A creative collaboration with Cardinale and Becky James
by Cardinale and Becky
A couple of weeks ago, Becky and I were chatting about creating a story page for Carry Forth Tradition - (which you can find here - Tales of Wonder and Wisdom — Carry Forth Tradition. )
I had been asked to record stories for a podcast series,‘Tales of Wisdom’, a few years ago. I had done a lot of classical singing in my life but never recorded. I loved reading to my children when they were young, and my mother and Omi read the old classics to us - Grimm’s, Hans Christian Anderson, Lagerlof and so on - on a daily basis. My father could spin a tale on the spot and in no time would have us mesmerized or rolling on the ground in giggles… so I thought, why not? Can’t be that hard (haha).
The point was to keep the wealth of wisdom, wonder, culture, and tradition in these stories alive, and make them accessible to young (and old!), so with that as the goal, our little team dove in and braved the learning curve. It was a truly rewarding experience. I had written a column for The Epoch Times (A Berkshire Journal) for a while, so the writing came in handy too, as many of the stories had to be re-written into a format that could be narrated. We ended up incorporating some of the pieces from the column, too, and over time, I was more at ease with the process. The program came to an end a year later, but I kept collecting stories and trusted that when the time was right, there would be a place to share them….
And then Becky mentioned Carry Forth Tradition, and now the stories will come alive again!
Most of the older stories have many variations, as for the most part, they would have been passed down orally and made their way around the world, taking on different cultural aspects. We’ve decided most of the ones we share will be re-written for Carry Forth Tradition based on the original stories, and that the illustrations will be done by our artist contributors. That process in itself makes the story become even more alive through collaboration.
Today we launched our first effort, a Jamaican folktale that Ioanna Kalogirou had recently told me about. The story sounded really interesting, and again, there are a few variations to be found. It’s a bit of a haunting tale with a lyrical quality, so it called to be written in a kind of prose-style. I guess I was imagining ‘telling’ it, as I wrote. It will lend itself well to recording at some point. Then Becky magically produced a stunning woodpecker, and, there it was!
We thought we would share a little bit about the creative process involved in bringing these wisdom tales from all over the world to life. Hopefully it will inspire you to have a go! Enjoy!
Brother Woodpecker — Carry Forth Tradition
Becky -
When Cardinale said she had a story in mind, a folk tale, I offered to draw something for her. Recently I find myself home schooling myself to improve my art skills. It’s been a very difficult time for everyone, and I notice I find some light relief when fully absorbed being creative. I know how good it makes me feel when I see or read other people’s uplifting work, so this is encouraging me to develop my own abilities. I can think of nothing better than creating beautiful, uplifting and interesting pieces of art combined with traditional stories to brighten up someone else’s day.
Cardinale asked if I could draw or paint a woodpecker, something I have never done before and I wasn’t really sure what to do. I’ve also never been asked to draw something before, and with a specific purpose. I wasn’t sure whether to ink it or do a watercolour - I’m not an expert at either. I really am a ‘wanna-be artist’ who spends more time thinking, planning and reading about other people’s art, or watching videos of how to do it, or reading theory about art, but without actually doing much of my own work. The master procrastinator; and this has actually stopped me from doing anything, or moving forward. There was always a reason why I couldn’t.
I recently re-discovered that once I sit down and make a few marks that it all seems to start flowing out of me. Utterly magical.
My lovely sister bought me some beautiful, colourful ‘precision brush pens’ for Christmas by Creativepeak and mum, who is an artist, bought me some incredibly magical watercolour paints by Derwent a few weeks ago. I have Sakura Pigma Micron inking pens which I love using, and recently, to carry on with the metallic theme, I bought myself some of Derwent’s metallic pencils which also turn out to be watercolour pencils (thanks for telling me Paula!), Faber Castell metallic highlighters, and Sakura Gellyroll metallic gel pens (the list here is deliberate in case you feel some inspiration and don’t know what pens to buy - these are all my current favourites). And I have various pads, papers, for various mediums, rulers, erasers, brushes, the easel, the works…. Actually, I have no excuses now, nothing to stop me from creating my own mini ‘masterpieces’ - BUT what I didn’t account for, something I have recently begun to understand and experience, and what I am now gearing up for, is the STAMINA I need to carry through any piece of work I begin! It is really hard work and needs incredible focus. I’m very good at starting things and not finishing them and this collaboration wouldn’t allow for that approach.
Eventually, after sitting quietly for a while digging deep into my thoughts and heart, with an anonymous photo of a Jamaican Woodpecker I found on the internet staring at me from my screen, it suddenly dawned on me that I needn’t panic, or give up, or freak out, or feel pressure, or worry about whether it would be good enough or if it was the right choice of image to take inspiration from or whether it would accompany the story properly………. so I just grabbed what was most comfortable for me to handle and I sketched the woodpecker. I used my favourite mechanical Tombow pencil, yes I have a favourite pencil, it makes me more careful and considerate as I draw.
I took a photograph of it, as it had occurred to me that as we are all about inspiring other people to ‘have a go’, it might be interesting for others to see the different stages of the creative process. Then I inked it, and was surprised it looked ok, and took another photograph. Then I added the vibrant colours with my brush pens, which are lovely to work with because they come with a water brush (a brush with a container attached to it which you fill with water so you can squeeze it and control the flow to get water into the brush) which you use to blend the colours together giving it a watercolour look. Jamaica is a really colourful place and I thought it might help illustrate the story and I must admit I was pleased with the result. It is good to see I have made some progress, and also really good to see where I can improve my skills. It’s a wonderful, magical, boundless journey in itself!
Below are some photos of the different stages it went through. Mum thinks it took me about three hours. Three hours of ignoring all the thoughts about all the other zillions of things I need to do, or worry about, or tidy up, or answer to…. and people wonder why many artist have untidy houses, but doesn’t cheerful art brighten up the world? I’d say it’s worth it then, I can sleep soundly tonight knowing that I may just cheer someone up and that my conscience has been nourished.
