“Down in the Ham,” “Color the Ham,” and “Around the Ham” were created by Abby Little Jessup and Ashley Chestnut. Photo by Laurey Glenn. The stars aligned when Ashley Chestnut and Abby Little Jessup crossed paths. If Ashley hadn’t recently penned a children’s book about the Magic City and been on the lookout for a local artist whose style fit her vision, and if local artist Abby hadn’t been trying to break out of her traditional style with a more colorful and impressionistic painting of Birmingham, then Ashley might not have ever bid on the painting, dubbed “Lovingham,” at a fundraiser. “I was like, that’s it. I don’t know who this person is, but they are the illustrator of my book,” Ashley says. Though she didn’t end up winning the painting, she took the opportunity to Facebook message Abby and set a coffee date to meet in person. During that meeting, Ashley read her book “Down in the Ham” aloud to Abby. “I was just impressed at how much of a vision she already had,” Abby says of their first meeting. “She basically looked at me and said, ‘You are the illustrator of this project, as long as you […]

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