Artist Marie Brozova's recollections of the public drawing event in Lysa nad Labem.
Books are like gates open wide to the world of imagination. I made friends with books long years before I learned to read. These books were full of beautiful illustrations that had been whispering me stories without words. There were books I had dreamt up according to the illustrations, like a fairy tale book "Little Susie discovering the world" illustrated by the sorcerer of my childhood Jiri Trnka. When I finally learned to read, I was so disappointed, because the stories I had imagined according to the illustrations were thousand times more beautiful and alluring than stories caged in words. That might have been the reason why I did not want to become an illustrator, and refused many offers for illustrating children's books. Visitors of my project reminded me over and over again that my drawings, full of details and stories, were extremely fitting for illustrative work. I answered, that there already was a story hidden in each drawing, and what makes the thing beautiful is that everybody can read and invent the story for himself. People only shrugged their shoulders, they had to admit I was right, but they often added that anyway, they would like to read my own story because I was the author. And here you can find the roots of my first book "The Souls of Trees", I have been working on all the year 2007 including many public drawing events.
My book The Souls of Trees was created in unusual way; it is not an illustrated book of stories, but more likely a book of images, that have brought a story with them. Each kind of trees has a special energy and offers a specific medicine to people. I remember very well, that I chose different trees in my childhood to play under and different tress to feel melancholic. I was very surprised when I read about Celtic mythology as an adult to find that our old ancestors had the same impressions of trees and their energy. When I was invited with my public drawing event to the renowned Labe Book Fair in Lysa nad Labem, I accepted this offer as a trip to the world of books I would like to enter soon with my own first try. There were many big publishers, that have published thousands of editions, but also smaller publishers, sometimes one-man enterprises lead by people, who fulfilled their dream of writing and publishing their own book. And even among visitors I could talk to many kindred spirits about our mutual friends among trees and books.
I decided to bring some light to the raw days of impending autumn by creating the drawing "Maple tree – the painter of the fall". Maple leaves put up a fire of colors every fall, even their leaves are shaped like flames. Maple tree brings us the medicine of children's creative fervor that has no limits and boundaries. This creative fire can brighten our grey and dusty souls. You can see a golden lion resting at the feet of the painter. This lion was following me all through my early childhood years before I went to school like my protector and mentor, though he used to be invisible for all the others. There are children playing in his safe presence. They are drawing pictures with colored pencils, but their ideas and dreams are much more beautiful and fantastic than their doodles. Their visions stand like castles in the air you can see over their heads, stepping out of shadows and autumn mist. The children can see these fantastic places in every smallest detail. The energy of maple tree brings us back the free joy of creation, which can be ruined so easily by adult pursuit of results and restricting rules you can learn in art schools that want to change miracle of art into a stereotypic science.
The last straw that made me leave the art school where I felt like a forest bird in cage, was my teacher's statement: "Trees in your drawings are too alive." I was only nineteen but I knew very well that the trees were alive and if my teacher thought that they were dead, there was nothing I could have learned from him. I was absolutely sure about this. The anger and pain from incomprehension was softened by time, but it all came back to me with the same intensity when I met a young painter Ms Gregorova from Jirny who paints very sensitive portraits of souls of trees. She told me, that she was reprimanded by someone who succesfully graduated from the very art school I had left. "Have you ever tried to paint a tree in real? Your trees are too much alive." Ms. Gregorova was lucky; she had not been accepted at that school.
Labe Book Fair was also accompanied by an interesting contest The Tree of the Year that tries to bring the attention to the protected memorable trees in our neighborhood. It is meant to explain especially to the young people why we should value and protect trees that have been living in our cities, towns and villages for long centuries. I find these efforts very important, especially after I learned that many school kids did not know what paper was made of. They were not successful to detect it in the stream of information they are flooded by everyday. It depends on us if we manage to persuade them that the trees are alive and that they have many things to offer. Their life is prolonged by all the beautiful things made of wood but also by paper, the books are printed on.
VISIT MARIE BROZOVA’S VIRTUAL GALLERY
www.angels-fairies-unicorns.com,
where you’ll find both the drawings created during public events and in the studio.
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signed author prints ready for framing, postcards and more.