THE VOYAGE
THE VOYAGE, painting by Catherine Gorski O’Connor 2021
The voyage, the journey, the path. All are ways to express the direction we are moving in our lives. Long ago I started writing rhymes that I intended or hoped to publish. My children were young and I was inspired by their growing up and things we enjoyed such as holidays.
It has taken many years, many roads, many mountains and hills and an ocean of experiences to get to where those hopes and dreams are coming to fruition. In 2016, I began having my first card designs printed to sell. I had been making cards since I was young, but now I was taking the step to sell them. Since then I have created over 40 card designs and sell them on my website and also at a local store. It is difficult to find shops that will sell cards from artists as there are so many competing for a spot. Some shops will take local artists work, but will often choose to buy from an artist who is well known in the gallery scene. The larger card companies can sell their cards at a lower price and higher volume, so shops will purchase from them over a slightly higher priced local artists work.
In 2019, I finally published a first book titled ” I LOVE MY SOCKS “. It was written as a thank you to my sister for a hand knit pair of socks she had made for me. I did not intend for it to become a book, but through some persuasion I investigated a local Indie publishing company and decided to see what the process was and move forward with it. Quite the learning experience!!!!! I am glad that I did for it brought my sister happiness and it connected me to my community in ways I did not expect. I was published in the local papers and the book was part of a sock drive for the local homeless shelters. It reconnected me to my hometown elementary school. I was able to donate the book to the school library that had played a big role in my childhood years. I thought that was really wonderful to have my book in my elementary school!! My 2nd book is there also.
Last year, in 2020 , just months after the SOCKS book was available I published my 2nd book, “ THE SNOWMAN CHOIR”. I had written that for my children in 1993. I never gave up hope of having it become a book. It took many years, but I finally was able make it happen. I am glad I had the experience of having published a book already for I had a better understanding of the process. I illustrate my own books and the pictures were a collection of paintings I had created for the story over several years. I decided to keep it that way instead of starting over and unifying the artwork because it was a personal piece and I wanted to be able to see the steps and years and changes I went through to get to where it was a real and published book. This was a major goal for me to have achieved!!!! One of those truly happy moments in life.
I have my 3rd book being published right now. It is a Halloween story. I wrote it many years ago as well. I recently finished the illustrations and must say I am very happy with how they came out! I could have published this book last year, but it did not make sense to publish 2 books when shops were accepting few new works due to the covid virus. I have high hopes that this book will sell well and find its way into shops and more importantly to children. My books are written in rhyme as that is the style that fits me best. Children learn more easily from rhymes and it also helps to develop their memorization skills. So, my journey through bookland has begun and I will hopefully be able to publish many more to come! I have a very long list of stories waiting to be made into books for readers young and old to enjoy.
I paint pictures as well. Some of those paintings are printed into cards, such as the painting at the top of this writing. I am drawn in many directions with my artwork and I have a full daily life schedule as well. The important thing, at least to me, is that I am doing what I enjoy. I am achieving goals set long ago and although I may never be wealthy or famous, the success is that I AM DOING IT. My voyage, my journey and the many roads I have and will yet travel, are what make life interesting and new and exciting. Even when life seems mundane, what comes around the next turn could be great! For the one thing in life that is a given is that change is inevitable. Journey on and enjoy the adventure! Catherine