May 2, 2020 - Posted by Cara Lockhart Smith | Art, Illustration, Uncategorized | children's book, music, picture book, troubadour bears
I’m Cara, and I live in Coldstream, in the Scottish Borders As well as writing and illustrating books for children I have recently been painting on canvas, in my octagonal studio (aka The Tardis) which inhabits a corner of the vegetable garden. My work for children has been published in several countries, and translated into different languages. My favourite form at the moment is the picture book, but I have also had published poetry, children’s novels, and illustrations for the work of other authors, and have worked extensively on projects with children. I go out most days with my camera and create blog entries from the results. Some of the pictures I take will be used as background material for the picture book which I am working on at the moment. My son Matty set up this WordPress blog for me, and it has added a dimension to my life which surprises me. It is also interesting and inspiring to read the blogs of other people from different parts of the world, and to look at their sometimes fascinating pictures.
caralockhartsmith
I was just thinking about you the other day and hoping you were staying safely isolated!
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Yes, we are being careful, luckily we live with beautiful, almost deserted countryside all round, and with no laws of trespass in Scotland, we can roam where we want. I am looking forward to catching up with WordPress now. Recently I have been ensconced in my studio, aka The Tardis, which is a great place to get away from the worry sweeping over the outside world. I hope you too are keeping safe and well, and are managing to enjoy life, even in isolation.
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That’s great to hear! I’m quite comfortable with isolation, and the blogosphere is a wonderful diversion from the news. Many of the bloggers I follow have been actively posting while in lockdown.
It’s nice to see the Musical Bears!
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I notice that on one entry I spelt “cognoscenti” right but “musical” in the heading wrong, have now changed it. That’s what comes of not checking! I look forward to seeing new pages of your blog when I continue my trawl through WordPress Reader, which I have not been looking at for quite a while. Lockdown is strange, but going out into the world again will be stranger, as nothing is going to be the same, really…. but oh, we are so lucky compared with many people.
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Cara, hi, it’s been awhile and meanwhile our world has changed. Looks like you are safe and still creating up there in the northern wilds. Musical Bears, a new children’s book for you? I’m working backward through your posts so will probably answer my own question. Can’t see the details of your images on this post but looks like a cool idea.
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Hello, John. Great to hear from you, and thanks for your comments. I have taken time out to do a commission, and have taken time out from going out with my camera to work on a storybook, and so the days pass by. I hope you are coping OK with lockdown, such a strange feeling in one’s head, worrying about people who are vulnerable, as is my husband. The commission is now posted off, so I shall tidy up my small studio, which I always do when switching from one piece of work to another, and go back to the Musical Bears; after that it is back to roving with my camera, and maybe doing some paintings. Also getting back to my contacts on Facebook. How are you coping with these strange days? I hope you are safe and well and that your work helps to deal with the sense of alientation, which is so hard for many people to deal with. Perhaps indeed the strangeness can be an inspiration to you? Good to be in touch.
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Thank you for your kind words Cara. BC. is doing relatively well in the pandemic as am I. It’s all a bit of a surreal mind trip but in brief moments of clarity I fine tune and simplify my life. All the artists I know, including myself, are not hugely affected as we are almost always working from home and in solitude anyways. I’m glad to know you are well and creating. I think a great deal of positive change can come from this pandemic. Be safe…
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I am in sympathy with what you say, here, John, I have been far less affected by depression than others close to me (it was not always thus!), because I just go up to my small studio in the vegetable garden and get on with some work, including thinking about a new WordPress website that will be work related, which my son, who is in IT, will set up for me. I actually enjoyed the silence surrounding us during full lockdown. However, this pandemic has proved very very difficult in all sorts of ways to people close to me, so my own direct emotions are not the primary things that matter – although I too feel that a postive change can come out of this. The world for the younger generation is not a world that they should be living in, and we should all be thinking about this, whatever our age. I notice shoots of a new way of looking at the world around us….
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