It’s a darn good feeling. I thought I may grow old (okay, older) saying…I wish I had really done that…I always said I would and yet I didn’t. BUT I DID. I illustrated a real, true live children’s book AND it was published. It’s a happy day. And it whets my appetite for more, because now I know that dreams really can come true–cliche as that sounds. The book will be sold at Blackberry Farms….not sure what the price is yet, but if you happen to purchase a copy, I will HAPPILY sign it for you.
This is a page from the book I worked on with my close friend.
The page that preceeds it says…”My Dad He Hung the Moon.”
When I was little I thought I knew most everything. Looking back I know I knew practically nothing…but there was one thing I did know for sure. I wanted to “grow up and illustrate children’s books.” For some reason I latched on to an illustrator as a child, as if she were an angel sent from God above. Joan Walsh Anglund. (https://www.joanwalshanglund.net) I lived her, breathed her–I literally owned every single thing she ever published or produced. Books, calendars, dolls…I spent hours studying her pictures, trying to duplicate them in my stacks of sketch books (I’m sure you see her influence in my artwork). And then the most amazing thing ever…I got to MEET her. My perfect mom found out that she was going to be at a book signing in Atlanta, so off we went, and stood in line for hours (she also took me to meet Xavier Roberts in Atlanta, creator of the original Cabbage Patch doll–this after she took me to the orginal Cabbage Patch orphanage to adopt Blanche Harriet, my first child.) Perfect mom deserves a category unto herself….but back to my story. So I met her, had my photo made with her (I need to dig that up and post it…as she is the sole reason I started on this crazy path in life) and she signed a pile of my books. She even drew little pictures in some of them with a special note just to me. By the time highschool rolled around, most of her stuff (calendars in particular) were out of print, so I found a new mentor. Mary Englebreit. Again, had to have everything she came up with–to a point. She went waaayyyyy commercial and lost a bit of her original appeal for me. Come to find out, her inspiration was also Joan. Well of course she was….she’s the most splendid children’s illustrator to have ever lived.
So, here I’ve been doing art all my life and I aint no spring chicken at this juncture. But yet, still haven’t chased the dream…why is this? Well, I guess I’m scared. Plain and simple. How can I live up to my mentors? Or my own expectatations. I have a friend who is so dear and sweet and her husband had to go to Iraq for a time. She wrote the most precious book for her kids and asked ME to illustrate it–such an incredible honor. But ohhhh the pressure. The fear. I put it off for over a year. And then….I just started. I tried to follow my heart and do whatever came to me. Of course she had envisioned something different but I knew I would never put pen to paper if I didn’t just go with what happened naturally. So I worked on this thing day and night and illustrated the whole darn thing–using a girl as my main character (MY little girl to be exact). My friend has BOYS. And wrote the story for BOYS. HER BOYS. Very personal story for her. DUH. So of course when she saw it, she was a little disapointed about this one teensy-tinsy detail (riggght). I went back in and added a baby boy to the drawings…and then my friend found out she was preggars with a third. And……of course now the book is the farthest thing from her mind and it’s collecting dust.
Hey, that’s ok. I accomplished a life goal and that feels good. And now…I’m ready. Ready to do it again, and miraculously I have a client! I’ll tell you more later, but I think there could be a PUBLISHED book in my future. Won’t Joan be proud?
