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Howdy, Austin

Posted by jamiepeeps on Apr 13, 2024 in Drawing, Travels | 2 comments

I’ve known my dear friend, Kathy Mahoney, since our early days freelancing as illustrators in Boston in the 80’s. She’s been inviting me to her new place in Austin for almost four years. Instead, I’ve caught up with her when she’s in Maine every summer. Opportunistic, I know.

This year felt like the right time to go, and coincide with the total eclipse.

Last Saturday, we caught the 7:15 am ferry from Peaks and arrived at Kathy’s house on the edge of downtown Austin by around 9 pm. Ample lulls between each leg of the journey were good for sketching while staring out at the clouds from our plane.

Even a random drawing is a good diversion, try it.

On Sunday morning, we strolled around her sweet neighborhood and through the nearby Oakwood Cemetery.

 

Had my eye out for vernacular delights, the more rusty the better.

We found our island neighbor, now Austinite, at work at the lovely Paper & Craft Pantry. Howdy, Olwyn! Marty is sporting Olwyn’s t-shirt design for a local band with a hot new release, Bear on Bear.

This place is an irresistible candy store for a paper person/snail mailer like myself. C’mon, April is National Letter Writing Month!

I was in my sweet spot, and a bit matchy matchy too.

During siesta time, I sat in Kathy’s backyard full of wildlife, watching grackles take splashy baths and squirrels scamper in the pecan tree.

Later, we headed to the University of Texas to see The Color Inside, a Skyspace by James Turrell. It’s a naked eye observatory with an oculus in the center.

Within a small oval room, we watched the colors of the sky above and interior below transform, a live optical excursion in color theory. The best viewings are at sunrise and sunset when the sky shifts in hue and the color contrasts are profound.

A woman played a hand pan continuously for the hour of the performance. It was hypnotic and sublime.

Afterwards I was drowsy with delight. We strolled around campus, spying public art like this piece by Nancy Rubins, titled Monochrome for Austin.

On Monday, April 8, the local forecast was not promising for the total eclipse. Still, we got giddy in our safety glasses and souvenir t-shirts by our island neighbor, Alfred Wood.

 

Intermittent views between clouds were spectacular!

The two minutes of totality were not visible, yet we felt them in the cooling darkness that set in, which triggered the streetlights. Not exactly the rapture that was had in northern Maine, but still surreal. I’m happy that fellow Mainers had the best weather after what our state has been through lately!

On Tuesday, we visited the Blanton Museum of Art where the free admission day drew crowds of art seekers like us.

I was quite inspired by the elaborate fashions in The Floating World: Masterpieces of Edo Japan. I sketched this later during siesta time.

The collection is vast, each wooden block print more dizzyingly detailed than the last.

My eyeballs melted and I moved on to a refreshing exhibit,  Anni Albers: In Thread and On Paper. She knew how to make the most of simple shapes and repetition, fundamental elements in Bauhaus thinking. This metallic piece caught my reflection.

I’m known as a cryer; this tear drop kinda choked me up:) in a good way. By Gyula Kosice, Persistence of  the Mobile Drop of Water burbled and bubbled, a hydrokinetic work that captures “an architecture of water.” Like a lunar galaxy into infinity, I was mesmerized.

There was more than we could possibly see, this place deserves multiple visits. Even the exterior is dazzling.

We ducked briefly into Austin, by Ellsworth Kelly. He gifted the design concept, his last monumental work, to the Blanton in 2015.  It’s a hushed chapel that baths you in color. Amen.

The afternoon forecast called for a tornado watch. Marty and I went in search of a local paper on foot, but the black sky sent us back empty-handed. The weather held on through happy hour, and then we ventured over to the Congress Avenue  Bridge for the infamous flight of the colony of Mexican Free Tailed bats who live beneath the bridge. What a crowd in waiting!

Unfortunately the sky finally let go, and severe thunderstorms began, sending us and many others for cover. No bat sightings this trip.

On Wednesday, we bid Kathy farewell and made the long trek home, where my stash of her colorful block prints will keep her close.

I painted a spread in my recycled sketchbook in her honor. Kathy is a walking hootenanny and terrifically talented to boot. Thanks for hosting our giddy up good times in Austin!

 

 

 

Skywatcher school visits with IRW

Posted by jamiepeeps on Mar 23, 2024 in Art Classes, Book: Skywatcher, Children's Book Illustration, Drawing, Illustration, Island Readers & Writers, Publisher: Tilbury House, School Visits, Travels | 0 comments

I was delighted to visit three schools this past week at the invitation of Island Readers & Writers, a wonderful non-profit literacy organization centered in Mount Desert Island!

On St. Patrick’s Day I drove three hours down east to Birch Harbor where this sign greeted me.

After a warm welcome from Alison Johnson, the IRW school coordinator, at their wonderful farm house, a rainbow showed up. A lucky sign!

Their frisky dog, Pip, inspired this sketch.

On Monday, March 18, we arrived at the Ella Lewis School in Stueben, Maine. After reading Skywatcher to a group of Pre-K students, I gave a talk in the gym to all students. I talked about what inspired me to write the book, and shared the process of developing the story with multiple book dummies. Following that, I met with each class.

I answered questions and demonstrated my drawing methods with a quick sketch of Tamen from the book.

I brought my collection of small life-like animal toys.

Lisa Herrington, Program Assistant, let students reach into my grab bag of surprises. No peeking!

Students were given paper and pastels to begin their observational drawing.

I invited them to add an environment for their animal and any details they wished. This artist drew the large tree first, and then perched her eagle on the branch. A striking solution!

One feature of an IRW visit: every student receives their own signed copy of my book!

I love this moment!

After school, Alison picked up Pip and gave me a breathtaking tour of the Schoodic Peninsula.

On Tuesday, March 19, we headed to Trenton Elementary School. Here be wolves! Arrroooooooh!

We followed the same agenda, reading aloud to the PreK students followed by a presentation in the gym, and then sessions with each class in the library. I began by drawing a wolf, of course!

I love witnessing how young artists begin. Any way is a good way!

How about this awesome caribou under a crescent moon?

I love the energy and mark making of this eagle drawing.

Many students did multiple drawings. This one wore her stars!

This student was super into drawing the whale, and so proud of his efforts. Shine on!

At the end of a very busy day engaging with students with sharp eyes, I headed to Blue Hill. First stop: the lovely Blue Hill Books, where a nook like this was so inviting.

After I checked into my sweet room at the Barncastle Hotel, I headed to the trailhead on Mountain Rd.

Man, what a view!

I slept well and on March 20, I drove to Deer Isle in a little snow squall. What?! There’s nothing like the Deer Isle Bridge, though. Once you cross that, there’s a winding causeway that was submerged not long ago in the January storms that ravaged the Maine coast.

I was eager to be at an island school. A much bigger island than Peaks, mind you. A mighty island, in fact! The Deer Isle Stonington Elementary School  is full to the brim with art, both commissioned and by students. They have a big theater space where I presented to several grades.

I met classes in the library. Many thanks to Alison and Lisa, and the teachers in charge, who kept the noise level to a dull roar:)

I drew a humpback whale, in honor of the Mariners, and invited students to add some details to its environment.

Don’t you love the strong proportions and textures of this drawing of a goat?

This artist added some narrative context for her drawing of a raccoon.

This artist had a lot to say about orca whales and the damage some have done recently to boats. Drawing is thinking, visual commentary, and story all in one.

I realize it’s a big ask, for students to draw from observation. Many of them balked: this is HARD! Yes, it can be challenging to draw from life. Yet before the internet, before photography, drawing was standard practice in education and science. It takes slow looking. It takes starting over sometimes. I make the point over and over that I draw OVER AND OVER. I find drawing an absorbing practice. It can calm me. It’s not about perfection or glory. It’s about discovery every time. I am so proud of all these students, willing to draw with me!

I am deeply grateful for these encounters. I have yet to meet a drawing I didn’t love. Thank you to Island Readers & Writers for this chance to connect story with drawing, visual vocabulary with vigor and all in the stellar landscape that is Maine. Thank you for reading!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Skywatchers Downeast

Posted by jamiepeeps on Nov 17, 2023 in Book: Skywatcher, Children's Book Illustration, Illustration, Island Readers & Writers, Pastels, Publisher: Tilbury House, School Visits, Travels, Zines | 2 comments

These have been heavy times, for Maine and for the world. I hope you’re holding on OK, dear readers. The natural world has been a tremendous solace. It’s a privilege to find sanctuary there.

It lifted my spirits to see my book, Skywatcher, featured in Waterville’s Story Walk along the Messalonskee Stream. Serena at Waterville Creates, Miss Liz at the Waterville Public Library, and Amarinda at the Children’s Discovery Museum combined talents to create the catchy text that accompanies the book pages. It was a much needed exhale, to stroll along outdoors and read my book in the context of flowing water and falling leaves. Thank you, Waterville.

On November 6, I headed way Downeast to Dennysville for a school visit swing with Island Readers & Writers, an incredibly passionate organization that “brings book-centered educational experiences to children, grades Pre-K-8, living on Maine’s coastal islands and in remote communities in Washington County. These experiences are designed to stretch imaginations, encourage curiosity, develop creative and reflective thinking skills, and expand perspectives through hands-on learning in natural history, science, literature, writing, and art.” 

YES! Hands on. Count me IN.

After a four hour drive northeast of Portland, I was warmly greeted by Ann Luginbuhl, a retired teacher from the nearby Charlotte Elementary School where I visited the following day. She hosted me and IRW’s Alison Johnson and Lisa Herrington, who guided me through the next days from auditorium to classroom after classroom. How lucky am I?!

On November 7 at Charlotte Elementary, I was joined by Sarah Raymond-Boyan from the Challenger Learning Center, who brilliantly covered the topic of light pollution following my talk about book development and the illustrations for Skywatcher.

Every student received a signed copy!

Sarah showed how our map of the United States glitters with brightness as seen from space.

After our presentations, the students split up to work directly with each of us. Sarah challenged students to engineer a shade that would lessen the light pollution of a small lamp, using a light meter to measure the results.

Meanwhile I did observational drawing with the other group. The naked eye is a powerful tool in astronomy and art, for eyeballing measurements, proportions, patterns, and placement. Students picked from life-like toys of animals plus actual nature objects and experimented with my pastel pencils. I’m always amazed by what details young artists notice, how they instinctively use materials, find marks for texture, and compose their drawings.

The younger kids also colored star party masks, like Brooklynne, whose use of primary colors is quite striking. Super owl wisdom at your service!

After school, we drove to nearby Lubec. I do love a good hand painted sign.

There was a mighty blow at the West Quoddy Lighthouse, the most eastern point in the contiguous US, and I sketched it later from my photo.

On November 8, we visited the Sipayik Elementary School at Pleasant Point. What a beautiful school.

The halls were bursting with art inspired by the night sky!

After an all school presentation in the gymnasium, we visited classrooms where eager students were ready to draw with sharp eyes and sharp pencils.

Turtles suffer from light pollution; upon hatching and searching for the sea, they become disoriented. The urgency of these bold marks and colors suggests that drama.

Students had already done some impressive constellation drawings like this one!

Students teamed up to work on their light blocking solution.

Many thanks to Ann Cannizzaro, Sipayik School Coordinator, Alison Johnson and Lisa Herrington of Island Readers & Writers, and Sarah Raymond from the Challenger Learning Center for all the support.

After school, we toured Eastport where you can’t miss this salty guy.

Snow was in the forecast. Yet during the night I saw a gorgeous waning crescent moon glittering next to Venus.

I drew my memory of it upon return to my studio.

The views from Ann’s house were always changing, ever stunning.

On November 9, we found a colorful welcome at Pembroke Elementary.

The whole school had prepared various projects for display. Teachers, IRW has a fantastic Educator Guide here.

It’s beyond gratifying to see all the art inspired by Skywatcher. Look at this Eagle Pride!

Have I ever met a drawing of a loon that I did not love? Nope. The confident simplicity here is so direct!

When drawing anything at all, one’s point of view is key. Choices must be made, angles determined. Sometimes it helps to have a handy hand holding your humpback.

Some of the older students drew imagined constellations with myths to go with them, like this Winter Moose by Hailey. In her narrative, the constellation has been put into the stars by a girl accused of being a witch.

In another classroom, lo and behold: ZINES! Yes, small informational nuggets about wildlife. Bravo!

 

After school, we rested up for the Star Party at 6 pm, rain or shine. A dusting of snow arrived but nothing could stop us from the celebration to come! Kelsey Buckley from IRW manned the zine making station where kids could tell their own star story.

Jim Tyson from the Challenger Learning Center set up a constellation making station near the Shadow Puppet station.

Teachers had installed drawings from the classroom sessions, a bounty of blue pages featuring goats to puffins to moose.

Alison even brought a tent for story time inside!

Teachers were all in, serving Moon Pies and hot chocolate.

I made friends with so many Skywatchers! Thank you, Pembroke Elementary for your stellar enthusiasm and dedication to learning.

On November 10, I walked with Ann through the Cobscook Bay State Park. 

Just what I needed before the long drive back to Portland. We had the evergreens and dappled coves all to ourselves, raw beauty that lifted my soul.

Thank you, dear readers, for coming along on this stroll through the stardust that we carry. Thanks to Tilbury House, Island Readers & Writers, and all the sparkling students and teachers at Charlotte, Sipayik, and Pembroke schools. Keep looking up!

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Lobster Lady

Posted by jamiepeeps on Jun 23, 2023 in Children's Book Illustration, Drawing, Illustration, Pastels, Peaks Island, Publisher: Charlesbridge Publishing, The Lobster Lady | 4 comments

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, perhaps in the world. Yesssss! But portraiture is hard, and harder to keep consistent across a whole book. Egads.

I met Virginia at her house in Rockland, Maine in early February. I took a handful of photos as we chatted at her kitchen table. I asked if there were any photos of her as a young person and she flatly replied, “No.”

However, her son, Max, who lobsters with her, found two old photos which I photographed with my phone. I knew this would be a tricky job of inventing scenes and bluffing likenesses, but I was totally down for it!

I dove into research, stopping at the Co-op where they load their bait, watching a fantastic documentary and looking through my Grampy Hogan’s old photo albums. I gathered my early sketches into a dummy.

Alexandra’s story begins in the kitchen, with Virginia serving fresh baked donuts before she and Max head out before dawn. Donuts? Yes please. I knew I needed one before starting to draw my final art.

Here’s the final illustration.

Whenever possible, I like to include real objects for observational drawing to complement working from photos. Here’s my approved sketch for the title page, plus the page with type. I enlarged the drawing in order to transfer it to my sand paper to draw at reproduction size.

Here’s the work in progress, a view of the house where Virginia was born in 1920. Pastel on red paper.

There’s a pivotal moment in Alexandra’s story in which Virginia is bitten by a crab. Lo and behold, I have a crab expert in the house! Our daughter, Daisy Braun, has volunteered for the Marine Invader Monitoring and Information Collaborative with the Wells Reserve. I met her at the dock on Peaks Island when she was checking her traps alongside our visiting friend, Ged Kenslea.

Daisy surmised what kind of crab that likely nabbed Virginia, perhaps a Jonah crab, very common in Maine waters. In order to visualize this, I enlisted my neighbors, Nicole d’Entremont and Eleanor Morse, to act out the scene. I still crack up at this Oscar level acting:)

Believe it or not, I found the blue crab toy on the beach. In reality, blue crabs are moving up into Maine waters.

Marty pretended to be Max reacting.

Here’s a version of the final illustration. Later I revised it to give Virginia dark green gear which didn’t provide as much contrast to the crab, but hey.

After this adventure, Virginia reflects upon her youth on Andrews Island. The illustrations flash back to another era, when a blacksmith made nails for making lobster traps. Here’s where my documenting comes in handy. We had visited Le Village years ago, a historic Acadian village in Pubnico, Nova Scotia, where the resident smithy demonstrated pounding nails into shape.

It helped me imagine this scene.

I borrowed a book of vintage fashion patterns from Nan Hadden, a purveyor of vintage children’s clothing.

The really tricky part was picturing Virginia as a young girl. I saw a resemblance between fellow artist Liz Long and Virginia in the eyes. She sent me a few photos of her as a little girl. What do you think?

Here is my imagined young Virginia, weighing lobsters in her family’s general store on Andrews Island, Maine.

Another scene involved Virginia and her mother playing hide and seek in the laundry. I ran over to my neighbor’s house for a quick photo shoot. Thanks, Meredith!

Here’s the final illustration.

Max showed me this photo of a young Virginia hanging clothes on a line.

It was reference for this illustration, in which Virginia tells her lobsterman husband that she’s quit her job.

A skeptical doctor who stitched Virginia’s finger plays a part in the story. I asked my neighbor, Dr. Chuck Radis, if he would pose for me. An author himself, he happily obliged.

Here Virginia glares at him.

I did numerous rough sketches for the cover.

This was the sketch chosen by Charlesbridge with text placement from the art director, Kristen Nobles.

It underwent multiple revisions with the patient guidance of Kristen, who I finally met in person at the Portland Museum of Art last fall. Big hugs for this amazing designer who layered so many elements together.

I sent off the last of my revisions for the final art in late October. Several months later, it was a book in my hands! I posed next to a favorite boat on Peaks Island in late March. Dot Flynn was another salty Mainer.

I finally had the honor of meeting the author, Alexandra S. D. Hinrichs, in April when we signed books at the Maine Librarians Association’s spring conference in Augusta. She’s having a banner year, with three new books published. Go, Alex!

Publication day, May 23, called for a lobster roll at the local trap to table restaurant, Island Lobster Company.

I debuted reading Oh, Chickadee! and The Lobster Lady at the Peaks Island Library to the island school students during their weekly library visit in June.

And here’s a reading at Minni in Boston, a wonderful art space for young kids!

They made the cutest buoy art ever!

I’ll be signing books at Color of Peaks on July 7 from 6 to 9 pm at the TEIA on Peaks Island.

A book signing with Virginia is in the works at the Rockland Public Library, on August 4. She is all smiles!

Alexandra and I will be doing a book event with Island Readers and Writers on August 17 as well as the Annual Book Fair by the Sea at the Camden Library on August 19.

Many thanks to Virginia and Max Oliver for sharing their story of a life well lived by dedication to their work on the sea. Thanks to Alexandra for her lyrical and illuminating story, and to Charlesbridge Publishing for the honor of illustrating this chronicle of Maine’s iconic lady. Here’s to a sunny summer of salty reading!

 

 

 

Leap Frog

Posted by jamiepeeps on May 11, 2023 in Book: Oxbow Island Gang, Children's Book Illustration, Illustration, Peaks Island | 0 comments

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 it helped my process:)

In the story, Bear and Olivia keep finding dead frogs. I no sooner read the manuscript and came across this poor guy on the very dump road that I would be illustrating. It was a sad harbinger of the threats wildlife face everywhere.

In fact, the story begins with drama. Bear encounters the fire boat in Portland, an alarming sight. I took this photo on Peaks, and wondered what the emergency was.

This is the illustration that opens Chapter 2.

We saw this frog a couple of summers ago during a stay at Mt. Chase Lodge.

He became a frog on a log in Chapter 6.

I happened to spy this anchor at the Brackett Cemetery on Peaks, where I had roamed during my research for The Lobster Graveyard.

It inspired this illustration for Chapter 5.

I decided to use it in some valentine cards, too.

The story also features a truck crash!

Rae asked me to find a particular vintage truck, seen here near the island dock.

After taking photos, I drove out the “dump road” for more reference seeking, plus potholes:)

This illustration took some bluffing, but it captures the scene of the crash.

In another scene, Bear creates a mess making pancakes for his grandmother. Sometimes I need to get into the act, too! Pancake making is a perfectly yummy detour from drawing.

Here’s the illustration from Chapter 18.

I showed Rae my first round of sketches in early December. I had to take a little break for the holidays, but returned to the project in early January. I enjoyed a little solo retreat at their getaway in Lincolnville. Except for the fire I started in the kitchen, it was super peaceful! Look, I got all these revisions done!

I also did rough sketches for the cover. Which one is your favorite?

When she’s not writing, Rae is an accomplished quilter. This one gave me so many color ideas!

I worked on the cover final back in my studio on Peaks. A fantastic picture book by April Pulley Sayre provided great inspiration as well. April was an acclaimed book creator of nature topics; we collaborated on Here Come the Humpbacks years ago.

I was all done by the end of January. And by April, Rae dropped a bag of books on my doorknob, just in time for a meta moment at breakfast.

There’s a delicious thrill opening a new book after all the work!

Here’s my illustration with my bottle collection. Who doesn’t have one on Peaks Island?

I am so pleased by this series!

This Saturday, May 13, at Rae’s house on Peaks, we’ll be celebrating with a fun book launch, signing, food, and games. I can’t wait!

Thanks, Rae, for creating this wonderful series. What will be next??

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Maine Art Educators Spring Conference

Posted by jamiepeeps on May 3, 2023 in Art Classes, Book: Skywatcher, Illustration, Maine Art Education Association, Maine College of Art, Zines | 3 comments

What could be finer than meeting up with Maine art educators at the Ecology School at River Bend Farm?

I was delighted to speak this past weekend at the MAEA awards ceremony and lead two zine making workshops. Bonus: my former MECA student, Liz Long, was my ride! She’s now in her second year teaching Commercial Art at PATHS.

After finding our dorm room, we strolled to the river.

We walked past other teachers painting en plein air, the Ecology School farm, and this row of trees.

All the workshops were held in these yurts, which looked like stubby pencils to me.

I brought a batch of zines from my enormous collection, some by MECA students during my years teaching there, and also some purchased at various zine fests.

I also brought little nature objects and little plastic animals as possible prompts, a fine little mess.

The Saturday session zine makers were Scott Minzy, Elise Pelletier, Daving Whiting, Lynda Leonas, and Liz Long, all teachers ready to roll.

A zine, by the way, is any small edition of narrative nuggets that can be drawn, collaged, hand-lettered, any method is fair game. My favorite book is Whatcha Mean Whatsa Zine that covers the history and techniques of zine making. After opening introductions and a discussion of zines, everyone got quiet as they mapped out their plan. We were making single page zines that would be folded into eight panels.

As each person was ready, we went nearby to the Ecology School office for making copies.

Scott shared his electric sharpener that made the longest tip! I’m a big believer in sharp eyes, sharp pencils!

After making copies to share, the zines were folded, as crisply as possible.

A bundle of zines!

After a delicious dinner, the award ceremony began with a recognition of incoming officers. Guest speaker Bernie Reim talked about Astronomy and Art. He shared some works done in his astronomy course at USM. I’m a huge fan of his monthly sky guide in the local paper, and it was an honor to meet him!

The Astronomical Society of Northern New England had planned to host a star gazing event afterwards, but the cloudy skies dashed that. Bummer!

I get so jittery when public speaking, but the warm kinship among art educators saved me. We’re all “vessels of star dust” and the art classroom has always been a place for students to discover their inner light, now more than ever.

I shared a poster I saw when visiting the Blue Hill Consolidated School last fall. It sums up what goes down in an art classroom.

I studied illustration in art school, and many years later became an adjunct professor at Maine College of Art in 2003. Being a book nerd, I shared some of the publications that informed my approach.

Then came the high point of the evening!

I was delighted to see Pamela Moulton win the Community Art Educator of the Year. We were once colleagues in the Side x Side arts integration program, and I know first hand the dazzling energy she brings to every encounter.

I got teary as each teacher’s colleagues presented their award with glowing praise of their dedication. Teaching is complicated in these times, and art teachers are not always recognized for their passionate efforts in a school curriculum. Elise Pelletier, who I’d just met in the zine workshop, won High School Art Educator of the Year. Congratulations to all the amazing winners!

I led another zine workshop on Sunday morning, same yurt, new group.

 

It was fun to watch the zines take form, all in the span of four hours. Philippa’s already teaching zines to students in Sanford.

I commented that zines are like seed packets of ideas. Cory ran with that theme, drawing and collaging from a seed catalog.

The end of class came in the blink of an eye. A few zine makers will be finishing theirs this week. Here’s the bundle from Sunday.

It was a rotten rainy day, but Liz and I left buoyed by the power of connecting with the best art educators around. Thank you, Maine Art Education Association, and thanks to Vicki Bove for suggesting me to come!

The fun doesn’t stop:  I will be heading on Friday, May 5 to the opening reception for the Great State of Maine Illustration in Waterville.

On Saturday, May 6 I will be signing Oh, Chickadee with stellar author Jennifer Jacobson at the Sherman’s Books in Damariscotta from 1 to 3 pm. Please stop by!

And on May 13, I will be celebrating the release of Leap Frog with brilliant author Rae Chalmers right here on Peaks Island. More details to come!

Thanks for reading. Keep looking up:) There’s a full moon this Friday!

 

 

Starship Unity

Posted by jamiepeeps on Mar 29, 2023 in Horse Island | 0 comments

When fellow children’s book creator, Lucky Platt, invited me to visit the Unity Public Library last week, I was thrilled! I received this completely adorable handmade star book as an invitation to a Storyteller Supper at her house on March 24. How cool is that?!

My visit would be the culmination of a 3-day Star Party. Sweet!

After a delicious dinner with new friends, Lucky and her partner, Jim MacDonald, brought me to the nearby Unity Elementary School for a presentation by Northern Stars Planetarium.

I’d met John Meader online via Dark Sky Maine, and was eager to meet him in person at last, along with Melissa Bastien, one of the local movers and shakers behind the new Unity Public Library.

John gave a fantastic presentation about what’s up in the sky during March in Maine, all within this portable planetarium. It’s bigger on the inside in infinite ways!

He wowed the audience of star gazers with stories of constellations, mythology, and mind blowing facts. Thanks, John, for that trip around our Milky Way galaxy!

The sky over Lucky and Jim’s house was glittering with stars that night. What a gift to spend time there in the presence of this glorious watercolor by Lucky, a vast spill of stars over the lake nearby.

In the morning, I visited Lucky’s studio, a hive of delight where she makes wonderful creations like this fun Polaroid camera.

Her debut book, Imagine a Wolf, is an inspired spin on our typical notions about that storied animal.

On every wall and inch, narrative wonders, like these dogs conversing on their tiny tin can phones, fill your imagination.

We soon headed to the library, where I made new friends.

I brought my various show and tell items, and Melissa had quite a collection, too, courtesy of the nearby L. C. Bates Museum. Lovers of specimens, unite!

Check out this cool Luna Moth Life Cycle! It’s a short one. They become adults, mate, and die within a very short lifespan. Have you ever seen one?

I read Skywatcher to a swell group of local readers in the library’s lovely children’s room.

Kids colored and cut out their Skywatcher masks of creatures from the story.

There are moms who like to color, too!

Look, an owl!

And another!

Many thanks to Lucky, the Unity Public Library, and Maine Arts Commission for my stellar visit.

Back at Lucky and Jim’s place on the shores of Unity Pond, I had a tour of his incredible custom guitars in which the story telling and craftsmanship are downright amazing.

I left this slice of heaven carrying my memories with me, like Tamen in Skywatcher.

Spring in Maine keeps teasing us. It’s back to the drawing board for me, filled to the brim with inspiration from this outing. Thanks for reading!

Oh, Chickadee!

Posted by jamiepeeps on Mar 15, 2023 in Children's Book Illustration, Illustration, Peaks Island | 2 comments

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!

I’ve always been enamored by chickadees. When McSea Books offered me the opportunity to illustrate Jennifer’s non-fiction story detailing a year in the life of these friendly little acrobats, I jumped at it.

Jennifer and I met just before St. Patrick’s Day at Ri Ra’s to discuss my first dummy, toasting our venture with some Guinness…Slainte!

We’ve been in a critique group together for almost five years, and the chance to collaborate on a book is an absolute DREAM. Our posse of Critters, who all attended Kindling Words a couple of weeks later, have been so instrumental in my kidlit journey! I showed Jennifer a second dummy with revisions she suggested.

After sharing our dummy with folks at Maine Audubon for accuracy, I began final illustrations in early May.

Once a small sketch is approved, I enlarge it on my copier, and trace onto pastel paper. This red barn is one of my favorite buildings on Peaks Island, and is featured in the opening spread.

Here, I go! Red first:)

I intended to have the barn show up a couple of times, to indicate the territory that chickadees occupy. They don’t fly south and tend to have smaller orbits than other birds. Marty made a little paper model so I could draw the barn from above.

I draw from direct observation whenever possible, and my illustrator neighbor, Doug Smith, loaned me a little wind-up goldfinch, slightly bigger than a chickadee. I found a small stone about the size of a chickadee egg, which is only about half an inch long! I invited my birding neighbor, Patty Wainright, to offer input on my process. She contributes to the Peaks Island Land Preserve’s bird blog and loaned me a stack of her books. Another artist neighbor, Kathy Hanley, loaned me books as well. It takes an island village!

In my collection of nature objects, I have a nest that came in handy for staging an illustration. After watching bird nest cams, I considered this angle.

There’s a lot of guessing in illustration. It’s hard to know the exact proportions of something I have never seen.

In May my own baby chick was on hand for a Mother’s Day picnic on Peaks Island.

My studio sits in the northwest corner of an old sea captain’s house. From my window, I spied a crow hopping in the tall grass of our No Mow May yard. I’d just illustrated a book, Winter Crows, by Rae Chalmers, so crows are completely on my radar now. I went out to investigate and found a fledgling of some kind. Was the crow helping or harassing? Any ideas?

I ran back out three times, to chase away a cat as well as the crow, who may have been cawing about the cat? So much to learn, for this baby bird new to flying and for me, learning about the birds in my habitat.

Meanwhile, I was in need of a model for an illustration in which a child feeds a chickadee by hand. My young neighbor, Lucy, obliged.

Have you ever done this? I haven’t fed a chickadee by hand, but you can learn how in the back of the book. In the final illustration, I aimed for a likeness of Jennifer’s daughter, now all grown up.

Here’s a work in progress of that illustration:

Edits were made in July to this final. Can you find what’s missing in the book?

Meanwhile, I spied chickadee merch everywhere….coffee beans, bedding, and…beer!

Yet they remain in peril on this planet.

I did the last illustration in July.

Then I jumped over to finishing illustrations for another book, stay tuned for that story. Soon enough, color proofs arrived in November! I got out the two dummy books along with the original to compare color results. My hand-lettered title worked out, I think. Many thanks to the wonderful designer, Jill Weber! She is both an illustrator and designer and combines her super powers in brilliant ways.

Enormous thanks to Stephanie Mulligan at McSea Books for making this endeavor a lovely object. And her timing is better than Santa. My advance copy arrived on Christmas Eve!

Hello, book spotting at the Brick Store Museum in January! I am honored to be in the company of Chris Van Dusen and Lucky Platt. I’ll see Lucky later this month, for a star gazing book event at the Unity Public Library on March 25.

Jennifer did a school visit in Bristol, and we’d love to visit your school. Give us a shout. A swell review from an expecting bird blogger, Jeffery Mann of Because Birds, includes a chickadee call.

This just in from Emily Liebling, first grade teacher at Reiche Elementary School in Portland, Maine. I sent her a copy pronto because her class had just embarked on a unit about birds. They installed a bird feeder in their classroom. Hooray for budding naturalists!

Calling all librarians! We’ll be signing Oh, Chickadee! at the Maine State Library’s Reading Round Up in Augusta on April 27. If we don’t see you there, stay tuned for book signings to come. Thanks for reading and keep looking up. Spring is on the way!

Shining Stars at Peaks Island Elementary

Posted by jamiepeeps on Dec 23, 2022 in Horse Island | 3 comments

I am still floating from the warm welcome I received at the Peaks Island Elementary School (aka PIES:) on December 20. My visit was timed just before the winter solstice, and there were stars everywhere!

I was delighted to see students’ art all over the school. They had made a field trip in November to see the Great State of Maine Illustration exhibit at the Brick Store Museum, where this illustration from my book Skywatcher is on view. I love how they captured the bright lights, the red car, and all the wild things!

I set up my presentation in the library, where my name was in lights. Woot!

The first group of pre-K and Kindergarten students arrived wearing adorable hats with stars. I read the book and showed them a dummy, one of several mock-ups I made while developing the story. They asked me questions and then drew from nature objects I brought in. They also colored masks for an upcoming star gazing gathering we’ll do in January. My Nocturnal Creature Masks can be downloaded HERE.

Students could choose to be a Star Bear, a Luna Moth, an Owl, or a Loon. This little one was excited to be a Star Bear!

The next group was a combo of grades 3, 4, and 5. Two of these students have been models for illustrations in other books when they were much younger, so I discussed the importance of having good reference to draw from.

I shared some back story about my process for Skywatcher. They posed great questions! Naomi asked, “Why do you have pops of red in the book?” The book has a strong color scheme of blues and yellows, and red is an important personal accent. I grew up at the Red Doors Motel in Lincoln, New Hampshire. Red was my father’s favorite color and a cardinal appears in the book, as well as a car, modeled after my friend Mary Anne Lloyd’s little red Fiat.

I talked about trying to learn the constellations while drawing the end papers, which are a star chart of the Northern hemisphere in winter. But don’t try to navigate with it!

At the end of the book, Tamen is seen drawing a zine about defending the dark. I showed how to fold up a single sheet of 8.5 x 11 paper into an 8 page zine. Directions can be downloaded HERE. I invited the students to create their own zines, which are basically mini magazines, vehicles of expression about any topic at all. Once drawn and written while folded, they can be unfolded and copied flat, and folded up again to be shared. Zines can be potent nuggets of narrative. I’m always inspired by what students create on the spot!

Zoe was the model for Ana in Ana and the Sea Star when she was little. Now she’s a fifth grader, and very quickly wrote and drew a great zine about ways to help the world.

Everyone had their own approach and used some of my pastel pencils.

I brought in a luna moth specimen for direct observational drawing. Theo captured great detail.

One student imagined the earth’s worst fate!

Joseph drew a very detailed cover, with a sunrise over a waterfall.

Another student created a captivating color scheme.

This artist drew crisp scenes about his interests.

One zine was prompted by a striped rock in my collection of nature objects. This student wrote a story told in dialog with speech bubbles, very inventive!

The group created quite a variety of graphic narratives! Thank you!

During recess, I saw a flock of cardinals that thoroughly warmed my heart.

Teacher Leader Kelly Hasson grew up on Peaks, attended this school, and showed me a galaxy of stars created by students. It was nostalgic for me, since my daughter Daisy attended PIES, graduating from the fifth grade many years ago.

It was fun to see how math got into the creativity, too!

After the lunch recess, I visited the first and second grade classroom. Students were eager to show me their mural inspired by wildlife and the Milky Way. I love the moon rising over the building on the bottom right, and all the critters!

After my reading of Skywatcher they drew and colored, too.

Here is Skywatcher in the International Space Station!

This student told me he likes to make 3D work, and he did! A paper shooting star and a mini box next to a black hole.

Sam gave me his vivid pastel. How did he know these are my favorite colors?!

What a fantastic encounter with young artists and writers! I told them that my book took many, many versions before being published. This poster in a classroom says it all.

After students returned to their classroom, I gathered the drawings left behind. Such a quilt of colorful mark making. Thank you, Peaks Island Elementary for showing me a universe of your talents!

Thanks for reading, and may you all enjoy stellar holidays and safe travels! Keep looking up!

The Milky Way

Posted by jamiepeeps on Nov 11, 2022 in Horse Island | 10 comments

Here is the story of a book stitched by friendship over many years.

Gunnel Larsdotter, dear friend and former island neighbor, approached me years ago about illustrating a beloved poem she had translated, Vintergatan, also the Swedish word for the Milky Way, or Winter Street. I was intrigued. It’s a magical telling of how the bridge of stars was built by two lovers separated by death, written by a Finnish poet, Zacharias Topelius, in the mid-1800’s. She first read it in school as a young girl and it lodged deep in her heart.

She couldn’t find any satisfactory translations in English, so began working on her own. Gunnel emailed me in September of 2014:

Would very much appreciate getting some links from you as to where to begin the road to the Milky Way. In the poem it took them a thousand years. I would like to work within a shorter time frame.

Ha! It took us almost a year to sit down in August 2015 to discuss it. I took notes.

It would take many many more years of emails, meetings, and dummies to bring the book to print.

My first attempt to sketch out the opening scene with a lake bound by mountains met with Gunnel’s approval. It was perhaps 2016, between my semesters teaching at Maine College of Art and illustrating posters for Portland Stage that I completed dummy #1. Other pages needed more work, but it was a start.

Gunnel held on to that dummy for awhile, and continued to tinker with her translation. Every word mattered. She told me, “Swedes are tough critics” and she was determined to give this poem the lyrical justice it deserved. More months passed, and I redrew the opening scene inspired by a favorite spot in the White Mountains where I grew up.

Working in pastel helped me establish the mood and color scheme, and this piece changed very little over the next few years. I even added some snowflakes for use in a holiday card.

Beginning in 2017, Gunnel faced various surgeries and the book project took a back seat over the next three years. We kept a thread going with correspondence, exchanging ideas and inspirations.

While I was working on other projects, the Milky Way remained on my radar. I gathered plump folders of anything that sparked a visual.

One of the spreads that evolved dramatically was this one, in which Sulamit and Salamye have worked for a thousand years to build their bridge of stars. The “zodiac’s path of lace” was a compelling idea to capture. Perhaps this dogged attempt to draw constellations would set the stage for my book, Skywatcher, yet to come.

The illustration that proved to be the most challenging of all was to show God. OMG.

I got really stuck on this. Other work intervened as usual, yet it was always tickling the back of my mind while I instinctively looked for the face of God. And so why not a trip to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, a heavenly place where my eyes lingered.

I distracted myself with cherubs in the meantime.

I was finding angels everywhere.

I posted this drawing of Salamye on Instagram in December 2017 as a work-in-progress.

Eventually I tackled God again, and tried an abstract approach.

After all the patient dots, I still was not even close, but the cherubs were fun to draw.

Gunnel suggested a circle of light, a cherub in dismay, and more emphasis on the enormity of God’s message. But this revision didn’t happen for months. I had written a book in the meantime, and was more focused on urgent deadlines of my own. Yet all that star drawing would come in handy for what became Skywatcher.

By the time I sent off final art for Skywatcher in March 2020, I was ready to bring all of The Milky Way illustrations to the final stage, with numerous changes. What with quarantines all around, I simply sequestered in my studio.

Gunnel was also busy with other things. She traveled to her native Sweden in 2021 and shared dummy #3 with a few of her relatives and friends, receiving encouragement to keep going. She signed a contract with a publisher later that fall.

We met in her lovely garden in May this year, when the keys of heaven were in bloom, as they are at the end of the book.

The publishing process has been slow as molasses but we were optimistic we’d have books in our hands by late fall. It was time to make a toast to Topelius, whose evocative poem had inspired this labor of love. There’s very little written about his thoughts on the poem, other than speculation that he wrote it for a dear friend who had lost their beloved.

I brought local rhubarb wine and Gunnel brought the lobster rolls! Cheers and thanks, dear Topelius. May your poem endure and be enjoyed by a new audience.

The first book proofs arrived in late September, a rather proud moment! And it didn’t take a thousand years:)

A book launch is in the works, but meanwhile you can find our book HERE.

Thank you, Gunnel, for your patient belief in this book, and all who wish upon a star!