Invented Images

The Klein Family Christmas card, and the subsequent Behind the Art Back Story that always accompanies the illustration, has an actual “story” behind the story of the card. Or, to be more accurate, an original children’s picture book story behind this year’s card.  A story that actually began January 29, 2016, when i was invited to do an  interview on a local morning TV show and i met a guest that, literally, changed my life.  A Pangolin.  

Instantly i became obsessed with “the most endangered animal no one has ever heard of” and wanted to do something to bring it to broader attention.  And i almost had the opportunity in June of 2016 when i received a manuscript that had, as its main character a pig. The nature of the animal had little to do with the actual story so i wrote a proposal suggesting we change the Pig to a Pangolin. The story remained the same, i just thought a Pangolin would give it an added dimension. And i wanted to draw one!

Creative decisions went on hold while the publisher waited for the author to sign the contract, but the schedule remained the same and i got nervous that i’d suddenly 

get the Go Ahead with no time to do the work. And since things were a little slow (and i’m a bit OCD) i went ahead and did all the rough sketches for the story using my proposed Pangolin character. Then, just to be safe, i did the entire book again using the Pig. Unfortunately, the author made so many contract demands that by December the publisher decided to just cancel the project. But when one book closes another opens.  

January 2017 the brilliant and talented Lori Schildwachter (who had long become a PangoPal) and i decided to collaborate on our own Pangolin themed children’s book. Inspired by a description that suggested a Pangolin was “a cross between a dragon, an artichoke, a pine cone, a tiny dinosaur and an armadillo” A Pangolin Perhaps? was born. So sandwiched between other art & illustration projects (and a hurricane) i began doing the pencil roughs and by the end of the year our book was ready to leave the nest. 

Our first publisher submissions went out in January of 2018 but even while our little book was making its rounds Lori and i were revising the story, and the illustrations, for submission to the “2018 Key Colours International Award for Best Picture Book Concept” contest held in Belgium in July.  I had to redesign the pictures to fit the competition format but actually wound up liking them better and was excited to ship the original pencil sketches off to Europe at the end of June.

August 29 we heard that out of 243 submissions, a jury of professionals had selected 44 books to be exhibited at the Het Stadsmus Museum in Hasselt, Belgium.  Our little Pangolin was one of the 44 books chosen.  We did not win the Grand Prize but as far as we’re concerned – it truly was an amazing Honor just to be considered. Today our book continues to knock on publishing doors while Lori and i start work on our next Pangolin Project.  3 years, 6 notebooks and TONS of sketches, with more to come, a Pangolin has become a part of my life and i could think of no better way to share the obsession. Besides, nothing says Christmas like an animal that looks like a pine cone, can hang from a tree like an ornament, and curls up like a wreath!                   LAK  2018   

So, it’s the annual Klein Family Christmas card. I have to admit, after some 40-odd years, coming up with an idea has not always been easy. On more than one occasion i have looked longly at the the Christmas card table on display at Barnes & Noble and thought, “Wouldn’t it be great to just buy some cards this year!” Another alternative idea i have entertained during my occasional Artist Block moments is to do a “Polar Bear In a Blizzard” card (ie: all white, with a black dot in the middle) but, inevitably, the Creative Muse kicks in (not to mention encouraging emails and Facebook messages from friends saying they “can’t wait to see this year’s card”) and personal artistic Pride takes over. Ultimately i wind up getting an idea.

Sometimes the theme is an iconic Christmas inspiration like variations of Kris Kringle, or interpretations of classic carols or Charles Dickens’ iconic story. Other times the Christmas illustration is influenced by the year’s current, or on-going, obsessions (sharks, Star Wars, Doctor Who). There’s been a few higher concept/aka:weird ideas (the History of Christmas, quantum physics). And then there are the Family-driven images that feature one of us, or chronicle events of the year (school, the furry kids, flying). This card falls into that latter Family Chronicle category. But it took the entire year to get here, and i only decided that this was indeed the direction to take just before Thanksgiving (hey, these things have to take time to gel).

Of course after all that preamble, i feel a little guilty that there isn’t more of a monumental explanatory “Behind the Inspiration” back-story to share. Basically, after a couple-year hiatus from slipping the surly airline bonds, Bob found a new/old flying interest. I say “new” because it’s a new job, but it’s “old” in that BK has returned to his original flying roots (or should that be wings) and gone back to where he started – hauling freight. Way-back-then it was a little Piper Aerostar criss-crossing the US; now it’s the giant MD-11 (Bob affectionally calls it The Beast) criss-crossing the oceans and continents – tooling around Africa, Europe and Asia (tho this month he was all over North America). 37 years since his cargo days BK is once again a “Freight Dog”.

So, naturally, that meant an actual canine needed to serve as pilot. The dilemma was – what kind of canine? I mean, a Corgi was the obvious choice personally, but from an artistic standpoint didn’t seem like the scruffy, junk yard, mutt one would expect with the title. Of course we here at Klein Family Headquarters like to defy expectation and there was simply no other pup who could fill the PIC seat except Tali! Added bonus – this is also something of a birthday card because she turned 10 years old this month (and she IS a Working Breed) so this card celebrates both Old Dogs and New Beginnings.
Besides, who the heck do you think helps Santa get all those packages delivered on time in one night!?!

After landing check list –
Complete.
Parking check list –
Complete.
Well, we pulled it off again, Captain.
Merry Christmas to you and yours.                                                                                           LAK 2017

So, this card was done in 2004.  It was third in what became an inadvertent, unplanned,  series of cards that wound up combining Christmas songs with current pop culture interests (the First: 2002 – Good King Wenceslas* with thematic variation suggested by Jesse Klein – a Good King Wenceslas /Qui-Gon Jinn & Obi-Wan Kenobi/Star Wars mash-up.   The Second: 2003 – Drink Up Me, Hearties. Yo Ho – a Jimmy Buffett-Ho Ho Ho And a Bottle of Rhum (Santa’s run off to the Caribbean)/Jack Sparrow(as Santa)/Pirates of the Caribbean fusion. And Third: 2004 – this card – A New Northern Dittye of the Lady Green-Sleeves (Richard Jones, Ed. 1580) – Greensleeves meets Lord of the Rings/with – as i wave my hand in front of you – with a hint of Jedi influence in the tunic).

What can i say – 2002, 20o3 and 2004 were obsession-heavy years for my daughter and i (my beloved Partner In Crime – which is another pop culture reference, but that comes later) and the annual Christmas card has long become a sort of illustrative representation of the Year In Review (whatever the year may happen to be).  Whatever the current passion, interest, hi-light or activity winds up becoming the subject of the card and then i just twist myself into a pretzel finding a way to make it Christmas-y.

Thus, Page and Monarch became Padawan and Master (Jedi) and fit Good King Wenceslas perfectly (there’s more about that in an earlier blog by the way).  Santa running off to the Caribbean in Buffett’s song gave me the ideal springboard for a Pirate Santa (who just so happened to wind up looking like Jack Sparrow. What can i say – it was Young Santa, in his earlier, wild days). And in 2004 Lord of the Rings topped our Mother-Daughter list of obsessions and a favorite Medieval Christmas ballad automatically conjured up images of knights which, then, segued easily into Tolkien’s Fellowship.

Of course things didn’t stop there (they never do). Then came the research – because there is truly nothing i enjoy more than looking up obscure facts to enhance an illustration, or enliven the subsequent background story.  Greensleeves, has long been a favorite Christmas carol (along with good ol’ Wenceslas) and i have actually used it once before as the subject of a card (that year it was a Medieval ermine troubadour and his Lady, cos nothing says “Merrie Chrystmas” like dancing weasels) so i already had a bit of working knowledge about the song’s origins. Such as legend has it that Henry VIII wrote it for Anne Boleyn (never substantiated, and probably not true, but let’s not have the facts get in the way of a good story).

I wound up finding all sorts of fascinating information about the song. There is an entry in the Stationer’s Register in 1580 licensing Richard Jones to print A new Northern Dittye of the Lady Green-Sleeves, so that was the source of the card’s title.  And the earliest lyrics that survive are in A Handful of Pleasant Delights (1584). The tune, i should note, first appears in 1652. More fun (at least for me) a reading of the lyrics shows that it is not a sweet, innocuous love song, but a plea from a 16th century gentleman to his bored mistress. And there are countless versions of the lyrics (including 14 Cavalier songs and John Gay’s lyrics to the tune for The Beggar’s Opera) before William Chatterson Dix wrote the Christmas carol, What Child Is This, to the tune shortly after the Civil war. What can is say – the bawdy history behind a, seemingly innocent, Christmas carol appeals to my devilish side.

Of course i had to squish all that information into the little note i included with the card (this was years before i just started writing page-long explanatory notes in eensy-weensy font size) so many people who got the card that year were a bit flummoxed by the subject and the contents.  I still have people refer to it as “that weird card” (and think it kind of set the standard for the weirder cards to follow.

So on that note, i give you the actual story i included with the card back in 2004 ~

It appears i’ve gone and created another carol-related Christmas card… Okay, technically “Greensleeves” is not a Christmas carol but rather an Elizabethan ballad about a bored mistress of dubious repute. The tune however is wonderfully medieval and there is just something about the music of wandering minstrels and troubadours that can’t help but conjure up images of Christmas ~ at least to me. So whether you prefer William Chatterton Dix’s carol, “What Child Is This”, or John Gay’s lyrics written for “The Beggar’s Opera”, or any of the countless other versions of the tune (including 14 Cavalier songs) may we humbly share this “Handful of Pleasant Delights (where the earliest lyrics of this song can be found, Circa 1584). “Delighting in your company”.  LAK Christmas 2004

So, per tradition, there is something of a story behind this card (there’s always a story isn’t there?  I love a good back story), so allow me to share the explanation i wrote back in 2002, the year i drew, and shared, this Christmas card.

On one hand this is just a traditional rendering of one of my favorite Christmas carols (Good King Wenceslas, in case you missed the title) with the style and subject of the drawing inspired specifically by a wonderful ink illustration (of the same carol) done by A.J. Gaskin (1894). However, upon closer inspection you may notice something vaguely familiar (or Outer Rim-ish) about the Page and the Monarch… this is where the Jesse influence comes into play.

Or, to be more accurate, her obsession with all things Star Wars (mine too, i should add, but this particular card was Jesse’s idea). Only Jesse could read the lyrics to a 149 year-old carol and make a Padawan/(Jedi) Master connection! Of course this is the same girl who, upon seeing the Long Hall of Trinity College in Ireland remarked that it looked just like the Jedi Archive Library on Coruscant. What can i tell you… i noticed that too! (Always kind of fun when interests and obsessions collide.  Even better when you can share them with your daughter).

And so, as you hum the tune to John Mason Neale’s Boxing Day carol feel free to replace his opening lyric with,

“Master Qui-Gon Jinn looked out, on the Eve of Bunta,”

NOTE: We’re still working on the rest of the lyrics.    LAK & JL  December 2002