On being home

This year I have been too much away from home. For a couple of weeks now I am home, and in a way I have been finding my place again. With the cats, with the dogs, in my studio, but mostly on the land, and soon, in the sea. Those who follow my blog may have noticed it is a while since I have walked on the cliff paths. This morning I went seeking words, and found cool air, thyme, thrift, birds and the salt sea.

It has been an interesting week. The proof copy of The House Without Windows arrived. I keep taking it for walks. The cover, designed from an image of mine by Alison O’Toole, echoes that of the original I have from 1927, uncannily, as I didn’t show it to her until afterwards. I love what she has done.

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At the beach with The House Without Windows

A post shared by Jackie Morris (@jackiemorrisartist) on Jun 27, 2019 at 5:21am PDT

I took the book to the beach and the wind turned the pages and this seemed so right.

And this week saw the pdf of the almost completed Secret of the Tattered Shoes land in my inbox. It has glorious illustrations by Ehsan Abdollahi, will be published in the autumn by Tiny Owl. I just adore how he has illustrated my words, the characters he has made, the colour, the use of space. So beautiful.

And this week saw the launch of the campaign to bring my newest book and part of my backlist to light, with Unbound. The first of the backlist will be Song of the Golden Hare. They are a crowdfunded publisher, linking readers to the production of the books right from the beginning. For those who pledge there are different levels of support, from the simplest of a first edition of the book, and updates about the project, and I will be following progress on my blog also. It’s a new venture for me, a bit nerve wracking, but also exciting. There is also a way for indie bookshops to pledge support by ordering stock in at trade prices.

So, this week I have been reworking a couple of pieces to go with a story for The Unwinding, as a way of unwinding myself back into my studio, into working.

The funding has been going well, but as all the prints I offered were quickly snapped up I decided to make a new print available, of the Winter Queen, curled with her fox lover. If you go to the Unwinding page you will find a place to pledge for this.

And I have also painted an image to be used as a bookplate for me to sign in the bookplate edition of The Unwinding. I thought there would be no one better to invite a reader into the book than a shaman badger with a red teapot. If you watch the film closely , the one at the head of The Unwinding page, you will see the red teapot. I am so fond of the teapot that sometimes, especially if I am away from home for a while, I take it on our travels.

And also, because I need to, I have been grinding ink on my inkstone and painting flight.

Badger has been sold to a discerning lady who loves a shaman badger and a good teapot. All swallows are for sale. They are inked on Two Rivers watercolour paper and are £350 each.

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