A mock up to “see the book”

JOSEPH is my experimental graphic novel (in process). It is a Vancouver-based family saga spanning 1924 – 1963.   For more info, go to: ABOUT Transforming my 280 page research manuscript (just words) into a 200 page graphic novel (mainly visuals) is a brain exercise, to say the least. I am currently writing the script…

A contemplation

This past week, I had the pleasure of doing graphic recording for a group within health care as they reflected on Trauma and Resiliency Informed Practice. After I completed the transcription report, I decided to do my own a reflection. The result is a drawing as I contemplated the outcomes of the day. The drawing process: Lotus buds…

Construct, deconstruct, reconstruct.

See original post of creating this painting: Of the Forest Deconstruction started Nov 4, 2022: Mixed them all up, collected them and laid in order of how they stacked. December 8, 2022: The accidental connections between between the randomly selected canvas pieces is satisfying. My eye naturally finds harmony in the accidents. I rediscovered the love…

Painting in progress: Of The Forest, Värmland (self-portrait)

My niece, Vivienne, age 8, works on the piece with me. Bliss! The piece continues to evolve… With no attachment to outcome. Only to the process, which I find enormously healing. This is the forest in Värmland in which my soul most often resides… where I spent my childhood summers:

Joseph, the Prologue Broadsheet Sampler

© Katarina Thorsen 2022 — This is a limited edition publication. 400 copies in total have been printed. The hardcopy of the 12-page broadsheet (newspaper) measures: 380 mm x 578 mm (approx. 15″ x 28″) FOR MORE INFORMATION GO TO: ABOUT THE PROJECT   To purchase an individually signed and numbered copy of the 12-page…

Painting: Of the invisible breath that swayed at once

Of the invisible breath that swayed at once… – William Cullen Bryant   — This canvas is part of a larger explorative project entitled “Nature Nurture” conceived by filmmaker and multi-media artist Patti Henderson, “born of Fight, Flight, Freeze, Fawn. The first pandemic lockdown in British Columbia.”  The project includes introspective photography and writing by…

Slowing down the creative process

Drawing a dead bird from “life.” (It was actually caught by my indoor cat through a small opening in my apartment window on Sept 23, 2018, and unfortunately it was very dead, so I photographed it and buried it in Stanley Park) A resurgence of studying art history and techniques has made me realize I…

… to thrive as an artist…

From Lucia Joyce- To Dance in the Wake by Carol Loeb Shloss “In short, they were nice women, versions of the angel in the house, that perilously good creature that Virginia Woolf commemorated as Mrs. Ramsay in To the Lighthouse. It is relevant to Lucia’s story to remember that Woolf knew she had to “kill”…

Dead Bird Study Part 2

See: Part 1 PART 2: Watercolour, pencil crayon, ink, coffee, beet juice, salt, on newsprint, embroidery. Next up in Part 3 – add writing.

Imagined bird nest: part 1

Pencil crayon, watercolour, ink, coffee, cherry juice on newsprint. Next step: collage, embellish and embroider

Elle Kari Study No. 2

Image reference: the vintage children’s book (with documentary photography) “Elle Kari” by Anna Riwkin-Brick and Elly James, Rabén & Sjögren, Stockholm, 1965 Medium: pencil crayon, ink, coffee, watercolour on newsprint- plus hot iron

Elle Kari Study No. 1

Image reference: the vintage children’s book (with documentary photography) “Elle Kari” by Anna Riwkin-Brick and Elly James, Rabén & Sjögren, Stockholm, 1965 Medium: pencil crayon, ink, coffee, watercolour on newsprint

Journal entry December 1, 2020: I Can’t Write Right

When I can’t write, when I don’t feel right, I feel the black ink of angst/depression well up in my brain. And I pace around and around in there, first splashing in the black ink, then wading in it, then swimming, then oh oh – am I drowning? Ok, ok. Slow down. Use the ink….

Collaging as writing process

Collaging helps me write and stay in process. Images of the era (in my case the late 40’s) trigger ideas and storylines. (Thank you to Darcy for collage night, the LIFE magazines, the collaboration and the varnishing process! And chats!) See also: