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Krista Wallace and Tunnel Vision
39 Plays2 years ago
Mark and Joe talk to author Krista Wallace about a painting that directly inspired her books, called Tunnel Vision.
Check out the show notes here: https://re-creative.ca/tunnel-vision/
This is Tunnel Vision, the painting that inspired Krista:
Re-Creative is a co-production of Donovan Street Press Inc. in association with Mark A. Rayner.
Contact us at: joemahoney@donovanstreetpress.com
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Transcript
A Playful Chat About Gifts
00:00:09
Speaker
Hello, Mark. Joe, how are you? Well, I'm about the same as every other time you've asked that question. Okay, then I'll ask you a question. No, I'm not gonna ask you a question. I'm gonna say, do you have any questions for me? I do have a question for you. Oh, no, see, see. Now I'm stressed. My stress level has gone way up.
00:00:27
Speaker
You think your stress level has gone up. Mine has gone up because I don't actually have a question. I gotta think of one quickly. And the stress is killing me. Yeah. Where'd you get those glasses? Those are great looking glasses. I got them from Amazon in a bag of five.
00:00:42
Speaker
Are you serious? Yeah, because I wear readers, basically. I know I should wear prescription glasses, but I don't because I just gonna lose them. So for Christmases, I usually ask for bags of glasses, and I just sequester them everywhere. There's like a squirrel with nuts, glasses, reading glasses. Okay, this is just leading to more questions that we don't have time for. But we don't have time for more than one question.
00:01:09
Speaker
No, it's going to have to wait till the next podcast.
Introducing Krista Wallace
00:01:12
Speaker
We do have a special guest today. Krista Wallace joining us to talk about her favorite, not necessarily favorite, but a piece of art that she's passionate about. Hello. Hello. Hi, Krista. Thank you for joining us. Thank you for having me. This is very exciting.
00:01:26
Speaker
Now, we do something that I think we've admitted many times is because we're lazy, really. No, no, I need to reframe this. It's okay. I agree. It started that, but I think I'm actually I've drunk the Kool-Aid. I believe that this is the best way to do it because it allows the guests to sort of set up their own reality and put their best life to us if they so choose.
00:01:49
Speaker
Yeah, they could make anything up if they want to. That's right. What we're talking about is introducing yourself, you know, like on a professional radio show or something, you know, we would introduce the guest, but we don't do that here. We let you introduce yourself.
00:02:01
Speaker
Oh gosh, you should have warned me. I would have practiced or something. See, that's the mean part of it. We never warn anyone about this. They just go, oh God, really? I have to introduce myself? Good thing I have done this sort of thing once or twice.
Krista's Creative Pursuits
00:02:18
Speaker
And I have known myself for quite some time, so it shouldn't be too difficult to come up with some things to say.
00:02:27
Speaker
So certainly if it is my turn, then I will say that I am Christa Wallace. I write primarily fantasy. I usually write in a closet here in Port Coquitlam, British Columbia, a suburb of Vancouver.
00:02:41
Speaker
I am an actor and a writer and a musician. I sing in two jazz bands and I also do audiobook narration and all kinds of fun things. So when you asked me to, I should also say I'm the author of the Gatekeeper series. I published four novels in the last year. I'm working on the sequel in the Gatekeeper series and I have a standalone comedic,
00:03:08
Speaker
contemporary humor fantasy romance called Griffin and the spurious correlations then. Well, excellent. Actually, and before we get into what we're supposed to be talking about, I want to I got to ask you about some of that, you know, what I find really intriguing is like the jazz band singing. That's that's terrific. Can you tell us more about that?
The Jazz Journey
00:03:26
Speaker
I sang in vocal jazz in high school. And then after I graduated from high school, I went to theater school at University of Victoria and didn't really do much singing apart from musical theater at that time. And once I graduated from school, I remembered how much I loved singing in choirs. So I joined a choir.
00:03:47
Speaker
And when i move back to the mainland i joined the vancouver bach choir so i was singing classical music for a number of years and then a friend of mine who was actually my junior high school music teacher he he's we became good friends after that's okay you can be friends with your teachers yeah
00:04:07
Speaker
I absolutely, yeah. We're not judging, we're not judging, honestly. I should hope not. So he was running this band and invited me to one of their performances and they didn't have a vocalist at that time and I said, hey, if you ever need a singer, let me know. So then he phoned me up and said, I'm calling your bluff.
00:04:27
Speaker
I've been singing with that band ever since and that was a very long time ago. The band is called Fat Jazz and fat is short for friends and teachers. So this is a group of teachers who, you know, they recall how much they love playing music as well as teaching music. So they formed a band and the friends, of course, are the people who are not necessarily music teachers, but you need a full band and music teachers often play trumpet or saxophone. So
00:04:56
Speaker
You need to fill out the rest. That is true. My music teacher played trumpet. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, so, um, I'm, I'm the vocalist for fat jazz and have been for a really super long time. Holy cow. Have you guys done any recording?
00:05:11
Speaker
We did do a CD a number of years ago. It's still lurking about somewhere. The personnel of the band changes over time because people, oh, you know, I found something else I need to do and then somebody fills their place. And so it's undergone all kinds of iterations over the years.
00:05:30
Speaker
And my teacher who invited me to join the band hasn't been in the band for years now, but he plays in a saxophone quartet over on the island. So he's still playing music too. And what was the other, you said two bands, right?
Innovative Musical Projects
00:05:44
Speaker
Yes. I have a jazz duo with another friend of mine and it's called the itty bitty big band. Awesome name. Awesome. Yeah. So we have a computer program called band in a box.
00:05:57
Speaker
And we do all the programming and all the arranging of our tunes. And it's because it's it's not just like MIDI sampling or something like that, it's actual recordings of real musicians. So it doesn't sound like a computer program from, you know, years ago.
00:06:13
Speaker
If you had a backup computer band, it would sort of sound tinny and crummy, but this Aloha Bob, we called it. Yeah. This is actually really good quality sound. So it's, he plays also in tenor sax and clarinet and icing, and we have our backup band and it allows us to do paid gigs that are, you know, tinier. Cause we only, we just need this little corner. Yeah. Yeah. Mark Dusen.
00:06:40
Speaker
I do actually, we share this in common. I actually did Cabaret when I was at university. No kidding, cool. Yeah, a group called Queens Players. Excellent. Wow. That's a great musical. My son was in that one in university. Oh yeah, he went to Queens? No, he went to Capilano.
Hosts' Musical Backgrounds
00:06:57
Speaker
Oh, okay, yeah. I had no idea, Marc, that you sang.
00:07:01
Speaker
Yeah, I play guitar and sing. Gee, but not jazz. I sing sort of folk and rock kind of stuff. But what kind of jazz do you like to play? Oh gosh. Well, we do a lot of big band, obviously. We do a lot of swing tunes and stuff like that. I like stuff that goes outside a little bit.
00:07:22
Speaker
Nothing too crazy. And the duo, we just do whatever we want. We take all kinds of pop tunes and do jazz arrangements. We do a bunch of Beatles tunes and Joni Mitchell and stuff like that and just kind of take chords and make them sound jazzy and put a swing feel or a Latin feel.
00:07:40
Speaker
or something like that. Yeah, I actually had a rock band for about 12 years or something like that too, so I kind of know what you mean about singing the rock music. I was in a Celtic band for a while, or as my dad called it, the Diddley Dee.
00:07:57
Speaker
I don't like that Diddley D. Come on, it's great. I have always wanted to be in a band my entire life and have never been. But I love music, you know, play the keyboard, not particularly well, but I play it. And and I do like to sing. I sing when I'm walking the dog, actually. And well, I don't know, sometimes it's cold and I got to make the time pass. So but yeah, but so I'm jealous of you guys. Oh,
00:08:27
Speaker
I have one more follow-up question. I'm sorry, I have to bite on this one. Okay.
00:08:31
Speaker
The closet. Is it your closet? Is it a community closet where writers can like, rent
A Writer's Unique Space
00:08:37
Speaker
it by the hour? How does it work? It's my very own closet. In fact, it's a walk-in closet in my bedroom. And when we moved in, we're like, oh, this is your perfect writing space. So we got a stand-up wardrobe from IKEA. So all the clothes go in there. And I huddle in the closet. We use the hanger thingies to
00:09:00
Speaker
Hang things up that that make for good sound dampening and stuff like that because I do my I do my audiobook record Yeah, I'm getting that. Yeah, if you're talking your audiobooks too, but it's such a night I like I like writing in the dark and
00:09:15
Speaker
I really like not having distraction. Yeah, makes sense. I would love to live in a sound deprivation, like a, what do you call it, a deprivation? Sensory deprivation chamber. No light, no sound. I would love that. Okay, that's where we differ. I like writing in the garden. That's my jam. Nice. Yeah, we're totally opposite to what you're saying because, yeah. I can write in other places. Sure, yeah.
00:09:44
Speaker
I'm sure I could write in the closet if I was presented with something like that. I kind of had a, yeah, I trained myself to write anywhere anytime I've written in, you know, by swimming pools and on trains and yeah, it doesn't matter.
00:10:00
Speaker
Yeah, and I'll go on a writing retreat with a friend or my friend who lives on the island on Waterfront property and I sit in her living room and overlooking the inlet and you know, that's that's certainly inspiring too. So I can, I can write in all kinds of places, but I do like my closet. So speaking of inspired, what piece did you want to bring to this conversation to talk about?
Art as Inspiration
00:10:27
Speaker
Well,
00:10:29
Speaker
Or is it an artist? No, it's actually a little teeny tiny painting. But I had to think hard about this because, you know, we're a very musical family and we're all involved in theatre and live performance and stuff like that. So I was trying to think of a song or
00:10:49
Speaker
you know, a theater piece that, because there are all kinds of those things that are certainly inspiring. But then my husband said, oh, come on, the painting. And I was like, well, duh. Okay, so, so it's this little painting, which of course, the listening audience will not be able to see, but, and you can't even see the colors very well. It's, it's called tunnel vision. Okay.
00:11:13
Speaker
And to describe it to the audience, it's a path through what is clearly a forest, but you can't see leaves. You can just see branches and limbs all bending over and it creates this sort of circular, almost looks like a vortex. And it's got lots of different colors, greens and reds and blues and purples and teal and oranges in there. It's by a Burnaby artist named Jane Appleby.
00:11:42
Speaker
and you can actually find her online. Okay, we'll provide a link to her and the show notes. And maybe if she doesn't have a PDF or JPEG of that, maybe we can get you to take a picture of it. I sure can. So is that a print that you have or is that like an original?
00:12:00
Speaker
This is this is an original watercolor. I had gone to a show of an artist show by the Burnaby Artist Guild at the Shadbolt Center in Burnaby. Long time ago, this I've had this painting for years and years. And I was looking around at all this amazing artwork and
00:12:20
Speaker
I love all kinds of different styles. And when I turned a corner and I saw this thing hanging there, and it's tiny, like it's four inches by five inches or whatever. Could you hold it up again, actually? Yeah, we'll just describe what we're seeing, which is, so you have it in a frame, what is that, a six by nine frame?
00:12:38
Speaker
Yeah, about that. This is the frame it came in. I've always meant to reframe it in something that fit the painting. Looks good in there. So it's like a silver. Okay, yeah, it doesn't really look that great in there. You need to change that. I was trying to be nice. So quite a wide white border around it. And then the picture itself, which as you say is kind of a wildly colored passage through trees or foliage or
00:13:07
Speaker
It looks like trees to me. I've always interpreted it as trees. But it's kind of open to interpretation, isn't it? Yeah, it doesn't really have foliage on it. There's no, there's no greenery. Yeah. Yeah. It's color. It's, it's branches. Yeah. It's branches and trunks and there's a pathway leading through them. I think I'm being triggered by this painting. It reminds me of H&R Puff and stuff. Have you ever seen that? Oh, yes. That so terrified me.
00:13:34
Speaker
I was truly terrified by that show. It wasn't just me. No, I was probably three years old. I somehow caught it because it was supposed to be a kid's show. I guess my parents let me watch it. I caught it when it was out in the first run. I was like, that is terrifying. I'm so glad you said that because it's supposed to be this kid's show and it's this fun guy with his big yellow head and everything. I don't know why. I couldn't even tell you why it terrified me so much.
00:14:01
Speaker
It was primordial that show. It touches some deep wells, I think. Okay, before we put this painting on the website, trigger warning. I want to know how on earth this makes you think of H.R. Buffett's stuff. Well, there's a couple of scenes. Obviously, I don't remember any of the shows directly, but there's a couple of scary forests where the trees talk to Davy.
00:14:25
Speaker
and taunt him. Oh, yeah. You don't remember that? Well, that's good. Scary living trees. Not totally, just a little bit. Just like, oh, a little bit. But this painting, yeah, it's not really a warm reassuring painting, is it? Well, it's mysterious. Yeah. So what drew you to it when you first saw it that you had to buy it? Like I said, I walked around the corner and I saw it and I just was locked on.
00:14:56
Speaker
And I had already, had I finished writing my first novel, or was I just partway through it? I don't know, but it just made me think that it might be a place that my characters would go. And that is, of course, how I wound up using it. The scene that I wrote around this
00:15:19
Speaker
painting does it doesn't appear until the second book now, because when I when I first started writing, I thought I was writing a book. And then I realized it takes way longer to tell a story than you think it's going to take. So, so this scene is actually in the second book. And I had no idea what was going to happen. I just knew that they the characters were riding along. And my main character, Pierre, senses the presence of this tunnel. And she
00:15:49
Speaker
gets off her horse and she goes back and she finds this opening and she starts going down the tunnel with one of her buddies. And I had no idea what she was going to find at the end of the tunnel. I can talk more about that if you want. But you asked about why I was drawn to buy the painting and that's why, because I just saw it and went, oh, my characters would totally go down that tunnel and want to find out what's down there.
00:16:12
Speaker
And it's clearly a passage. Like the painting really does draw you in that way. Yeah. Now, does Jane Appleby know that you included a scene in your books based on her painting? It's funny because Jane Appleby wasn't there at the art show when I bought it, but I ran into her at a baseball game when my son was playing baseball in Burnaby.
00:16:41
Speaker
And she was a parent on the other team. It was totally crazy random happenstance that I should run into her and somehow hear that this was her name. I don't even know how that came up. You're at a baseball game of your children and
00:16:59
Speaker
How do you hear that the apparent from the other team is this artist that you've been curious about? So I introduced myself and I said, I bought your painting and I would love to use it somehow in my book. And I don't think she knows that I actually wound up using it because we moved away from there and I never saw her again. And when you said that you wanted to use it, what did she say? Oh, she just thought that was cool.
00:17:26
Speaker
She said, oh, neat, I'm really glad you'd liked it, or whatever. Yeah, so when you met her, you liked her, it wasn't done. Because sometimes we meet these people that we admire, and then we think, why did I admire them? Yeah. You know, but so that wasn't the case here. I do know what you mean, but no, it wasn't like that at all. She was quite nice, and we only exchanged a few words because there was a baseball game going on. Huh, can you tell us about her? Do you know much about her?
00:17:54
Speaker
I don't. I don't. Except what it says on the back here. I can read this thing to you if you want. Is there much profanity in it? I can't see any profanity. That's a bold choice. Wow, this artist's description has the most salty language in it I've ever seen. You never know. How does. Wow. This is a family podcast, Mark.
00:18:20
Speaker
I should have asked you that before we started. I shouldn't have talked about Asian Air Puff and stuff. I've only just decided that now, like what, 15 episodes in? Yeah. And you're going to read what was in the back. If you would like me to do that, I will. Please. When I paint my surroundings or renditions of memories within, I gain an added admiration for them.
00:18:40
Speaker
It is in this evaluation that I find freedom to be expressive and reflect over the experiences that move me. I like to paint in response to what I see and feel about the subject by letting the paintbrush lead me. Even though I love the challenge of studying the materials I work with and to try to paint something a specific way, I like when the painting carries with it an extension of something personal. Not only do I enjoy the act of painting, but also the ability to connect to people through yet another means, my art.
00:19:11
Speaker
And then it says, that's a whole quote from her. And it says, Jane Appleby is an active member of the Federation of Canadian Artists. She lives in Burnaby, BC. There you have it. Okay, yeah. And I just found her website, so there is a lot of information about her online if people want to check her out. Oh, fabulous. That's such a cool statement. And I'm reading this, and I know I've read this before, but it's really grabbing me today because
00:19:34
Speaker
She likes to let the paintbrush lead her. And that's how I write. So like I said, when I wrote the scene that was based on this painting, I've let the story lead me. And so it's kind of interesting that we create with a similar philosophy. Sympatico, sort of methodology. Yeah. Perhaps some kind of connection there if you meet randomly at a baseball game. Yeah.
00:20:03
Speaker
I should send her an email actually and say, hey, do you remember? I finally used this. Well, we'll definitely have to let her know that we're talking about a work on a podcast. Yeah. We should do that with everyone that we can. I mean, I don't think Bruegel will be able to be contacted. No, likely not. Have you purchased any others of Jane's work?
00:20:26
Speaker
I have not. I have purchased other art from other artist guilds. And have you used them as inspiration for your fiction? Not really. No, I'll just let's not say not really. No, I have not. I do have some other pieces that might inspire some things at some point, but presently none of the other pieces I've purchased fit in what I'm working on.
00:20:54
Speaker
Now tell us a little bit about what you're working on, a little bit more about your books.
The Fantasy Series Unveiled
00:20:58
Speaker
Okay. The premise of the story is that Kiara Haladin, she's an elite sword fighter, she walked out of a cornfield at the age of three and 20 years later, she leaves home to find out who put her there and why.
00:21:14
Speaker
So she goes off on a journey in search of her identity and her purpose and why she was left in this cornfield. She was brought up by some villagers who didn't have children of their own. So standard fantasy trope of a young person who does not know her parentage. And she winds up in a duel with a lecherous traveller and he cheats and she winds up killing him.
00:21:43
Speaker
And that's how he cheats, he cheats, but she winds up killing Kim. So his cheating didn't work. Correct. He cheated badly. Okay. That's good. He cheated badly. And that meant that, you know, in a, in a duel, there are rules of engagement and he broke the rules and she had the instinct that if, if she didn't take him out, he would probably try to cut her down at another time. So she took him out.
00:22:12
Speaker
And as a result of that, she meets one of her greatest heroes who now wants her to work for him. And through traveling with him, she starts to learn some things about herself and about the world that she did not know when she was isolated in her tiny village up North. So I like these stories where people are finding out more about themselves that they did not know. Yeah, I do too.
00:22:38
Speaker
Yeah, there's a fine tradition of those. It's a trope for a reason, I mean. I know. Yes, yes. Don't be apologetic about a trope. It's like, yeah. Like The Bourne Identity, for example. Sorry, The Bourne Identity. Yeah, that's a good one. Yeah, The Bourne Identity. And I'm thinking of the book, not the movie, because I read the book many, many, many years ago, and the movies were good, but the book was great. Yeah, that's often the case. It's funny, I sort of try to actively avoid using too many
00:23:07
Speaker
tropes and relying on those things. I kind of try to, you know, take the story in a way that people won't expect. But yeah, there are some that you fall back on. And of course, this was the first thing I ever wrote. I was not one of those people who always knew I wanted to be a writer. I guess when I started, I was very young and knew what writing and this is what I fell back on. And then I decided to
00:23:32
Speaker
to take it in different ways as I grew as a writer. But okay, so can you explain that? You said, so you didn't know you wanted to be a writer, so how did you become a writer?
00:23:44
Speaker
There was a group of friends, my husband and a bunch of our friends, who used to get together and play tabletop RPG, but not Dungeons and Dragons. It was similar, but not that. One of those guys in the group wrote a novella, and he shared it with a bunch of us and asked us to critique it. And so it was through critiquing his work that I went, oh, this is...
00:24:10
Speaker
This is neat. This is a neat idea. I don't think it would ever have crossed my mind that I was allowed to write something. I don't know. So the fact that he wrote this piece of work gave me the idea that this might be something I would like to try.
00:24:27
Speaker
And because we'd created these adventures in the game, that was, and I won't say that the story is, it's sort of loosely based on that, but the things that happened in the game don't even come up until the second book.
00:24:43
Speaker
because again, I had no idea how long it takes to, how many words it takes to tell a good story. But the world and the characters were certainly an inspiration for the story. And so that's just, that's where I began. And I just
00:24:59
Speaker
sensed that, well, these things that we're talking about in the game, these adventures we're creating, they can't happen right away because we need to get to know this character a little bit better and blah, blah, blah. So it's a different adventure that happens in the first book, but then we get into some of the other things. So that's how I got started
From RPGs to Writing
00:25:18
Speaker
writing. I just honestly did not know that this was something that I could just try. And then I really loved it.
00:25:28
Speaker
Who knew, you know? Do you think that your theater background and maybe even your jazz background has an impact on how much you love that creation?
00:25:39
Speaker
The theater background, for sure. The jazz background, maybe in a really esoteric sort of a way. But the theater background, definitely because I love creating characters and I love the creative problem solving side of storytelling. And certainly when you start getting somebody critiquing your work,
00:26:04
Speaker
I love that part. I love when somebody gives me a comment, I will consider it really carefully and decide if I agree with it or not. And then once I've decided I agree with it, then the fun part comes in where your
00:26:23
Speaker
trying to address that concern, but also staying true to the story and maintaining the integrity of the story and of the characters. And I just love that side of the process. And so yeah, I think that the theater background helps with the problem solving and the storytelling and
00:26:47
Speaker
you know, dialogue and character relationships and things like that. Yeah, because I mean, I'm not a good actor. I did act in school. I was I mean, I was tragic in Fred Yerger's acting class. I mean, that poor man what he went through with me, but I've actually written him an apology since
00:27:08
Speaker
But what he was trying to teach me was really important, but what I did learn though from his class was the importance of the character knowing what they want. If you can do that, it makes your character so much more real.
00:27:24
Speaker
Just doing a little bit of acting work of like, okay, so what is this character? Who are they? Where are they from? What do they want in this scene? What do they want in their life, but what do they want in this scene? Even if it's simple as Vonnegut says, just wanting a glass of water.
00:27:41
Speaker
It adds so much. And I asked about jazz because I've never played jazz and I don't know what that's like, but it seems like one of the fun things about jazz is there's forms, but you're not restricted by the forms and you get to play off things. So I was just wondering if there's times when things happen, like there's this tunnel and they want to go down this tunnel. I know they're going to go down this tunnel, but that's like a jazz exploration, right? You don't know what's going to happen when they go down the tunnel.
00:28:11
Speaker
No, it's funny you're saying that because that has certainly never crossed my mind in the writing process, but you're probably right that the freedom of improvising through singing jazz and playing jazz means I'm not afraid of that.
00:28:30
Speaker
I'm not afraid of just writing into something, a scene and having no clue what's going to happen and just going with it. So maybe that's the thing. I don't know. This is the first time I've even thought of that. Thanks you. So there you go. So you're obviously a deeply creative person and all of these creative pursuits, I take it none of these is actually your full-time job.
00:28:59
Speaker
I would say that writing is my full-time job, but it's not the thing that I do that makes me money.
00:29:09
Speaker
So I'm very curious, what with you being a deeply creative person, what does make you money?
Acting in Healthcare
00:29:15
Speaker
I work as, okay, good thing we've got lots of time. Anytime anybody asks what you do, I say, how much time do you have? I work as a standardized patient for the UBC Faculty of Medicine and for other medical,
00:29:33
Speaker
BC College of Nurses and Midwives, they've changed their name over the years, so I couldn't remember what it was called. And I've done a lot of this work for the College of Pharmacy and stuff like that. So when med students are taking an exam, they go from station to station and have an encounter with a patient, and there's a physician examiner in the room who marks them, and so I'm the patient with whom they have the encounter. So it's acting? Yes, yeah.
00:30:03
Speaker
So you do make your living in a creative way. You know, I always forget that. That's pretty creative, yeah. It is. It really is. And I always forget that I've had other people say, no, actually, the money that you make is all from your field of study. I'm like, oh, yes, I suppose you're right.
00:30:21
Speaker
I'm sorry, I'm laughing because I'm thinking of the Seinfeld episode where Kramer and his buddy get engaged doing that. I haven't even seen it, but I've had so many people say like, oh, the way Kramer does. Yeah. I can't remember what they're fighting over. They're fighting over syphilis or gonorrhea because it's a better thing than jaundice and Kramer ends up having to do jaundice.
00:30:43
Speaker
Yeah. So it's fascinating work, actually. It sounds fun. Yeah, actually. Yeah, it does. What a great way to make a living. Yeah. And when you come in there as one of these patients, what is it that you secretly want?
00:31:02
Speaker
I want what my character wants, which is what's on the case study. This is why I've come into the room. I don't want to have jaundice anymore. That's right. I can't share with you any of the details or else I'd have to kill you. Oh, sorry, this is a family show. But you can imagine any reason that a patient would go see a doctor
00:31:29
Speaker
I may very well have done a case involving a thing like that. And we present whatever symptoms are necessary or whatever attitude or mood or whatever is required for the character.
00:31:46
Speaker
And you do the same thing over and over again all day. It's really great. Now, I'm going to take us back to the painting. You had mentioned that when you were trying to pick something that you were having trouble, you know, whether it be a song or whatnot, and then your husband had said the painting.
The Painting's Impact
00:32:03
Speaker
So this painting obviously has great significance even beyond yourself to what, to your whole family?
00:32:09
Speaker
Well, they all know the story. The painting sits there on the shelf in the living room and everybody knows the story. So, you know, friends who come over and admire it, I tell them the story. Yeah. Well, it's great. I love it. I mean, it's definitely that painting affected me immediately for different reasons than you, but for sure, it's a great work of art.
00:32:37
Speaker
I love it. I always thought it should be on the cover of the book, but then you learn more about what should be on a cover of a book. Maybe on a later edition, I can come back to that and get Jean's permission. I mean, it's original and I bought it, but I suppose I would probably consult with her.
00:33:00
Speaker
Well, that's true. Yeah. Did you buy the printer? Did you, cause you probably didn't buy the, well, yeah, the rights to use the paint. I don't know. I mean, it says original watercolor. I, I honestly, I, I just have it in my living room. So I never did research on what the rules are.
00:33:17
Speaker
I would probably, if I were going to use it on the cover of the book, I would consult with her just to be polite. Maybe someday we'll have a copyright lawyer on the show, which is what we should do with those situations. I suspect you probably have to get permission and maybe sign a contract. Yeah, I'd be happy to do that. But like I said, that was the original plan, but then when it came to
00:33:39
Speaker
thinking about what needs to be on the cover of a book. Maybe that would be good, but you're also, this is book two of a series. So if you're going to use that, then what goes on the other one? There's so much to think about. So you said, you know, the more you do do books that the more you learn about what should be on a cover, what should be on a cover?
00:33:59
Speaker
Oh, well, I still don't know. I have I have four books published. I have no idea whether I've done them correctly. But, you know, you're trying to show the theme. You want somebody who picks up the book to kind of get a sense that it's a fantasy novel without having to look somewhere and have it say fantasy.
00:34:16
Speaker
And you want to give them a sense of what they're going to find when they open the book. And so, you know, the cover of my first book has, you know, there's a sword and there's this medallion which appears in the book. And it's on a background that has all these kind of circles and things and looks very magical. So,
00:34:41
Speaker
I'm trying to convey that it's a fantasy novel that involves sword fighting and a medallion. And then the next ones use the same background, but I've got a different color and then there's something other than the medallion in the center.
00:34:59
Speaker
That's all marketing stuff that we're just learning about constantly. I know. Isn't that irritating? You just want to write the damn book and then you got to think about all this other stuff. I actually like the cover part of it.
00:35:13
Speaker
Do you? Yeah, but I love because I love working with artists. So I mean, I did, I've done two covers myself, but I'm not, you know, really good at it. And I love I love hiring an artist who's really good at what they do, because that that is fun. Because once you figure out, okay, the main thing is it has to look like
00:35:32
Speaker
the genre that you're selling, once you've got that figured out, then you can get creative with it. And that's where it gets fun, especially if you've got a graphic designer or a book cover designer, I'm gonna say that because not every graphic designer can do cover design. Yeah. And that's fun. Like that's working with them is fun. Like it's, it's saying, because normally they don't want to read the whole book.
00:35:55
Speaker
because they've kind of designed a lot of covers, which is fair. So they're like, okay, so what's the book about? Okay. And then it's interesting to see how different designers take a different approach to thinking about what the book is about and asking about themes. And it's just, I found it fun, but I understand what you're saying. The rest of it
00:36:17
Speaker
not so much fun. The rest of the marketing stuff is marketing. Yeah. Yeah. Any final thoughts then on the painting that you've chosen, Christa? I will reiterate that I just found it magical when I, when I first laid eyes on it and mysterious. And I guess I was looking forward to the time when my characters could go down that tunnel and show me what was at the other end of it. So I'm, I'm really happy that they did.
00:36:47
Speaker
Yeah. And it became, it became quite a central thing. I'm not going to tell you. I'm not going to tell you what they find at the other end, but it actually became something important. And I had, I didn't plan it. Like I said, I just, I just let the characters take me there, but.
00:37:03
Speaker
It became important to the story. So that's fun. That's one of the things I love about writing as well is just seeing what happens. The jazz background. Exactly. It's a jazz exploration of what happens down that tunnel. So that's a reason to check out the painting and a reason to check out your books.
00:37:24
Speaker
Yeah. Thank you very much for coming on our podcast. Thank you so much for having me. This has been really fun. Yay. Yay.
Supporting Creatives
00:37:50
Speaker
You've been listening to Recreative, a podcast about creativity. Talking to creative people from every walk of life about the art that inspires them. And you're probably wondering, how can I support this podcast? I am wondering, Joe, how can I support this podcast? I mean, apart from being on it.
00:38:06
Speaker
There's no advertisements in this podcast. There's no tip jars. There's nothing about like buying us a coffee or anything like that. But there is a way that you can support us. And what is that? It's not about supporting us. It's about supporting the people that we're talking to. I think most of the people we've talked to are artists of some description and they probably have some kind of artistic product that you could buy. And if you enjoyed it, maybe you can review it for them.
00:38:30
Speaker
Oh yeah. But maybe us too? Yeah, you know what, us too. It wouldn't hurt. They could buy our books. And how do they find us? Recreative.ca. Don't forget the hyphen. There's a hyphen in there. Re-creative. I took your line, sorry. Well, because I stole your line. So yes, re-creative.ca. Janks. Oh yeah, you heard that. I stole your line again. As well, if you like what you've just heard, you could consider subscribing to the podcast. And leave a comment if you like it. Thanks for listening. Spread the word.