Hi Everyone in wonderland. I hope you are all well and happy. Happy New Year! I’m writing to you live, from the studio. My studio today, is actually located in the city hospital. Or rather, I am working from the hospital! I sit on an art committee board here, which is quite a social event for me. It’s a great committee of people from diverse backgrounds. Our goal, in this committee, is to bring art to the people here at the hospital and through art, uplift them ~whatever their circumstance may be. I enjoy these meetings a lot, but more than anything I find myself wanting to create paintings for people here. More and more my work in painting has been leading me towards helping people. This is great, because all I’ve ever wanted to do is take people into another world, to tell them a story, and to help them find their own voice by elevating a situation momentarily through humor or beauty.
Last year I gave a TEDx talk on creativity and this year I will give a lecture series in Omaha, Nebraska on the process of creating. The process of telling a story, for me, has always involved multiple layers of story lines, embedded in the paint, or creating a thread which runs through illustrations and writing. I am currently working on illustrating two children’s books. One was written by a father from the perspective of his four year old daughter. The other is written by a 6 year old little boy in England.
Last year I visited schools in England who use creative curriculum throughout all the subjects they teach. One of those students, a 6 year old named Ewan, wrote to me and asked me to illustrate a story he wrote. His parents sent me his story from England and I can’t wait to finish illustrating it. I feel Ewan will be an artist one day. In the meantime I am happy to be a part of the process as he decides what he wants to do. He is, after all, only six years old. Here is an excerpt from his story, THE MAN WHO SAVED THE WORLD:
“Once upon a time there was a man called Max Jones. Max had very rosy cheeks, messy brown hair and big blue eyes. He had a wife called Amy. Amy was 31 and had long blond hair. Max and Amy worked at the ice cream cooling towers in the ice cream lab. In the cooling towers they had to make different things to do with ice cream. Their latest invention was the ice cream maker, this is a machine that can make any flavor of ice cream you wish. All you have to do is put on a mind cap and it detects the flavor you want. They took their invention home to their three children; Harry who was 11, Josh who was 9, and Dylan who was 6 years old. They loved the ice cream maker so much they wanted to have the only one in the world…..”
What follows after the opening paragraph is the most fantastical story from the imagination of a six year old boy. As soon as I finish it I will post a sneak peek of our collaboration! In the meantime, here is a photo of Ewan who came to visit me before I performed near the Severn River in Shropshire, England. He loves music and is now writing his own!
I hope you will enjoy my blog and the new online gallery! I love sharing with you what I’ve been creating in the studio! February 1st I will unveil the new work online for THE TWISTED VALENTINE EXHIBITION. Valentine’s Day has always been one of my favorite holidays. My very best to you!
Love, Wendy Jane
