It’s been a busy few months. My gorgeous daughter, Lei Lei was married in February and now she’s off on her honeymoon road-tripping around the US.
I took this in the bridal car as we headed to the ceremony.
So now it’s back to writing and illustrating and thinking about story. Really though, once you’re a writer your mind automatically hones in on all kinds of stories no matter where you are.
Lately I’ve been doing a lot of illustrating which is fun and so different from writing. I’m working on a picture book called The Runaway Zoo.
With illustrating I can listen to music. I paint standing up so I can also do a bit of dancing in between brushstrokes. Painting is so good for the soul. It makes me happy.
When I’m writing I can’t be distracted. It’s a totally different way of using your imagination. With writing you need to get deep down inside your subconscious. You need to peel off the layers until you come to the heart of your story where your characters dwell.
I’m still editing my novel, Hushing Wood and have now come up with an idea for the front cover which I’m rather pleased with. I hope my publisher will like it as well. All I need is to work out a colour scheme. That’s hard for me as colour is not my strength. But I’m getting better at it with practice and it is fun playing around with beautiful paints.
Here are some roughs for The Runaway Zoo. The little girl is called Ivy after my grand niece who turned one the other day.
I’m not sure about the little dog yet. He has three legs so I was going to call him Tripod.
What do you think? I’m open to any suggestions.
Gabi xx
Awwwww…. How lovely! Maybe the dog could be called Cesar…? Heheh. Named after her real partner in crime!
Del, when I think of Caesar I can only picture Caesar!
I know what you mean. I guess you wouldn’t want a creepy desperado as a character. Hehehe.
Hello Gabrielle, How about ‘Tepaya’? (Bengali word for tripod.)
Hi Sophie,
Tepaya, I like that name.
Thank you
Gabrielle
I’m one of the students from Moorabbin primary school, I think you should call him Scruffy
Thank you Oscar, Scruffy is a great name!
Gabrielle
Hi,
I know it’s been a long time but I just saw your blog for the 1st time today when googling “google buns” as I’m a male fan of the Faraway Tree and liked it so much I bought a copy once for my kid sister when she was a mere 5.
I also love to write – my speciality is children’s fantasy and I also write a non fiction blog which I try to post on at least once a week.
How does Trippy sound instead of Tripod – much cuter!
Splatches might also be nice: to describe his cute patches including the one over his right eye!
Your work looks great!
Hi Ross
Thank you for your cute suggestions for names for my character. It has been a while and that dog has now turned into a pub tire book called Little Bee. What a lovely brother you were to buy The Faraway Tree for your little sister. It’s still a favorite among many children today.
Good luck with your writing!
Gabrielle
hero is your dogs name
I just love your drawings❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
Hi Gabrielle Wang,
I come from Australia and I love reading your books!
I think you should call that dog Meyli because it means beautiful in Chinese. The dog is beautiful even with just three legs and being beautiful means the inside and the outside.
Hi.
I just realize that you already called your dog Little Bee.
Oops.
Hi Kim,
I’m sorry I didn’t see your comment earlier. Meyli is a lovely name.
Gabriellex