A New Journey

In 2020, during the Pandemic, lots of things were down, the job market for one thing. Finance was tight. I am sure like a lot of people, it was an incredibly hard time. Out of work, countless submission's of CV's and cover letters later, I took some time out, to do a children's book challenge. At first it seemed counter-intuitive. What, do a month long book challenge whilst your out of work? What about the bills? Your family? These things weighed heavily on me. But, I had to do this challenge.

 

So what happened? A seed of change begun. I started to ask myself, what am I trying to say in my art? What do I really value? See, I have been doing fan art for years. And I really do love this stuff. But I was starting to question the longevity of it. How could I possibly entertain creating this type of art and make money from it? It wasn't my original art to sell, and it just didn't feel right to do so.

I was in a calder-sac, a dead end. I was lost.

 

Now on holiday, Christmas of 2020, with my beautiful wife and daughter, in Wellington. Just rocking around a mall, I happened to come across this pop-up second hand bookshop. The books are free. Crazy, right?  Shuffling through a stack of books, I came across one I hadn't seen in years.

Copyright Maurice Sendak

Where the Wild Things Are.

Sure it was tattered, had marks and dog-eared pages. But I didn't care. I loved this book. The story, the colors, the monsters. Max in his sailing boat. Pure bliss.

Here is where it started to make sense to me. Children's books. I have always loved Children's books.

Why had I not put two and two together? Slow learner I guess.

 

Fast forward to 2022, and my collection of Maurice Sendak books has grown. Also, I have now amassed quite a sizeable quantity of pre-loved classic children's books. Classics by the likes of Bill Peet, Dr Seuss, and Golden Books (mainly 1950's to 1970's), as examples. 

 

And, I have finally returned to the drawing board. Wanting to craft my own children's book.

 

In my next post, I will hope to update my tentative beginnings, of this adventure. 

I imagine that going forward, this blog will start to change too. Not sure what that means at the moment, but I do welcome the new journey.

Copyright Maurice Sendak

Apologies for the word count in this post.

Thank you for popping on in. Take care.