Hi! It’s me, Catherine Fortey - an illustrator and artist, turning voices and stories into pictures. You’re reading a free post from “The Quiet Blackbird”, where I talk about my illustration journey into children’s publishing, but often get sidetracked by the million other things my brain wants to share.
Hello Willow Warblers,
I’m nearly a whole two weeks late with this post - but I’m blaming that on the fateful juxtopostion of two weeks school holidays and then chickenpox. So my intention to race into June, and all my exciting new plans, has had a much more sedate beginning.
One thing our very rainy, half-term camping trip did bring was a new place to use my bird song app - and excitingly hear more than just the usual blackbirds, house sparrows, dunnock, wood pigeon and goldfinch of my back garden, like a willow warbler.
In May, the paid subscribers among you received my first behind-the-scences process post about my Spider Girl marketing postcards.
This month I’m hoping to take you behind the scenes of my very first book cover. If you don’t want to miss out, and get access to my archive of paid posts, you can upgrade your subscription by pressing the button.
And speaking of my first book cover:
Knowing the Score by Ros Roberts (cover hand-lettered and illustrated by moi) was published by Little Tiger on the 9th May. I received two copies through the post, and it’s something else to actually hold your illustrations in book form in your hands. I’ve still to go searching in a bookshop to see it on a shelf though, maybe I’ll do that this month.
There’s also been a buzz about the village the past two weeks, as the centre has been transformed into an Edwardian street for a film - Ralph Fiennes has even been spotted! I’ve very lucky to live in a World Heritage site, and we often have production companies shooting films here. Aside from the hustle and bustle, and the star names, my favourite thing are the props and locations team who sweep in with paint, and wooden boards, new signage, and incredibly detailed props, to remove all traces of the 21st century, and take us back in time.
What I’m working on in June
Why were you so excited to get working in June, Cat? Well, because I have a really cool project to get stuck into. Back in March I was lucky enough to be awarded an Explore grant by Bradford Producing Hub to dive into some exploratory work. I spent April and May doing all the preparatory work, and now, I’m ready to get started.
Explore
I’m spending the next 5 weeks exploring RISO printing, and how to incorporate it into my illustration practice. I have messed around with RISO a little before, but despite being an economical form of printing/duplication, it can be quite costly getting your masters right, so I’ve never been able to really throw myself into it. This time I’m exploring working straight from digital files, and I’ve already discovered that much of the communication between old tech and new tech is in the lap of the tech gods - and so far they have not been in my favour!
As part of my project I’m also trying to make connections with the local artist community, and the best thing I’ve done is secure a short-term studio space. I’m sitting in it right now, writing this! Not only do I have 24 hour access to the RISO machine, but I share the space with two awesome artists, and get to meet all the artists that come in to use the print facilities.
The only thing is, I can only afford it until the end of July (and the end of the project). I love it so much - and it’s already made such a difference to my practice - I don’t want to go back to the kitchen table at home 😩.
It always comes down to money.
I appreciated this substack post (it’s worth reading. the whole thing) by very successful author and illustrator,
:There isn’t a woman making art who hasn’t, at some point, heard/read/repeated the famous Virginia Woolf statement “A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction.”' Often the ‘money’ part is conveniently erased (she also mentions a lock on the door.) The ‘room of one’s own’ is a somewhat romantic, escapist notion, the money, however, is depressingly practical so might need to be glossed over. I long for a room of my own, but more so I long for the ability to sustain that room at minimal cost to my quality of life.
I think of how I would work if I had two desks instead of one, if I could leave an easel set up without disturbing anyone else’s space, if I had a sink that wasn’t three floors down in a basement that is, always, hellishly hot. What would I make? How many little exploratory projects would I have on the go? These fantasies can be torturous.
Money
This is the real panic right now. Having 2 freelancers in the house, money is never guaranteed, make that 2 freelancers working in the arts and things can get pretty precarious pretty quickly. I try to live in the moment, and trust that work (and pay) will come along, but we’re pushing close to the line. I’m applying for everything that I find, and I’ve been searching for a local part-time job (though they’re pretty hard to come by too), but come September, one or both of us might be more crappy job than freelance artist. Please send all the commission/application success vibes our way!
Pathways - Literature Brief 5
Plodding on in the background, I’ve reached that last 6 months of the Pathways course. It’s been a ride, and not always a good one, but I’ve taken what I needed and learned a fair bit along the way. We’re working on our final briefs - essentially illustrating a dummy book for one of 5 climate-change themed texts written especially for us by established authors (I’m not allowed to say who nor show you any work). I love my text - we own several of the authors picture books - and now I have the temporary studio, I’m really excited about having the space to explore some loose and messy, inky and painterly work for the next stage.
Can I ask you a favour?
I am so lucky to be able to drive 15 minutes from my house and be in glorious countryside and moorland. I’m even more lucky to live so close to Haworth, and the moors so beloved by the Brontes, Sylvia Plath, and Ted Hughes (to name a few). But Top Withens - where Wuthering Heights is thought to be set - is under threat. It’s a moor steeped in cultural heritage, a moor that is not only home to endangered ground-nesting birds and site of special scientific interest (SSSI), but contains vast peat bogs that suck carbon out of the atmosphere.
Multi-millionaire Richard Bannister and a Saudi-owned company want to build the largest onshore wind farm on it.
I’m not against wind farms, but there are better suited places that wouldn’t cause so much cultural and environmental damage. Surely riping up peat bogs to put in wind farms is counter-productive?
I’d be really grateful if you could sign up to Stop Calderdale Wind Farm to show your support ☺️
And for all your hard work, I shall reward you with these tasty treats:
‘At age 13, we're unable to drive, vote, drink alcohol, or pay taxes, yet we're old enough to cultivate enduring musical preferences’ - whilst I think most of my musical preferences came from when I was little older than 13 (I’m a solid 90s/00s girl), my Spotify liked songs playlist would definitely agree they stagnated after my twenties - just 10% of songs are from artists who began their career after 2010!
‘Not all music is destined for obscurity. A handful of exceptional artists and songs stand the test of time, their works passed down across generations’ - the 70s just made some tunes that are impossible to ignore.
For a long time I was afraid of the night-time, of the loneliness of being the only conscious being, but I’m learning to embrace it, and have discovered that I actually quite enjoy the quiet it brings.
‘These prefabricated containers of language turn out too small to contain emotions at once overwhelmingly expansive and acutely specific’ - definitely feeling zielschmerz and I get deś vu all he time.
Every wondered how pastels are traditionally made?
And why do maple syrup bottles have that tiny useless handle? - love me a skeuomorph.
Those Swedes 😘
As we head into election season in the UK, I’m hoping for some decent policies on poverty - because economic inequality matters, and support for the arts - seeing as creative industries bring more money to the UK economy than cars, aerospace, oil or gas.
How’s this for some possibility-infused policies - the Ministry of Imagination Manifesto.
That’s all for know, otherwise it will turn into the June post (yes, this is supposed to be the end-of-May post).
Love,
Your riso project sounds really exciting! Looking forward to seeing what you make! I loved that same Lizzie Stewart post, it’s an important and scary part of being a freelancer but doesn’t get talked about very much. Sending you all the positive vibes.
Hey Cat! A great newsletter as always! Congratulations on the book cover, it looks fantastic! Having always had a 9-5 monthly pay packet job for 20 years, the rollercoaster of being freelance is one scary ride! The freedom it gives is something I appreciate nearly every day, but when that last pay cheque is dwindling down to the last pennies with no new job in sight it’s truly scary. It feels like you are moving in the right direction though, and I’m keeping everything crossed for you and sending all the vibes! X