© Thérèse Neelands 2012 watercolour, ink on paper
Lately I’ve been quitting the day and everyone early,
curling up in bed and reading Calvin and Hobbes comics with a glass of beer,
and all the stuff around me disappears.
It’s unsettling how much I relate to a 5 year old with an imaginary live tigar.
And Bill Waterson is an amazing artist.
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Detail, Work in Progress, watercolour, pencil, ink © Therese Neelands
Cold, cold, cold today.
Keeping warm by the heat of the desk lamp.
Even the dog can’t withstand the dog park,
she hops around on 3 legs,
her little belly quivering.
How many times can you say,
Pink Peppercorns, pink peppercorns, pink peppercorns!
I am ridiculously excited about these. And yes, I feel very silly doing a peppercorn photo shoot.
But hey! They’re PINK peppercorns!
I’ve been wanting to buy these for years, but they’re rare to fall upon and can be a bit pricey.
Today I was on a search for instant espresso for a Mocha cake, but would you believe it, it’s like it doesn’t exist.
I traipsed around in the rain all afternoon and didn’t get my espresso, but fell upon these.
Pink Peppercorns.
Oh, I got them at House of Spice, in Kensington Market.
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I wanted to show you something.
It’s a King Penguin Classic, and it seems that this edition is from 1956.
It was purchased by my sister when she was living in France, and given to me in memory of a time when we used to read this story together every Christmas under twinkling lights and with steaming cider.
But never mind, the point is, I’ve just finished reading it for the first time in years, and it suddenly occurred to me that it was Charles Dickens (particularly this book) that kindled a love for storytelling at a very young age. It started with A Christmas Carol, and moved on to David Copperfield, Great Expectations, Nicholas Nickelby, A Tale of Two Cities and on and on. They sit on my shelves looking very worn and loved.
And sitting with them, is this edition with original illustrations by John Leech.
**Charles Dickens bi-centenary is coming up February 7th, 2012**
Quote of the day:
“They [children] accept, almost without question, anything you present them with, as long as it is presented honestly, fearlessly, and clearly.” E.B. White
I came upon this excellent quote when reading a guest blog post by Iain Reid (One Bird’s Choice) on Kristen den Hartog’s “Blog of Green Gables” (She has a series of posts about when writers read children’s books)
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I’m so excited about these! They’re cute and tiny!
I was feeling guilty about all the off-cuts of paper knocking around the studio, so I made these itty-bitty 3 1/2 inch thank you cards. I’ll be selling them as packs of 8. I’ll be off to the Paper Place soon to buy a supply of itty-bitty envelopes to match. Will keep you posted.
what’s on my desk? Carol Shields “Various Miracles” (there’s a short story in there I want to illustrate), Roald Dahl’s “Matilda”, “Extraordinary Chickens” (AWESOME, you can get it at Type Books), “The Book of North American Birds”, “The Pidgeon Finds a Hot Dog!”, Sendak’s “The Griffin and the Minor Canon”, various Calvin and Hobbes, and various Oliver Jeffers.
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Hi!
I’ve been thinking about some things
and learning sides to myself that I don’t like
and always knew were there, but wasn’t forced to face until now.
I’ve been wondering why I have such a hard time speaking up,
why I can’t believe people when they exclaim they like my work,
why I can’t say thank you when someone told me “good job”.
I know what my dream is–it’s sitting at my desk with ink and paper and scissors and paint
and listening to the CBC and being quiet and still while my hands do their work,
and chortling to myself as I make imagined characters real.
Unfortunately, to do this, I need to charge people in exchange for my work so that I can eat and sleep in a bed and my brain can’t compute this.
It doesn’t understand how the spiritual (that’s what making is for me) has to do with the material.
My brain says after your work is done, give it away for people to enjoy, that’s the important thing.
It doesn’t understand how $5.00 = the joy I had making it or the joy someone had receiving it.
Also, why, in questioning the value of my work, do I always under value my work?
which seems to have started before I could help it–
sprawled out on the kitchen floor drawing pretty ladies and houses and rainbows, and agonizing over whether they were “good enough”.
Good enough for whom, my mother would say, for what.
Why would a 5 year old child think that?
Maybe I was being prescient, and I meant good enough to make a living from them. Maybe I understood the dilemma of what do you do with something after you’ve enjoyed making it, and how do you put a value on it so that you can continue making.
I think that if I didn’t have this deficiency, this inability to make peace with value and making,
then I would be able to answer the dreaded question, what do you do for a living
and I would say with no apology in my voice
I illustrate children’s books.
I blew some steam in the kitchen today and guess what I made:
Chicken Sage Butternut Squash Soup
Banana Bread
Chocolate Chip Cookies
Blueberry Lemon Scones
Almond Chocolate Chip Biscotti
Pooped with a happy tummy.
I’m selling packs of 6 on Etsy, or shoot me a message if you live in T.O for free delivery 
Have a good week.
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Goodness, it’s November 15th already.
I was trying to wait for a sunny day to take some product shots but realized there’s not much time left!
I will have to read up on the Etsy how-to handbook on “photography when it’s raining” as you can see from this photo.
Have a good week!
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