A joy of learning languages is discovering new and unusual idioms. Years ago, inspired by dark Scandi dramas, I completed the Duolingo Swedish course. One of the phrases I picked up on my journey was ana ugglor i mossen.
It means “to suspect owls in the bog” — the Swedish equivalent of to smell a rat. (Imagine a mob boss in a dramatic gangster movie: “the thing is, fellas, I suspect what we have here is an owl in the bog,” and the undercover cop thinks Oh. Shit).
I’ve spent the past couple of weeks putting together a shop for my illustrations, and one of the first prints I’ve ordered is of my ‘Bog Owls’ art. For me it sums up my creative interests: visual art inspired by storytelling and wordplay.
Here’s a version of ‘Bog Owls’ from a couple of years ago; it shows how far my illustration abilities have come.
This is a detailed, fairly realistic watercolour and gouache painting. I wanted to represent ugglor i mossen — which I mistakenly thought meant owls in the moss — and googled the owls of Sweden so I could paint them faithfully.
It took me a long time and I didn’t even finish!
In contrast, the ink version of ‘Bog Owls’ is clear, the style is distinctive, and the owls have some character. The landscape has some design and texture to it, thanks to my time spent thinking about pattern-making.
In learning to paint as an adult, I aimed for realism. In learning to illustrate the visual ideas in my head, I’ve shifted to designs that represent the thing rather than try to be the thing.
Children’s author and illustrator Debi Gliori1 recently wrote a lovely piece about ‘finding a style’, which you should go read. I actually copied down a quote in the back of my sketchbook, about “the pictures inside your head that only you can see”.
Apologies to anyone who was expecting a newsletter last week, I was convinced that my last post was only two weeks ago; I didn’t expect to break my fortnightly rhythm.
This newsletter is now six months old, and I can’t remember the last time I stuck to a blog, diary, or writing practice for this long! It goes to show that I must be enjoying it, which I really am. Thank you very much for reading along.
I will let you know when my website/shop is ready for orders!
Culture Wrap
I’ve started rewatching Hacks, a well-written and darkly funny TV drama - strongly recommend (I’ve only seen seasons 1-2 but am starting over). I’m also watching Seth Rogan’s The Studio (fantastic) and slowly savouring the new season of Yellowjackets, which is brilliantly dark and weird and gory and funny.
I’m reading The Savage, Noble Death of Babs Dionne (author Ron Currie Jr.) which doesn’t sound like a Stephen King title, but definitely feels like one.
There’s a new series of Taskmaster but I’m also rewatching older seasons; right now I’m on season 14 (Dara O’Briain et al).
Postscript
This is the first draft of a fundraising design, I’m going to create a circular version of this theme, to order stickers.
Debi Gliori is the author of the Pure Dead book series for older kids; it’s about a magic family living in Scotland. I absolutely loved the books, especially Pure Dead Wicked. Go support authors who support trans rights!