping, everyone.

I'll be making two school visits this Friday, which is Read Across America day, in honor of Dr. Seuss.
In the morning, I will visit the Peaks Island Elementary School down the street. Hooray!
And in the afternoon, Yarmouth Elementary, across the bay.

O, the places we will go!

thar she blows

I am feverishly fussing over the last touches on my illustrations for Here Come the Humpbacks by April Pulley Sayre. Above is a detail, since the art's all too large for my scanner. Here's a humpback spouting, just as I've been blowing blue dust all over my studio for weeks (cough, cough..)

Ahoy, thar be a whale in Casco Bay this morning?

 

Oh, what fun!

I just came across a very life-like toy by Schleich that I had to play with. If only I'd had this at the beginning of this project! 

Here's another detail in which I got to draw other sea creatures, a welcome diversion from the whale focus. I took out several books on jellyfish, and have fallen in love with drawing them. And turtles, too!

A loggerhead makes an appearance in this spread from my newest book,  A Warmer World by Caroline Arnold.

 
For that book, I drew lots of polar bears.

It was this time last year I was looking for reference on a trip to Boston, specifically at the aquarium, for this spread about penguins.

Yes, there's always blue dust in the air around here.

The distant factory in this image is from an old snapshot of the Boston Edison plant. It seemed to provide the right contrast for this page.

We'll head to Boston later this week, and I will deliver my final art to Charlesbridge. Hooray!

Just a little more fussing, and blowing of pastel first.

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!

whale spotting

This impromptu gesture made by my daughter while we were browsing at Artists & Craftsman Supply made me think about keeping our eyes open. Since starting on Here Come the Humpbacks for Charlesbridge in June, I've been spotting whales everywhere.

First I found them in our own toy bin.

And this little life-like model pairs well with cocktail napkins found at Take a Peak.

I couldn't resist this platter from Velocity Art and Design. Perfect for a Sunday morning of warm scones, yes?

And while traveling through Wiscasset, I had to stop and buy this porcelain white whale found at Rock Paper Scissors. Exquisite.

Yes, there have been books read, such as A Whale for the Killing by Farley Mowat, and films watched.

When I take on a subject, full immersion is necessary. I've intended to go on a whale watch, but instead find them in unexpected places. Like at the Gem Gallery, during Carol Cartier's "Wilderness" show, where I found these whales ready to play ping pong.

 

Just saw this in the window of the new Pine Cone & Chicadee shop on Free Street. Want.

This bears a strong resemblance to Rockwell Kent's illustration for Moby Dick. I've requested the classic from the MECA library, since illo grad and white whale expert Seaums Doherty says I must read it.

In July I lived vicariously through my family, who explored without me the inflatable whale that visited Peaks Island, thanks to the Children's Musuem of Maine.

I thought I might see a whale on the ferry to Nova Scotia in August, but instead, a stone whale awaited me at Nicole d'Entremont's cabin in Pubnico.

And what's hanging in the Hogan camp on the Bay of Fundy, built by my grandfather in 1934? A wooden whale made by my Uncle Roland Hogan. Perfect.

We did see an amazing skeleton at the New Brunswick Museum, of a right whale named Delilah.
I sat under a life size model of her, dwarfed and amazed, unable to capture her immensity in this sketch.

Since sending off my sketches to Charlesbridge 3 weeks ago,  I found time to visit an excellent show of children's book illustration at UNE, with esteemed companions, Kirsten Cappy and Cathryn Falwell.

Besides finding the wonderful work of my neighbor, Scott Nash, I delighted seeing my heroes Barbara Cooney, Dr. Suess, and this lovely leviathan by Peter Sis.

From the show, we girls made a short but breezy getaway to Taylor Pond, thanks to Cathryn's hospitality. We relaxed in the fresh air. Ahhhh. So needed a break in the action!

While I am fixed on whales, Cathryn has a magnet for frogs. Spotted this fellow in a culvert next to her cabin.

During the return voyage to my island, a local tug escorts another tanker down the river.

This familiar sight came in handy for one sketch for a spread in the book, in which author April Pulley Sayre writes about the dangers of shipping lanes to the migrations of whales.

Back on my island, I ride my bike to the backshore, and notice the shadows starting to look like fall.

Oh, and how the sign on this seafront cottage, now empty, catches the sun.

I'm even finding whales in the clouds that float over the rocks. I did this loose sketch from a memory.

Word has it that the sketches are now in the final stage of approval, with experts and fact-checkers.
Time now to clean the studio and line up my pastels in anticipation!