I keep the broken bits. I honour the cracks. They illustrate the subtext. There in I seek the true story. Subtext or undertone is any content of a creative work which is not announced explicitly by the characters or author, but is implicit or becomes something understood by the observer of the work as the…
Category: Visual Storytelling
Ut Pictura Poesis- the narrative potential of the drawing
I draw pictures. I imagine storylines. I imagine a narrative, a comic, a screenplay… There is nothing quite as on target as the prose I write in my mind when on the bus- whilst staring out the window to deal with motion sickness, taking in the landscape. But alas, those musings instantly disappear as soon…
“This Look That Was Only Yours,” a short film of my creative process
A short film by Anna Thorsen What I love about this film by my daughter is that she has been able to visualize the peace I find in the creative process. In my own home, on a cozy weekend, in pjs and cozy sweater… It also illustrates a core value I hold dear to my heart-…
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…
Bird spotting with a yellow legal pad and a walk in the park.
I walked around Lost Lagoon this afternoon. In order to see birds it is necessary to become a part of the silence. ― Robert Lynd I found a heron nest on the ground after a windstorm broke a large tree branch. I saw signs of early Spring. And hope springs eternal. What else did I…
The importance of being specific. Collage for 2019.
Recall Vision for 2019: Courage Last night I mind mapped around the heart image- and one of the key “to-do’s” for 2019 is PAUSE AND REFLECT, BEFORE SAYING YES. Tonight I spent time around the kitchen table, cutting and pasting stream of consciousness collages with my soul-sister Patti Henderson, as we chatted about life and about our…
It’s not that I don’t know what to do.
Regarding my passion project Molly- a true crime analysis: 2003-2016 was all about researching, drawing, accumulating, writing, collecting. 2017 was all about creating an online weekly draft, telling the story with images, words and music in whatever way it unfolded, sharing it openly, publicly. 2018 has been all about allowing others in, and letting go of control,…
60 years ago my mother became a mother. (Karin Kristina Orwald 1936 – 2008)
Decades are significant. 60 years ago my mother became a mother. 50 years ago we moved to Canada from Sweden. 50 years ago, my mother started to write letters home to Sweden. 30 years ago, my mother’s second grandchild was born. 10 years ago, I had my ear to my mother’s chest and listened as…
Tuesday November 6, 1947
TUESDAY NOVEMBER 6, 1947 MOLLY, A GRAPHIC NOVEL– my now 15+ years passion project– continues at the drawing board and at the writing desk and in my heart, with new developments, insights and directions behind the scenes. Some announcements in the new year. NOTE: this is a work of creative non-fiction inspired by true facts, evidence and…
Protected: Potato Nose Diaries (1977): Instalment 8- The Letter
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Protected: Potato Nose Diaries (1977): Instalment 7- Grad and the Party
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Protected: A Potato Nose Diaries (1977) Short: Steven
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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…
Protected: A Potato Nose Diaries (1977) Short- The Audition
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Protected: A Potato Nose Diaries (1977) Short- I am 15 now.
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Protected: Potato Nose Diaries (1977): Instalment 5- They don’t know what it is.
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Protected: Potato Nose Diaries (1977): Instalment 4- Sex Education
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Saudade waves.
Saudade describes a deep emotional state of nostalgic longing for an absent something or someone that one loves. It often carries a repressed knowledge that the object of longing will never return. It’s related to the feelings of longing, yearning. I have written about Saudade before. For example: November 3, 2012 SAUDADE: THE EMOTION OF MISSING. #GRIEF…
Protected: Potato Nose Diaries (1977)- Instalment 3: Do Tendu Jetés en Balance
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Protected: Potato Nose Diaries (1977)- Instalment 2: The First Entries
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Protected: Potato Nose Diaries (1977) Instalment 1: Introduction
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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…
Spirit Guide.
I was going to write tonight. Instead I fell down a nap hole and dreamt of a fox. I was going to write tonight about how much I hate my face, but instead looked up foxes and symbolism. And put on a pot of coffee. I was going to write tonight about how I (could)…
Die into life.
I haven’t posted for awhile. That’s not to say I haven’t been writing, drawing, planning, thinking, working. A new job started January 15 and somehow 5 months have sped by. Work has given me a place to land. During that time there have been some exciting new developments… Ah, blah blah blah. Fuck that. I…
When public goes private, do I lose you?
When public goes private, do I lose you? I am so used to sharing my creative process openly– and now I find myself in a new state of being, where in order to discuss and develop the project further, I have to stop sharing it. This is all exciting and unreal– so why do I…
Molly- a new phase
Molly- a true crime analysis Currently in a new development phase and therefore the online graphic novel is now set to private. Thanks for your support! ♥️ Stay tuned. Love, Katarina … a crime analysis to determine the general characteristics of the most likely suspect for the crime. – Henry Lee, Crime Scene Investigation (1994)
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…
Friday night check in: effortless action.
Checking in with the Power Path at mid-month: My form of meditation is to mind map it out: My notes from reading the February Power Path show some amazing tidbits that reinforce my newfound practice of neutrality. Relationship with time and fear of not being enough. Ease, clarity, right timing, patience, alignment –> effortless action. Unfold…
Ear to the ground… Another recurring theme…
There are repeated themes in my work and obsessions that satisfy my creative process and my explorations into grief. Like human faces, birds, dead birds… I hadn’t noticed one theme recurring- ear to the ground. Ear to the ground: to devote attention to watching or listening for clues as to what is going to happen… In…