Adri's Palette

I have to confess, the thing that excites me most about this picture book project are the finger puppets. I remember as kid we had one, a brown lion. I loved it so much, and always longed to have more. Maybe this is one of those moments when I will fulfill one of my childhood dreams through my little nephew? Who knows!

The thing is, I did have that particular lion in my mind when I was designing these little puppets. All I want is the original puppet’s simple shape that will slide on the finger and a little face that will identify the animal. I took out paper and a pencil and started some sketches. These are the final shapes, designs that I ended up choosing.

I thought and thought about the color scheme, and decided to be relatively true to nature (this time). A grey coat for the mouse, a cream colored dog to match our family’s pet and a black cat to spice up things. The only one where I felt I wanted to play a bit is the snail. I am imagining purples and colorful threads. I was thinking of adding pipe cleaners to create the eyes. My husband thinks it will end up looking like a UFO. Well, my aim was to broaden the fantasy of the little one…As I decided on the colors I felt this intense energy in me. Like I could sew well into the night and finish everything in a jiffy. And as I started to meticulously cut out all the tiny little pieces of the pattern this heaviness descended on me. With the heavy veil that covered me all my willpower disappeared. I didn’t feel like continuing anymore. I had all these little puzzle pieces ready to be cut out from the felt, and no desire to cut anymore.

If there is one thing that I learned recently is that this is also me and it is better if I embrace it. It is better if I put it down and continue another day, another time than to do it halfheartedly. The only thing is that I stated a tiny bit late with the project and I don’t have too much time left. But knowing myself I also know that I will carve out time for it from our busy July schedule.