Creative marriages

I have a big mouth- it’s what gets me in front of audiences to entertain and hopefully inspire people in the world of creativity. But very occasionally, I wish I could shut up.

A year or two ago, at a gathering of writers in Tauranga,  I said ‘If you are an author and your work has been illustrated by someone else and you feel the illustrations are not up to standard, then do say something to your publisher. If you say nothing, nothing will be done.’  Oh je regrette…

This comment was born of seeing a friend go through the agony of her first book poorly illustrated by an artist who could and should have done better.  There are many reasons for sub standard pictures; the illustrator ran out of time to do better ones, there was not enough money in the budget, they thought they could draw but couldn’t really… and no author should have to live with a picture that tells a thousand wrong words. You shouldn’t for example, have to have your main character, the dog drawn as a seal because that’s what the artist liked. There is no excuse for misinterpretation.

But …there is a strong line between giving your opinion and trying to orchestrate the illustration process.  

Many authors will confirm that they very rarely get the chance to say boo, but if you do, then don’t drive your illustrator to despair. They have most often completed years of rigorous study to degree or MA level, thrown all they have on the line to freelance and are professionals in their field. If you have successfully achieved that which is so elusive- a publishing contract then excellent. So does that then make you an authority on design and illustration? No. Equally, an illustrator does not see it as their prerogative to give unwanted advice on plot, structure and dialogue- unless they are a writer too, in which case they’ll illustrate their own work (the full 10% royalty…mmmm)

So, writers (and I am both, so I can see it from each POV), be very aware of your role in a picture book. Your job is to write it. On wonderful and rare occasions, you can work collaboratively with the artist to achieve the result you both want (this often requires a high degree of friendship and collegiality the like of which is seen with the fabulous duos, Kate De Goldi and Jacqui Colley or Jennifer Beck and Lindy Fisher). Apart from making sure that a dog is not a seal, therein your role is at an end. Hand it over, trust the artist and your publishing company- they do know what they are doing.

As a footnote, today I was rather gobsmacked to find out that the first book I ever illustrated in 1984 ‘ The Old Man and The Cat’ by Anthony Holcroft is being re-illustrated and published by Penguin later this year. I felt like a dumped first wife and my baby thrown over for a whole new family. Then I checked out Leah Palmer Priess’s blog. She has posted some of the work up there, and I have to say, it is beautiful. The book will be stunning; I shall be a gracious ex. Je ne regrette rien.

Ohariu Valentine...

Sometimes a banishing turns out to be a blessing.

Our daughter turning 22 and still living at home (but looking for a flat) requested for her birthday that we vacate the house so she could have the BBQ she planned without parentals looking on and getting in the way. It was hard to drag her father away from the hoola hoops on the lawn (it subsequently turns out that her 19 year old brother is a natural at this especially after a beer) and leave the Jerk Chicken behind that had been marinating in too many Habanero chillies for 24 hours, but we did and took ourselves off to an idyllic hideaway only 20 minutes from town.

It has to be said right here, right now that we know the owners and threw ourselves on their mercy with promises of food, wine and scintillating company in exchange for a night at Ohariu Lodge. Mike and Liz, our charming and entertaining hosts relented and threw open their hospitality and the lodge doors for a romantic retreat that I can thoroughly recommend.

 

The lodge itself has a fascinating history; some years ago it started life as a bowling alley for the Swiss Club in Ohariu Valley. A slightly odd destination for avid bowlers but picturesque, as the building sits atop a lovely lawn with a glade and stream boundary (complete with a friendly eel).  As a sports venue it didn’t boast the spa pool it has now, the BBQ, the top notch bedrooms, lounge, kitchen and bathroom, but it did have the lovely carvings in some of the rafters that have been preserved by with love and attention.

They have thought of everything. The lodge is completely geared up for self catering with a fully equipped kitchen (I wish ours was as nice), the spa pool is very private (no need for togs if that’s the way you like it), decent shampoo and conditioner, phone, wireless internet, a bookshelf with tempting novels, DVDs, a stereo…

You could stay there a week, get your novel written or your relationship invigorated (sorry, novel writing is a solitary pursuit unless you are doing research for erotic fiction) and come home feeling like you had been away in the countryside far from the madding crowd forever.  All with a nice café down the road at the riding school! Ahhhh, nice!  

Thanks Mike and Liz, it was the best birthday present our daughter could insist upon!

Inspiration-all

I’ve been to two inspirational evenings in the space of two days, which is pretty good going on the law of averages isn’t it?

The first was the launch of the NZ Post Writers and Readers Week. Well not really the main launch but more of a drinkies for people involved in it. My invite came because I’m running a kid’s illustration workshop called ‘Character Creating’ on the 14th March at Capital E. Gavin Bishop, Paula Green and Joy Cowley are my much loved colleagues on the day too. I can’t wait! 

It was great to catch the lift to the 12th floor of NZ Post House. I’ve been up there before in different guises. As a stamp designer for the 1997 Christmas edition, as a judge for the 2008 New Zealand Post Book Awards, as a judge for the kids Christmas Stamp series in 2007, as a workshop host for festival organisers… well, it almost feels like home to me. NZ Post have been very supportive of so many artists in so many ways, so it was great to have a glass of wine and catch up with the people who make these festivals happen, because the wonderful line up of writers coming our way in March didn’t just get there all by themselves. I’ll be creating the spare time to go and see every single one of them…I’ll be the one they have to ask politely to move from my seat because I have been in the Town Hall for 6 days solid without a break!

The second inspirational event I attended was tonight at the National Speakers Association of NZ. I heard about it through Lawrence Green, the business coach and mentor I have been working with through the Business Centre here in Wellington. Lawrence is outstanding for getting your head to where you want your feet to go. We had him as a keynote speaker at the Spinning Gold Conference last year where he gave incredibly generously of his time and expertise.

The opening speaker at the NSANZ was Mark Blumsky who told the story of his shoe salesman to Mayor transformation with great presence, humour and love of Wellington, and the closer was the indomitable Billy Graham, who I was keen to be reserved about but ended up laughing and nodding with everyone else. He’s crazy, kind and a consummate entertainer with something to say. Different speakers with different looks, agendas, delivery and messages. I loved it.

And why were these two events over the past two days so inspiring? Because the first reminded me that leading a creative life is fundamental to my being and the second; that other people enjoy hearing about that, and how to get some of it for themselves.   

I’m in the process of reorganising my creative world so that it not only keeps me satiated and my audience inspired but keeps my accountant happy too. To do that, I have gathered 3 teams around me to help me do that; one to advise me on a book I’m writing, one to help me design a web presence that does more for my business, and one to propel me further for speaking engagements. I’m planning to have things up and running by April. 

As Kate Di Goldi said (quoting Thoreau) in her fabulous keynote speech at our conference last year:

Do what you love. Know your own bone; gnaw at it, bury it, unearth it, and gnaw it still.
And I found this from Golda Meir... The dog that trots about finds a bone.

woof!  

Whanganui Summer School of delights

Last week, I ditched the weather in Wellington and headed off for Whanganui to attend their annual Summer School of The Arts . My good friend and fellow artist, Adele Jackson had been there on previous occasions and I was keen to give it a go myself. The timing was perfect, almost… I had a workshop to run at Te Papa for the Pompeii exhibition, making snake bands with kids, take down my velvet exhibition, throw it in the car and drive up to Whanganui- just in time for the evening BBQ after the first full day of the Michel Tuffery sculpture workshop.

I’ve found it doesn’t pay to arrive a day late- it wasn’t that everyone had already bonded, it was just that I found all the best spots in the studio had gone and I was left with just a chair in the middle of the floor. Luckily I’m not shy and daunted by being at the centre of everything. Besides I had Michel right beside me to help me wrestle with the large fish template we were all asked to make up. And what a nice man he is. Full of good humour, organised studio practice and flat whites for everyone, Michel took us through the art of sculpture with cardboard scavenged from home appliance stores, reinterpretation of the form, stencil making, graffing (not graphing which would be the accounting course), tagging (and obliterating tagging) and a high tea. Yes, cup cakes and sculpture were combined for a public event in the atrium and everyone enjoyed the fruits of our labour. I can’t say I did any cooking myself though there was a sugar craft course on offer at Ucol too which looked delectable.

The media is interesting though… word got out that some of the course participants would burn their sculptures as part of their artistic expression- an act that is explained in Thaw Nang’s blog post about burning sketchbooks. This prompted reports that effigy burning would take place as a mandatory part of the course. We had a small trail of students from felting and mezzotinting  workshops asking when the burning would take place and did we have to and how did we feel about that? ‘I’m not burning mine’ I said, ‘it took too bloody long to make and look at the glue gun burns I have sustained’. Mind you, there were times when it all sprang apart that I could have cheerfully flicked a zippo under it right there in the building.

When the burning did take place, it was a private affair for the students. We all took off to Kai-iwi beach with fish and chips, sculptures, petrol cans and cameras. It was one of those nights and landscapes that makes you deeply grateful to be in New Zealand. Four fish were lit and blazed in the dimming light and I suddenly got why people do this. It is about the temporary nature of existence, the absence of ego and the completion of an idea. Think it, make it, let it go.

As for me, well I stuffed my fish into the boot of the car to bring it home to my studio. I’m not quite ready to give it up yet, but when I do, I’ll let you know. In the meantime I’ve started writing some non-fiction about creativity, and in it I will be encouraging anyone, artist or not, to try taking themselves off to a summer school of art. You have no idea what you might discover.

Praise Be!

Hello, I'm back from lying about in the sun in Nelson for the holidays and was delighted to find that God's Gift, my velvet Jesus sold during my exhibition at the Deluxe Cafe (amongst others). The show finishes midday Sunday, and any velvets left will then be put up on my facebook page, so you still have an opportunity to look and fall in love with my art and then, perchance, buy it! After all, I do it for the love, but the money makes my studio pay...

More posts after I get back from the Whanganui Summer School where I will study sculpture with Michel Tuffery for a week. Cor! What a fabulously creative start to 2010!

A Christmas Wish

Here's a little poem for you...

Every year I swear it,

Back as far as I remember,

I'll be organised for Christmas,

By the end of each November.

So why on Christmas Eve,

Am I shopping on the run,

For Totally Bimbo Barbie,

And a Mega water gun?

If my Visa card survives it,

We'll have presents for the tree,

(which I'll need to find this evening

in the attic after tea).

And on the kitchen bench,

I've a chicken gently thawing;

All the supermarket turkeys

Got snaffled up this morning.

I know by two or three A.M,

I'll get to rest my head,

The presents wrapped, the turkey stuffed,

Me too-collapsed in bed.

My stocking's out for Santa,

And next year I'll be wiser,

You see he'll leave me just one gift;

A personal organizer!

Merry madness 

xxx Fifi

God's Gift

13 days until my exhibition and I've been hard at work creating velvet paintings; saving Jesus until last. You might be interested to see how a velvet painting is realised, so here are the steps (after I hand cut the board to shape, stretched velvet over it and backed it with felt). I just have his hair to finish and a bit of a starburst on his chest on which to place the velvet flaming heart.

So why velvet you ask? The very essence of 'low art'.

It goes back to viewing an exhibition at Te Papa in 2006 of Bernard Roundhill's work. Roundhill was an airbrush artist- in fact THE airbrush artist in New Zealand; he led the way. As a graduate from Wellington Polytechnic Design School in the early 80's, I did quite well with an airbrush myself. It was my main tool for illustration (oh the fruit I have illustrated for yoghurt cartons!) I was tickled to see that Roundhill painted velvet for a hobby, yes, stags on mountain tops, that sort of thing. I wondered if there was a more artistic way of using the medium, so I dusted off the old airbrush and played around with velour. Two successful exhibitions later, 23 pieces of velvet art sold and I'm hooked. I like to think of my work as an appropriation of low art- finding the humour within the medium... and in creating 'Jesus' I found it ironic just five minutes ago to find on google that Bernard Roundhill had been an enthusiastic Scientologist. There, he and I part artistic and spiritual company.

Velvet Cowboy

 Ride ‘em

I watched Tony Curtis in ‘Some like it Hot’ as a kid. His very distinctive curvy lips made an impression on me at an early age as did his very comic role which almost denied those extreme good looks in his salad days. I never saw him in a cowboy hat though and I think he’d have possibly looked a little like this- clean cut and very smooth. His pocket badge, the little gun, came from a army surplus junk store on Cuba St (more recently The Krazy Lounge, now Ernesto’s). We were design students of the late 70’s, beating path to pseudo punk and falling on the wonders contained within Krazy Rick’s on the corner. There you could buy army bags, plastic baby dolls just the right size for earrings and sometimes cheap tin jewellery from Japan. I’ve had that pistol in my pocket for years; just right for a velvet buck.

The 'Brush with Velvet' exhibition opens 20th December at The Deluxe Cafe, Kent Tce, Wellington

Velvet Dream Boys

Here's a little preview of what I've been working on lately- some of the boys for my forthcoming velvet exhibition at the Deluxe Cafe on the 20th December. My inexpert photography and lighting doesn't really do them full justice- they are silky and smooth, and so very touchable...
From left to right they are:

Ahoy There

Who doesn’t like the brooding sort in an officer’s hat?  If Clint Eastwood had been in the Navy, he might have looked a little like this perhaps. I swooned plenty whilst painting him; some people had to come and pick me up off my studio floor and revive me with gin. The hat badge is from the French Frigate ‘The EV. Henry’ which visited Wellington in 1977. A friend and I were invited aboard in a non ship girl way for dinner with the officers when we were 17. We dusted off our schoolgirl French and asked them what the ‘F’ word was en Francais. They replied ‘ A fait l’amore’. I knew then that all French sailors were fabulously romantic and completely honourable…

Pork ‘n’ Beans

If you think he looks like James Dean in ‘Giant’, you might well be right. Poor boy, gone too soon… he should have had someone looking after him; like the girls at the nanny school I found his collar badge at. I was teaching them arts and crafts and found two of these cloisonné buttons in the useful box. They were far too vintage to be appreciated by my students, so I slid them into my pocket for some use in the future. That was 16 years ago. One is on my favourite jacket, and the other a reminder that cowboys are just rough lads that need taking in hand.

Oh Buoy

I was at Auckland Airport and to my delight in the queue were brand new naval recruits.  I’m not sure if a requirement of entry into the NZ Navy is perfect skin and lovely eyebrows, but all of these boys had them. I was particularly thrilled to have one sit beside me all the way to Wellington, and he must have been worn out from his duties, because he closed his eyes and slept whilst I appreciated him artistically. He reminded me of Montgomery Clift in his younger days, or Gene Kelly in ‘On the Town’ or a Pierre et Gilles icon. The little medallion was bought as a souvenir in Cyprus in 1963 by my father whilst he was in the armed services and my sister took it into exams with her for luck.

 I have a selection of tattoos on velvet along with three other good looking icons to go on show- they are still being painted as I blog...so back to the easel for me today. Ciao!

First Love

When I was a kid, I'd draw my favorite things. This piggy bank sits on a shelf in my kitchen; I've had since I was ten. I'd put my 5 cent pieces in it to save up for art and craft materials and I'd always rob it before it was anywhere near full (somethings never change!) then go to Goldings Handicrafts to buy beads, felt and paint. Its rubber stopper has long since perished, but that old bit of cheap china still hasn't lost it's charm for me. I've drawn ever since I could remember, and today, washing out my paintbrushes after a day's work, I still haven't forgotten that my first true love and talent still fills my piggybank.