{"id":6853,"date":"2015-09-14T20:46:59","date_gmt":"2015-09-14T10:46:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kayleenwest.com.au\/portfolio\/?p=6853"},"modified":"2018-03-15T21:59:26","modified_gmt":"2018-03-15T10:59:26","slug":"books-that-build-in-hard-places","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kayleenwest.com.au\/portfolio\/books-that-build-in-hard-places\/","title":{"rendered":"Books that build in hard places."},"content":{"rendered":"

Empowering others through imagination<\/h1>\n

Anyone can choose to encourage or build others in helpful ways but sometimes imagination is needed to harvest additional opportunities. Accompanying a servant\u2019s heart is a mind that will seek to discover ideas that will influence positively often enhancing the life of others. Creative people have countless opportunities to invent in this area.<\/p>\n

Have you ever opened a book and had one or more of these thoughts?<\/p>\n

Wow, that’s life changing!<\/em>
\n I learned something that will help me grow!<\/em>
\nNow I understand ______ better and I\u2019ll do __________ differently from now on!<\/em><\/p>\n

I certainly have.<\/p>\n

Valuable life lessons, no matter how minor they first appear, have potential for significant, positive transformation. Scattered between the pages of a good book we often find pearls of wisdom in unexpected places; dormant hope waiting for a reader to identify with, and embrace wholeheartedly.<\/p>\n

When creating story in word or image I ask if and how someone will benefit from it. I prefer communally beneficial and emotionally uplifting assignments that give me creative freedoms to explore how I can contribute. I believe we live to serve one another. To inspire moments of happiness or ease the pain of another is the best way to use talents and time. Though romantic, I hold onto this conviction. I like to dream big!<\/p>\n

How I translate this conviction in children’s books? <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Illustration is a wonderful vehicle for transporting a child reader through the emotions of a story powerfully but safely. Invention surfaces when we can look past the obvious elements of a story and find potential macro stories<\/em><\/strong> within the original. We ask the question, how by invention, can this illustration enhance the reader\u2019s transformational experience and entertain them?<\/p>\n

Illustrating emotion in a particular way is the answer. Some strategies I have used are:<\/p>\n