Q & A with Carmel Smith

1. If you could live during any time period and in any place, when and where would you choose?

I would like to experience Palestine in the time of Jesus Christ. Actually, what I’d really like would be a time travel passport to be able to go back and sample life in a variety of times and places. And I’d like the ability to understand whatever language was being spoken at the time as well!

2. What kind of music do you listen to?

Good music. Blues, jazz, classical, ambient, roots . . . the genre is not so important. Some favourite musicians/composers include Van Morrison, Moby, John Lee Hooker, Empire Brass, Sarah Harmer, Copland, Sylvain Provost . . . Very eclectic.

3. What is your favourite movie(s)?

One movie I often think about I only saw once, so I don’t know if I could say it’s my favourite: Next Stop Wonderland.

4. What is your favourite food?

Baked goods the way I make them, which is the way my mother makes them.

5. Who is your favourite artist(s)?

Too many to name. But Matisse, Vuillard, Dufy, Bonnard, are among my faves. All french, all post-impressionist... I also like medieval art, such as the paintings of Piero della francesca. And the portraits of Hans Holbein the younger. I have a lot of respect for skill, along with imagination.

6. What was your favourite illustrated book(s) when you were a child?

There were several I went back to over and over. One was a Flower Fairy book by Cicely Mary Barker; I was so enchanted by her vision. There were some I remember from very young, but I can’t recall the titles. One was about a magic egg found by a duck, and it had a window unto a kingdom in a different world. Richard Scarry’s books were a delight to me, with the animals in their little world. And the Noddy books were much loved.

7. When do you like to draw and paint (time of day, day of week)? Where do you do your writing (location)?

I do my best work in the morning or sometimes late in the evening.

8. What was your first illustration in print (in a book, magazine, or article, etc)?

It was a black & white line illustration in a women’s movement type magazine called Common Ground. I think.

9. What other jobs have you had besides being an illustrator?

I’ve turned my hand to many things since I started working, from fruit picker, office manager, camp counsellor, copy writer, government employee, server, janitor, fashion modelling instructor, art teacher, market gardener, tour guide, the list goes on. At present, besides working at my own art and illustration and working on my farm, I opened an art gallery where I work five days a week.

10. Make a question of your own and then answer it.

Do you ever have a creative slump, and what do you do about it?

Yes, I go through these times where nothing seems to be working out. Then it’s time to fill the well, so to speak, and take things in; to stop fighting and struggling with it. Sometimes just doing something different for a while is all it takes.