 |
| Alice's first snow |
In the magical world of Judith Clay
anything is likely to happen ...
These strange girls with big eyes and
square faces, go out at night and chase the moon...
They catch it with their
hands, hold it like a mirror and the sun is peeking and feels jealous...
They wear butterflies in their eyes, they
tie them on a string and walk with them...
They embrace fish and keep them under their umbrellas to
protect them from water when it rains ....
They blow
dandelions, they fill the night with their soft feathers and talk with the
birds...
When they read, the world around them comes alive ...
They fly high
with autumn leaves ...
They can do everything.
Their dresses inflate like
balloons and their long hair is waving. Tulips bend when they fly and grass
is caressing their tiny feet ...
 |
| After hours at the Christmas market |
When did you begin to paint, what
made you decide to do illustration?
I have always been fascinated by the
pictures in story books, and started to draw when I was about 8 years old. After high school, I completed the three-
year training to become a ceramic painter.
I didn’t start to do “illustrations” until much later, although I don’t
consider myself an illustrator in the traditional sense. I create my pictures as originals, not to be
printed and published in a book or magazine.
Is there a text, a book,
a fairy tale, a song you would like to illustrate but haven’t yet?
I have a book of old local stories and
legends from the area where I’m from, a small town in Northern Bavaria. It is called "Legends of the Sonneberger Low Country and its neighbors". Some of the stories explain where the name of a town or castle comes
from, some have ghosts, witches, or mysterious treasures in them. I would like to illustrate some of those
stories.
 |
| Happy birthday, Pippi |
What kind of
illustrations do you do? Would you like to share a unique experience
you had when illustrating a book?
So far, I have only illustrated and
published one book, a story that I also wrote, "Thea’s Tree"[1]. What was unique about the story of this book
is that it developed out of the leaf of a tree.
On my daily walks with our dog, I always passed a row of poplar trees
and fell in love with the shape of their leaves. The whole story developed around that leaf.
What materials do you usually use?
I’m a mixed media artist. I use inks, ink pens, pastel sticks, colored
pencils, and collage elements. I love
the texture of watercolor paper, so most of my drawings and collages are done on
heavy watercolor paper.
 |
| Hide and seek |
Is there time of day you prefer to work? Do you always paint at
home?
I am a morning person and prefer to work
early in the day, but when I’m very involved in a drawing, I don’t care what
time it is. All my work is done at home
since my studio is in the second bedroom of our house. Although, I always take my artwork with me
when we travel. So sometimes my work is
done in hotel rooms.
What is on your desk at this moment?
Everything. My desk is always covered with pens, pencils,
pastel sticks, paper, scissors, brushes, rulers, little toys, postcards, ink
bottles…
Are you currently working on something?
At the moment, I am working on the third
part of a three-piece winter collage series.
They are three separate collages that—in the end—will fit together to
make one collage.
 |
| Last days of summer |
Is illustration a
profession for your or a hobby? Is it possible to make a living through
illustration in your country?
It is definitely a profession for me
that I take very seriously, although I don’t consider myself an illustrator,
more a self-employed artist who does illustrations. I have only done one picture book. My pictures “illustrate” the stories that are
in my head or a fairy tale that inspired me, but are not usually done to be
published. I sell them as originals or
prints and take part in exhibits with them. At that moment we are living at the United States. I don't work as an illustrator, but others do and it looks like they can make a living as illustrators. I don't know how easy it is. It is not easy as an independent artist, which I could call myself.
Which illustrators -classical or contemporary- have inspired you?
There are so many… Susanne Janssen, Anne Herbauts, Sara Fanelli,
CarllCneut, Wolf Erlbruch, Edward Gorey, ElodieNouhen, Momo Takano, Olaf Hajek… But
I also take inspiration from traditional artists like Paul Klee or Henri
Rousseau.
 |
| Roller Coaster Ride |
Image forms imagination.
When you paint do you think that the images will come alive in the imagination
of children?
That is the hope that I have for my
pictures. That is part of the reason why
I like to add a lot of details: to take
the viewer away in different directions of the imagination.
What is an
illustrator’s relationship with childhood? How much do your childhood memories
define your work?
My childhood memories are what defines
my work. I use toys, games, places,
clothes, fairy tales, experiences, etc. from my childhood and use them in my
drawings. I consider my childhood
memories my most important source of inspiration.
 |
| Twilight hour |
I have always
thought that illustration is for painting what lyrics are for poetry.
Sometimes the lyrics are considered to be poetry. What is the relationship of
illustration to the art of painting?
To
me, illustrations are paintings or drawings or collages that tell stories.
In your illustrations
girls always have very big eyes, almost square faces and tiny feet. Their body
type almost looks like a collage. What lead you to this choice?
For
many years I developed and changed the characters (yes, mostly girls) in my
pictures. The big eyes developed
because—for me—they connect the character on the paper to the viewer, they draw
the viewer into the picture. The tiny
feet are important because they make it easier for my characters to “fly away”
or “dance away” from reality into fairytale land. You can’t do that with big feet!
***
[1] Thea' s Tree was chosen for the White Ravens of the International Youth Library in 2012.
[2] Judith Clay is an award-winning German artist and writer. Her work has been widely exhibited in Europe.
