#Folktaleweek

...and all the chatter in my head!

Dear Friend and Fellow Maker,

For a couple of years now I have loved seeing Folk Tale Week crop up on Instagram with all the amazing and wonderful illustrations that talented folks put out there for our delight! Oh my how I love the worlds these artists create in their images, and I long to do the same, though my brain tells me I cannot.

Some little person inside my head tells me I can’t join the party since I’m not one of the big dogs.¹ But I still pant and twirl around in glee, chasing my tail in hopes of being invited to join in on Folk Tale Week every November when 7 daily prompts are given and playful imaginations get to romp and run with abandon! The thing is…I don’t need to wait for an invitation! It has already been given and I can join all the “dogs” (no slight intended here!) at the party, even if I arrive a bit late. 🤪

²And so with tail wagging, I looked at all 7 of the prompts: LOST, INK, SEA, SLEEP, UNDERGROUND, ILLUSION, FOUND and a story began to form, one that is so familiar to me, so true to a lifelong way of living in this world, that the words seemed to flow off my pen. I could see the pictures in my mind that were to accompany them. But that little person in there, inside my head, seems to really want to keep me from being shamed, or appearing the fool, and she reminds me that I don’t have an illustration degree, or even an art degree, and what do I think I’m doing, and really now, after all you are STILL drawing with black lines (which apparently from what I’ve read about current illustration is a no-no), and well, my once wagging tail tucked right underneath me and I sat down on the porch.

Thankfully, there is another someone talking in my head who was able to reason with the one who is trying to keep me safe. And she was able to explain that this was not a life or death situation, that in attempting to draw and paint the pictures to illustrate the words of the story, I would simply be having a bit of fun, playing with the ideas translated into color and line, letting my hands have a go at depicting darkness and light, lostness and foundness, all through this beloved vehicle of my sketchbook, which has never once let me down as it is a judgment-free zone altogether!

And what do you know…the one-who-keeps-me-safe actually agreed to let go her grip and wished me well in the running with ALL the dogs, big and small, who love to make pictures for their stories. I do not in any way pretend that these are on par with my favorites, such as Anna Wilson and Ella Beech, to name only a few. But I love my pictures because they are from my head and heart and came out through my hands, black lines and all! Here is my story, fully illustrated for all 7 prompts. I will not even tell you all the other chatter going on in my silly head after having completed them! 🙄 That would require yet another post, and really, I recognize the familiar cautionary voice who simply desires I be spared embarrassment and so I soothe her and tell her all will be well, and that all truly IS well when I live in my sketchbook, finding home right beneath my feet.

Genevieve reached for her sketchbook as she usually did whenever she felt LOST.

She knew that the INK from her pen would lead her to where she needed to go.

If it flowed her out to SEA, her sketchbook would become a raft upon which to stay afloat in the changing waters.

If she wound up on a deserted island, her sketchbook became a tent so she could SLEEP peacefully under the reassuring memories.

Even if she fell into a hole deep UNDERGROUND, her sketchbook glowed with an indescribable light through dark caverns and caves.

Her sketchbook always gave the ILLUSION that all was well and would be well, even if everything surrounding her did not.

Drawing after drawing, Genevieve lost the feeling of being lost, and FOUND her way home, finding that home had always been with her.

THE END

I hope you enjoyed my little picture story. And if you don’t, that’s ok too! I’m just a little dog, pleased as punch to be making pictures for the stories that beg to be told.

With gratitude,

Jennifer

P.S. Can you spot the owl in every picture? That was a fun thing that happened as I drew… 😍

P.P.S. For those of you who are recent followers here, perhaps a little introduction to these characters is in order. Many years ago, I began to draw a girl named Genevieve in my sketchbooks as a way to work with all that I was experiencing in life, both emotions and events. Along the way she found her way into cards and prints and even a self-published book called Genevieve and the Kite. She continued on in her love for all things making (be it drawing, knitting, crocheting, spinning, weaving and more!). She opened her front door one day and there on the stoop was a lovely green bear who introduced himself as Bertram Dalrymple the Third, hailing from Bath, England. He had a suitcase and well, there is so much more to his story that I simply must tell it to you in pictures another day. To make a long story short, Bertie has been a lovely friend to Genevieve and lives with her and all the other creatures in her studio…several mice, a rabbit or two, a Blue-Faced Sheep named Lester, and more. There are many stories that these creatures keep alive in their hearts, and tell to their progeny and they keep begging Genevieve to write them and illustrate them so that others might remember them too! Genevieve reassures them that she is working on this!!! Slow. Steady. One drawing at a time. 💖³

1. I wonder if this phrase still trounces around out there…? I remember it being used a fair amount some years ago and perhaps detrimentally so. The version I remember is: “If you can’t party with the big dogs, then get off the porch!” Seems to me that all dogs, big and small have a place on the porch as well as in the running or at the party! So cheers to all, big, small and medium, bringing their bark to illustrating stories!

2. These drawings are the pencil versions before being “inked”. I like using that word, as it seems all grown up and illustratory! 😃 I made these drawings on watercolor paper with an eye toward them being folded in half once they are digitally put into a small book, which I plan to do, just to have for something fun to read to my granddaughter. In fact, I’d like to make all kinds of Books for Eileen and print them via Lulu or a photo book place like Snapfish or something.

3. Ok. It occurs to me that having footnotes AND P.S’s at the end is a little confusing or weird or just really unnecessary. 😂 But I’m leaving it there! If you have made it this far in the post, you have my undying appreciation! And I hope you will keep coming back, reading about my little world, and hopefully enjoying the pictures I make to share with you!