My new children’s book “Paula and lost mirror”

Written by Marije Sennema and Illustrated by me

It all started with the kind and thoughtful habit of my friend Marije Sennema to send me postcards and often with the artwork of the artists that she admires. This time she sent me a postcard with the painting of Paula Modersohn-Becker, her “Self portrait with camelia brunch”. I had it displayed on my inspiration wall just across my working table where I was painting my own illustrations at the time. Marije wrote behind the card that Paula is her favourite artist.

There was something special about this painting. Paula’s face was in the shadow in comparison to the bright background which made her direct look even more mysterious. Then the position of the camelia brunch on her chest was something that made me especially attracted to this painting. The hand that was supposed to be holding it is left unfinished so the brunch seems like a part of her and close to her soul. I still didn’t know much about Paula at the time but she seemed to have a special connection to nature so I proceeded to discover more about her work.

It was a matching coincidence that while I was working on my motherhood series of illustrations at the time, I discovered that she also depicted motherhood in many of her artworks. I was drawn to her deep earthly tones as well as her depiction of children in the forest. The way she painted them they looked more like the spirits of nature than the actual humans. She had her way of making familiar unfamiliar, something that I try to convey in my work as well. I was delighted when I saw the painting “A girl in the birch forest” in the local museum that i was often visiting.

I was in love with Paula and I let my friend Marije know about it. When she asked me if I would illustrate the book for children she was writing about her, I answered with an immediate “yes”. It took several years for the story to take shape and to find its publisher so I started to work on a book only last year in June. In the meantime I learned so much about Paula, her life and her art. I read several books about her and I watched a movie Paula from 2016. (I strongly recommend it). I hope to one day also visit her museum in Bremen (Germany).

For the cover of our book “Paula and lost mirror”I was inspired by Paula’s painting “Portrait with the amber necklace”. She has three pinkish flowers in her hair and she holds two flowers in her hands. As I put the hands in the same position as on the original painting, one of my hands is holding a mirror instead, an important item of our story in the book🪞. She is surrounded with poppy flowers she often depicted in her own paintings as well.

The story my friend Marije wrote for this book is about Paula as a twelve year old girl who is trying to paint a self portrait as a present for her grandmother’s birthday. She uses a special golden mirror to guide her in the process but she quickly looses it. This is not a real event from Paula’s life but an imaged one connected to a place Paula did visit for a short time, the Amrum island.

Marije is especially fond of Paula’s self portraits. In the book she put a focus on the special way Paula paints them: not according to reality, but with curiosity of the feelings behind them. In Marije’s story, she lets twelve year old Paula discover how she can freely express herself and her feelings through the search for a missing mirror. Marije hopes to inspire young children to do the same.

As much as this is an imaginative story about Paula, in the book I still tried to include some details that we know are true facts from her life:

• Her painting studio in the book I painted in blue as were the walls from her real studio she had in Worpswede.

• On the floor next her there is a painting I discovered in my local museum MSK of the girl in the birch forest.

• One of the drawings on the wall is one of the real drawings she made.

• Self portraits she shows at the end of the story are also based on her actual paintings.

Strong accent in the book was also the place, the Amrum island and its beautiful landscape; dunes, lighthouse, Amrum houses, the sea.

I loved that the story goes from inside of the house to the landscapes of Amrum and while she was in her studio I used my signature method of bringing nature in, so she is surrounded with butterflies, birds, hedgehog and even caterpillar on her canvas 🐛. Some of the butterflies and the bird keep following her on her quest to find the mirror as well as her special friend the goose. 🪿

This book is so special to me as it came out of friendship and mutual love for an artist. Paula was such an incredible soul full of life, wilderness, love for art and nature. She wanted to live her live authentically and honestly to herself. I read somewhere that she was dancing naked in the forest under the moon and swam naked in the lakes and rivers. She wanted a different life for herself that what was expected of the women from that time and tried to fight societal pressures to live conventional life. I really love this saying of hers: “I am Me, and I hope to become that more and more.”

This book is published in four languages.

Dutch and West Frisian versions of this book you can order on the website of the publisher De Ryp. Link is here:

https://utjouwerij-deryp.nl/producten/

German and North Frisian are published in one book as a bilingual version and can be ordered on the website of the publisher Ferring Stiftung. Link is here:

https://friiskshop.de/produkt/paula-an-di-ferswuenjen-speegel/

For all the shops that would love to have this book in their offer, do contact publishers for a wholesale order. ♥️

I hope you enjoyed this story of how the book came together and why I think Paula is such an inspiring artist for me and my friend Marije. I also hope you will enjoy this book as much as we enjoyed making it.

🌷