Of Wolves and Words...

I love language with all the flow and rhythm of the river of words that when gathered and shaped and spoken become something more, something alive and powerful.

I was recently at Toppings and Company Bookshop in Bath for my brother-in-law Jack Wolf's fabulous reading, talk and book signing to launch his brilliant debut novel 'The Tale of Raw head and Bloody Bones' which deserves a special post all of its own (which will be coming up very soon!)
Its a real Aladdin's cave of beautiful, wonderful books and I came home with a small trove whilst looking back longingly at many others I would have loved to added to the pile... (to add to my ever growing collection here!)
One of those I came home with was Alan Garner's Collected Folk Tales in a beautifully decorated and gilded hard cover, a real treasure! The comment on the back cover by Philip Pullman says:

"The great collections of British folk tales such as this one, should be treated in two ways: first, they should be bound in gold and brought out on ceremonial occasions as national treasures; and second, they should be printed in hundreds of thousands, at the public expense, and given away free to every young teacher and every new parent."

But in the introduction Alan Garner says words that strike a resonating chord with me in all my love of language and stories. Of the folk tale he says:

"The real meaning is in the music; it is in the language: not phonetics, grammer or syntax, but pitch and cadence, and the colour of the word.
In this selection I have tried to get back, through the written word, a sense of the spoken. I have worked to recreate the moment of the telling, so that the printed word may sing."

Yes! I thought, exactly that!
Terri Windling on her blog Myth and Moor has been talking about Storytelling in a far more eloquent way than I and is always inspiring and thought provoking - a well of creativity for all lovers of words, art and story! Do go and have a read...

There is something about writing that I love so much. I often hear it as a trail of thought from another place, bringing with it scents and sounds and dreamlike bright or shadowy images. Very often in the past as now, I have written and illustrated in tandem - sometimes the words manifesting first to lead the image, and sometimes the imagery first, sometimes so vividly that all the words have left to do is describe the scene.
The story I am drawing a dummy book for at the moment arrived suddenly and very strong in its words, and I enjoyed the words so much for their own selves that even though it was always intended for a picture book, it stands alone, which I am pleased about.
I wish I could share this tale with you all, but I would really like to give this its best pitch to a publisher and don't want to scupper its chances... so not yet I'm afraid...
Instead I will show the you one of the double page spreads I have been drawing for the dummy book, sadly for now without the words which would sit on the empty right hand side of the drawing...

 

 

Here below is a detail of the top right corner...

 And a closeup of Wolf

 

Until I drew him I had no idea whether or not I could in fact draw a wolf... this was the first spread I tackled to make sure I could do it, so hopefully the images and words will knit together and sing! I really hope so!

Windsongs... and a Wordhoard to unlock...

 I took all my finished double page spreads, sketchbook of thumbnails and the finished dummy book itself over to my illustration tutor Jan Nesbitt today! I will wait for her professional critique before I go ahead and reproduce proofs of it all to put to editors...

(Sorry about the dingy photos!)

The next stage will be the most daunting, making sure I get my approaches to editors dead right and then just hoping its all up to standard enough to try and make a good impression! 

Meanwhile I'm starting to try and capture in words the bee-humming, fire-dancing song that's been whispering an elusive trail through the story-threaded part of my mind... I just need to wait quietly for a time and listen...

A Dragon, a Singer and a Fish... or remembering how to paint!

A friend of ours offered to have the children for a bit today so I made an attempt to get on with finishing my three spreads for my dummy book which has been taking far, far too long... wish I could fix that darn time stasis machine!
I don't currently have my own work space in the new house, so I took possesion of our tiny dining room for the day and just, only just, squeezed my drawing boards onto the teeny weeny table!

A great impetous for getting on with chiselling off the old crumbly mortar from the walls of what will become my eventual studio!
I found myself terrified of putting brush to these paintings again after such a long time away from them. I don't usually leave a painting until its finished and never come back to finished pieces to meddle, but events just got in the way of progress on these.
I moved them on and the dragon spread on the easel is now finished, but am having somewhat of a crisis of confidence in the quality of any of them.
I think really this has more to do with the fact that these paintings will have to try to sell my story to a potential publisher, and this being my first shot at it I'm finding it hugely intimidating. Still its a learning curve and you don't know if you don't try it. I'll just brace for those rejection letters and dig around for some self-belief!
Here's a bit of work-in-progress on one of the spreads anyway...


I'm looking forward to getting this whole project wrapped up and putting it all together in its 'promo package' as it were, but actually I'm itching to get started on my next story which right now I have so much more confidence in, I'm really excited about the whole feeling of it.
I'll just give myself a little time to get settled and wait for the words to unravel from the images that have been tucked away in my mind all this time.
The natural rhythm of my creative wanderings seem to be leaning back towards language and writing at the moment, so I feel its almost time to begin!

WIP - A Flight of Dragons... to leaf or not to leaf?

All images copyright of Carrie Osborne 2011

Finally the Dragon spread - first of the three full colour spreads I need to go with my dummy book roughs, is finished (nearly!)
This has been a long project with trying to steal time here and there to work on it when I can. Its a double page spread so the 'gutter' or fold of the book runs down the middle of the illustration, and the text will go in the paler areas on the right hand side of the page.


I had intended to embellish quite a few of the spreads with small amounts of silver leaf through the book, a flash of moonlight on silver scales here, fish glittering in water there....
So the painting phase of this one I think I'm done with, which leaves the question - to leaf or not to leaf???
It would have to be subtle in case a potential publisher didn't want to go down the foil route, (because I do want to try and get this published if I'm very, very lucky and if I get over my fear of travelling to London!) but of course scanners and printers don't reproduce reflective qualities all that well.
I think I'm going to get it scanned before doing any silver leaf just in case...
Some details for you:

Also I thought you might like to see some work in progress shots...


After stretching paper and drawing out, I always start with the most chancy and most terrifying bit - the big wet-on wet wash... this can either make or destroy a painting before its begun! But thats exactly what I love about painting this way with watercolours, there's an unpredictable element where the paint moves to its own purpose, merges, spreads, and it can be really beautiful and unexpected.


Of course I know which colours I want where and which I want to merge so there is a fair amount of deliberation before placing each heavy stroke of colour, then just keeping my nerve enough not to interfere with it too much as it starts to move!
To add another level of unpredictability I've really got into using salt, both fine grain and rock salt on my washes, and I love the effect you get, though its quite easy to get carried away and do too much!

Here's a few drawing board shots as it progresses...

After each night's painting I usually scribble notes to myself around the edges to remind me what needs doing next while its fresh in my mind, sometimes its several days before I can get back to it. I'm still undecided about that moon....!

I hope you don't mind the self-indulgence of this rather long post... getting the first spread done is a real milestone on this project and means I'm very nearly at the end of it, (which I never thought I would be at times!)
The next stage will be the most daunting - trying to get appointments to show it to publishers, laying it bare and bracing for the inevitable critisms and rejections which I am more than prepared for... but you never know until you try do you!

WIP - a long project nearing its end at last... well, nearly!

Images copyright of Carrie Osborne 2011

Well, I drew this painting out on my drawing board almost two weeks ago and have been struggling ever since to find the time and energy to start the first washes!
This was my first attempt at writing picture books for children - quite different to writing 'grown up' creative prose... and I've learned a lot from the process, from the raw thumbnails alongside my scribbled writings through finally to the fully illustrated pencil drawn dummy book.
I have been working on this 'dummy book' sporadically for what seems like frustratingly far too long, trying to snatch a few hours here and there to get it finished - all it needs now is three colour double page spreads to hopefully show its potential (should it be deemed to have any!)
It feels so close and yet so far - after running home from work for the school run, cooking kids tea and then rejoining poor hubby at work to hit tomorrows deadlines, we got home at 9pm for a late dinner... its hard to find the oomph when I only have evenings to paint!
Oh the joys of running your own business!

But no, I mustn't moan, especially at you folks who all keep me inspired out here!
It WILL be finished... and in the meantime I have another story buzzing about in my minds eye that I can't wait to start working on, and I think with all I have learned from the first it will be a better one too!There are also a couple of other half written attempts in notebooks that I may return to in time.... oh time, time, too fleet footed by far!

But anyway... sorry for the whinge, I want to keep my posts positive, so here's a link to some beautiful, beautiful pictures that I strayed upon on the web that will definately make you go ahhh... almost enough to make one broody! Take a look here at...
Add to Heart photography
Cute eh?

Hopefully see you soon with a completed painting!!!

A Moon-Singing Fish...

Images and words copyright of Carrie Osborne 2010

The Moon was very big and full tonight as I drove home, and made me think of the second of my dummy (or mock up) books still waiting to be finished. The writing of this story needs quite a lot of reworking still and has a long way to go with the artwork too, but this is the double page rough for the full-moon page of the story.
I have less confidence in this story than the other two I am working on, but I like the raw idea of it if I can just get it to flow better. I won't give too much away, you never know I might get a chance to submit it one day! (If someone hurrys up and invents a time stasis machine!)

A strong full moon does not agree with me very well, makes me unsettled and edgy and quite often physically under strain as well. I must be a good example of how myths of lycanthropy
might have come about! Even still there is a bewitching beauty to a full moon riding bright in a deepening sky, and I love the moon cast shadows of the trees in a quiet lane as bright almost as daylight.
Fellow blogger 'Mermaid in the Attic' has posted a hauntingly beautiful and powerful song she has written about the Moon called 'La Luna' earlier today, do pop over and have a listen. It is perfectly evocative of that elusive presence I associate with the moon... very good!
Bye for now...