I felt like a five year old at Christmas in excitement and anticipation…being whisked from baggage claim after landing in Vegas from Madrid. The official unwrapping of Persephone and Polka Dot Shoes was to take place at Janice’s and we all gathered at her house! Like a holiday, we toasted and opened the package from the printers with the first five prototypes, which I like to call Artist Proofs.
Holding and seeing the physical book, opening the pages is nothing like seeing it on the computer screen… It’s weight, the texture of the ink on the page, the turning of each image to the next, each message more poignant on the page, three years of collaboration... a precious gift as we lived the book…a nd all I could say was the most eloquent, WOW!
When Janice approached me to illustrate her book, I remember thinking that it was going to be a lot of illustrating over several months. I had just been in a car accident and was going to physical therapy and be be truthful, couldn’t even hold a brush for more that 30 seconds before I felt pain through my arm and neck.
Janice may not have understood my challenges, either way, I wanted to do this project. Weeks would go by, and Janice would call asking how I was doing with the illustrations. Having a bit of brain injury as well and oddly no regard for time, I had to admit that I would forgot completely about the project. Janice would kindly nudge me over the phone and I would promise to start. Again and again.
Starting can be sometimes the most difficult step, even without brain injury. Neither of us had a clear image of the finished product, but we did know we wanted to create a self-exploring introspective experience for the reader. A beautiful cocktail table book with my work complimenting her words. We had to trust that to begin was the most important step - as like with a painting, in my experience, the creation process starts to take on a life of it’s own.
Artist Beti Kristof-Mohn, Book Designer A.D. Cook and Poet Janice Marie Wilson.
Learn more about our book at GoodnessExperience.com