In my role as a writer, I have found opportunities to make unique connections with people from all over the world. This is a gift that connectivity through the internet has given us in the 21st century, which I have leaned into, both in my personal and professional life.
Over the years, I have shared many of my conversations with other writers in my author interview posts. I enjoy this avenue of learning about and from others. I also enjoy the creative process of asking questions and turning my conversations into a post to share with the hope to inspire others as well.
With the recent publication of my article: Family Adventures in Winter Weather in Taproot Magazine - Issue 37::SPARK, I found the opportunity to connect with Meenal Patel, the artist who illustrated the text I wrote. We connected via instagram and I threw out the idea of collaborating for an interview post.
Enjoy our recent conversation:
Meenal, can you tell us a little bit about yourself? Where do you live? Tell us about your family & your interests.
I’m an artist, illustrator, designer, and children’s book author living in San Francisco with my husband and dog. I spent most of my life in Minnesota and hold a dear place in my heart for that place as home. I still feel very connected to MN because my sister and dear nieces live there. I love drawing kids, women, and textures from nature. I also love working with color and patterns – exploring both are my favorite parts of the art making process. Beyond making art, I love hiking, cooking, reading, and a good homemade morning cup of chai.
I was so excited to illustrate this story since I immediately connected with it from growing up in Minnesota! I love the idea of finding what you love doing even within the sometimes frigid winter months.
The first thing I did was read through your piece while taking note of the overarching ideas and jotting down adjectives that came to my mind. After that I quickly sketched out as many ideas that came to mind. At this point the sketches were really rough, tiny, and probably incomprehensible to others. Next I chose the sketches that I thought captured the story best, met the creative brief needs, worked well in the dimensions of the assignment, and would play well together as group. I drew refined sketches of my selects and explored color swatches a bit. After getting approval from the client I moved on to refine the compositions, add color, texture, and pattern.
It was a such a pleasure to work on this set of illustrations. I love any moment that I get to connect back to my Minnesota roots!
My art business has a lot of aspects of it, which keeps things exciting! One part of it that has very much been a labor of love are the children’s books that I’ve written and illustrated – Neela Goes to San Francisco and Priya Dreams of Marigolds & Masala. They are both very much inspired by my nieces and the latter touches on some of my own experiences as a kid.
I am juggling some client work, making new patterns, experimenting with some new mediums, and thinking about stories for my next book. Making art really is my happy place. It’s the moment when I find joy and I truly hope that joy reaches others through my art. I feel really grateful that I am able to do this work!