During the many years of raising children, six in all, I never stopped drawing and painting and always had a piece of crochet, embroidery, beads, or a soft sculpt doll waiting for me at my sit down and relax place. I’ve also had an ongoing love for reading, journal writing, making costumes, making up parties I never wanted to attend (the fun was in creating them), and my favorite, treasure hunting. I mean, the real treasures, a wind blown leaf, a feather, a special rock, driftwood, O My!
For a time I worked as an advertising illustrator, lucky enough to find the fun jobs because my pen work was/is (at times) whimsical and the Import houses loved it. I inked beautiful imported items from all over the world, extraordinary items, arriving from exotic places I will probably only ever see on the TV in my lifetime.
In the 1990’s, my husband Marshall helped me put together a website devoted to children’s free coloring pages, under the auspicious guidance of my own inner muse, Phee McFaddell. It was a great success with 50,000 thousand visitors and over 5 million downloads a month. I inked hundreds of whimsical fairy drawings and paper puppets ready to color and often posted a story to go with them. Phee McFaddell entertained children and many adults in 140 countries for over ten years. At the time there were very few free coloring sites on the web and we secretly think we might have partially inspired the coloring craze that came into being a few years ago. In fact, some of the coloring book designers/artists might have started out their coloring book careers as kids coloring on Phee McFaddell.
After ten years, the changes that happen in all lives happened in ours. Phee went quiet. It might have been a muse vacation, I’ve never been quite sure and even though the site is available and we still get fan mail, I no longer post drawings to it.
From a young age I have written down story ideas and what I call “sightings” and saved many attempts as first drafts and a time finally came when it seemed not only right but the necessity of old age to try and complete a story or two. Life has so many conflicting demands, it was very difficult to settle in and actually begin completing just one story. At first, I can liken it to trying to move a megalithic stone with my head! I had to use the same dogged stubbornness that got me through the years of raising kids and I finally managed to finish, or what I finally considered finished, Cyrus, A Tree Keeper’s Journey. Cyrus was written in response to my wondering, one snow filled morning, about what happens to a tree spirit when its tree dies. The answer came so quick to my open innocent child-like mind (that I adore!) I could barely get it scribbled down fast enough. Then sadly, it sat, orphaned, one among many secret pages in a cupboard, for over 40 years. Part of the reason it took so long to complete when I finally started working on the story was my desire to include images and there are 56 illustrations in both full color and black and white in the book. This had always been my dream, from my early childhood to write and draw books like those beautifully illustrated books my own great Grandmother had brought with her from England.
My husband Marshall and I have always either worked together on projects or competed, yes! Both having such strong creative souls, we can each get our own ideas at the same time and this has resulted in some great complimentary projects. The latest project together was self-publishing Cyrus. Marsh did an amazing job of editing, formatting and getting the manuscript ready for the printer. The website you are now exploring is also Marshall’s work, with a few brow beatings from me. I consider him a genius and I am so lovingly grateful to partner with him in so many fine creative projects and in life itself.
We currently reside in San Diego, California with our dog Celia and surrounded by a large loving family. My love for Nature combined with the whimsical workings of my mind will be posted on the website as drawings and paintings in the gallery pages and some will eventually be for sale in the form of prints and greeting cards. I look forward to meeting each of you through the comments on the blog page, hoping you will add your creative thoughts and images about your own life as well. The book, Cyrus is now available and can be purchased here… Click here for Cyrus
Nea Wiseman
March 2018