Bookstore – Katarina Thorsen

Store window, Gamla Stan, Stockholm. A study

I came across a wonderful little shop in June 2019. Slow Fox Förlag Antikvariatet. Själagårdsgatan 9c, Gamla Stan, Stockholm, Sweden. And I think about the store window ALOT. A study using Chinamarker, white acrylic ink, watercolour wash added using Caitlin ffrench’s wildcrafted pigments

Journal entry April 3, 2022

Drawings for the prologue finished! Dropping them off at TR Trades tomorrow. Anxious trepidation. Anticipating: Who are you to tell their story? A familiar dark ink inches towards my feet. Not trusting that I will be seen as legit. Then reminding myself- who cares!? It is liberating to not be participating in any upcoming festivals. Liberating to not have…

Dear Richard: corresponding with Richard Selzer, M.D.

I was going through some old journals two days ago and in the one dated June 2, 2002, I came across printouts of a very special email correspondence. Background: In the mid 90’s, I was told about a bookstore in Seattle by my dear friend, Patti. My (then)partner and I went down to Seattle a…

“The countryside has turned into literature, poetry and art…” #HalldorLaxness

“The world bacteria has overcome you, the countryside has turned into literature, poetry and art: and you no longer belong there… But still I paused for a while over my thoughts of departure, and listened to the silence that had robbed the gods of sleep; and dusk sank slowly over the ponies.” – Halldor Laxness,…

A sock snapping turtle eating David Sedaris’ tumour. A handmade gift.

Does anyone else (well, I know my daughter does) feel like David Sedaris (and his sister Amy) is a family member? I am that kind of fan. Sorry. Reading his books, alone or in public, inevitably leads to me rocking back and forth in tears or in laughter or both. I have always fought against…

William March’s Company K (1933) studies- ink, watercolour, coffee, salt

I have never ceased to wonder at the thing we call human nature, with its time of beauty and its time of filthiness, or at the level of calm stupidity that lies in between the two. – William March, Company K (1933)

I am happy among my books – I am not happy without them. – Anne Lister

“Anne’s reliance on her books for mental well-being and personal happiness was clear – ‘What is there like gaining knowledge?’ she once said. ‘All else here below is indeed but vanity and vexation of spirit – I am happy among my books – I am not happy without them’ (2nd May, 1829). Words on a…

There is one moment in Pippi Longstocking that nailed it for me…

As a child, I desperately searched for characters in books that aligned with my anxious outward ways and my happy reclusive interior. Charlie Brown came close, but he was always seeking connection. I was seeking alone time. Like Charlie, school terrified and exhausted me. Home, my room, my books were my calming tools. I found…

Nature moves through carcasses…

Illustrating decomposition by allowing the newsprint to deteriorate over several years and for the dead bird to slowly be encompassed by embroidered roots and the dark. The process continues. Check out:

Relaunch and new look: my online graphic novel “Molly, a True Crime Analysis, the third draft”

Molly- a true crime analysis is my experimental graphic novel, originally workshopped online in weekly instalments between January 15, 2017 and January 13, 2018. I call the current online version the third draft. mollygraphicnovel.com UPDATE: THE GRAPHIC NOVEL IS BEING RE-WORKED AND THEREFORE SET TO “PRIVATE” WITH RESTRICTED ACCESS My work is based on extensive research, interviews and…

Potato Nose Diaries (1977): Instalment 9- Torpet

Previously on PND: Instalment 1: Introduction Instalment 2: The First Entries Instalment 3: Do Tendu Jetés en Balance Instalment 4: Sex Education Instalment 5: They Don’t Know What It Is Potato Nose Diaries (1977) Short: I am 15 now Potato Nose Diaries (1977) Short: The Audition Instalment 6: The Trip to Paris Potato Nose Diaries (1977)…

Potato Nose Diaries (1977): Instalment 8- The Letter

Inktober 2018: 31 studies of Truman Capote’s IN COLD BLOOD

Imagination, of course, can open any door– turn the key and let the terror walk right in. – Truman Capote No. 1 Richard Hickock: “It was early, not yet nine…” No. 2: “Nancy Clutter is always in a hurry, but she always has time.” No. 3 Truman Capote: “In Cold Blood- a true account of…

Potato Nose Diaries (1977): Instalment 7- Grad and the Party

Father, daughter, Fenrir, Gleipnir and “Drawn Together”- the book: 6 years later.

Wow. October 25, 2018 will mark the sixth year since my father passed away. I am so aware of all the dates in October… so aware that he was winding down. Interestingly, more October connections: on October 12, 2005 (13 years ago), my father drew for the first time after his life threatening stroke (September 21,…

Come back to me.

Come back to me, Molly. It’s been a strange time- hiding you from the world in order to explore new ways of telling your story. I’m not sure I like this anymore. You chose me. Remember? At the library? 15 years ago. As your spirit wandered restlessly on the viaduct, you passed through me with…

A Potato Nose Diaries (1977) Short- The Audition

Previously on PND: Instalment 1: Introduction Instalment 2: The First Entries Instalment 3: Do Tendu Jetés en Balance Instalment 4: Sex Education Instalment 5: They Don’t Know What It Is Potato Nose Diaries (1977) Short: I am 15 now Today’s short: This instalment is enhanced when accompanied by: © Katarina Thorsen 2018

A Potato Nose Diaries (1977) Short- I am 15 now.

Potato Nose Diaries (1977): Instalment 5- They don’t know what it is.

Previously on PND: Instalment 1: Introduction Instalment 2: The First Entries Instalment 3: Do Tendu Jetés en Balance Instalment 4: Sex Education Today’s instalment: © Katarina Thorsen 2018

Potato Nose Diaries (1977): Instalment 4- Sex Education

Previously on PND: Instalment 1: Introduction Instalment 2: The First Entries Instalment 3: Do Tendu Jetés en Balance Today’s instalment: © Katarina Thorsen 2018

Potato Nose Diaries (1977)- Instalment 3: Do Tendu Jetés en Balance

Previously on PND: Instalment 1: Introduction Instalment 2: The First Entries Today’s instalment: © Katarina Thorsen 2018 — Potato Nose Gallery:

Potato Nose Diaries (1977)- Instalment 2: The First Entries

Potato Nose Diaries (1977) Instalment 1: Introduction

“Potato Nose Diaries- 1977” illustrated weekly instalments start Sunday!

Bird School: The first rule

I am obsessed with birds. I have this strange belief that I will not uncover truths that I seek in my art without first understanding birds fully. So I am taking myself through my own Bird School– developing my own rudimentary curriculum and drawing out the answers and stitching together the truths. Recall: Parts of…

Bird School- Head feather groups

Books are life rafts. I climb into them to keep moving forward…

Books are life rafts. I climb into them to keep moving forward when life seems in limbo and my energy is fully depleted. Here is a sampling of those I return to repeatedly. I return to this quote to address my subject of research and remind myself why: A cheap Saturday night took you down….

I promised myself a library…

When I turned 10, my parents gave me this book– Hans Christian Anderson Fairy Tales illustrated by Jiří Trnka (published by Hamlyn Publishing Group Ltd, ©1959, 1972). My father had purchased it at the Vancouver Airport. I remember so clearly being woken up, with breakfast on a tray and receiving the book. The $4.95 in pencil…

New comic: Come Into Me, Issue 1

Creative process for me is not about the end product. It is about the entire process. But that doesn’t mean I don’t celebrate end products! And today I celebrate this comic: Come Into Me. Thanks to my colleague/friend, I was elated to hold the final product in my hand the other day– that gorgeous smell of paper…

Reclaiming the act of creating…

I could sit and wait. Ask myself: how I will get back to that beautiful, exhilarating buzz of creative process and my soul’s work? But why wait? I MUST simply work. Reclaim the act. How? I mind map. I attempt to draw and throw out the results. I return to my crafts. I allow the…