An Inspired Chat with Christina Morrison of San Jose, CA

Christina Morrison shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.

Hi Christina, thank you so much for taking time out of your busy day to share your story, experiences and insights with our readers. Let’s jump right in with an interesting one: What is a normal day like for you right now?
In the aftermath of a two year art sabbatical, I am finally picking up my paint brush again. For myself, this time. Not geared for the artist galleries, or a social media world that often changes from day to day. I’m creating art for myself, making things that I enjoy and feeding my soul in the process.

I begin my day with any illustration work from various long time clients. This part of my art creation is remote work that I generally enjoy doing. It’s meaningful work, generally digital illustration, created in a computer with a pen tool, although my traditional artist background still comes in handy, and this work pays the bills, while keeping my skills fresh.

From there, I either work on one of my own paintings, or I pull up one of my favorite past-times: creating a graphic novel from a much loved children’s book, “Emily of New Moon”. Not a lot of people have heard of this book, but many have heard of another book written by the same author: “Anne of Green Gables”. Emily is very similar to the character Anne. But while Anne is like the delightfully perfect best friend you wished you could have as a kid, Emily is a bit more gritty, definitely not perfect, and somehow felt more…real to my own story.

The first Emily book was written in 1923 by its author Lucy Maud Montgomery, and turning this story into a graphic novel for a new crew of kids to enjoy has been a passion project of mine for a long time. I’ve been quietly working on it in my spare time for over 5 years now, off and on.

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I’m a self taught artist, for the most part. My parents didn’t believe that Art warranted a college degree, so I was sent to higher education for “something practical” and had to pursue my interest in art on my own. While I lived and worked in northern and central California, I continued to hone my artsy skills on my own, researching my favorite artists and learning what made them tick, taking a private art class to keep my love for painting alight, and connecting with other artsy and creative people.

When I met my partner, he delighted in my traditional artist background and secured for me a digital pen tool and a write on screen so that I could further my skill digitally as well. I worked on both my painting skills and refining my knowledge of digital illustration. And eventually, I began to take remote work as an illustrator of children’s books.

Working with others to illustrate their passion projects showed me what I was capable of and this led to a desire to illustrate something where I had creative control, specifically a children’s book that had impacted me greatly as a child: Emily of New Moon. Why that particular book? I saw in the character of Emily a strength and determination to pursue her own creativity in a challenging environment that didn’t exactly encourage its growth. That felt familiar. Of course it was: it was my story, too.

So I threw myself into the story completely: my partner and I researched the Victorian time period and took photos of locations that were similar to the time period of the 1870’s. I created and sewed costumes, we dressed up friends and acquaintances and had them pose so I could have accurate photo references to pull from. We rented a location of a historic schoolhouse in Golden, Colorado. If I was going to do this, I was going to do it to the best of my ability.

Thanks for sharing that. Would love to go back in time and hear about how your past might have impacted who you are today. What did you believe about yourself as a child that you no longer believe?
I grew up in an environment that seemed normal but had constricting religious ideology. Not from my dad, thankfully, who was not religious at all, but my mom had found a church where the Satanic Panic was in full flourish, and as a result, I wasn’t allowed to enjoy the same things as my peers. The fantasy books I craved to read were full of suspect material (witchcraft, child!), music I listened to was limited to Christian bands only, and even movies like Star Wars were somehow “bad”. I was growing up to feel guilt and shame for the things I loved in an authoritarian household where Mom kept us on the straight and narrow with a belt and a Bible.

Reading books was one way to escape into other worlds and other realms. And so I escaped into Narnia, Middle Earth, and Prince Edward Island. Anne and Diana, Lucy Pevensie, and Eowyn were emblems of girls like me who had discovered freedom.

I didn’t quite believe all of the rhetoric myself: I could see Love and Beauty and Good in the “worldly” books and music and movies that my mother abhorred. The very first ComicCon I ever went to, I was working at a friend’s booth. He’d been selling his graphic novels for several years, and I was there to assist him in selling. I remember looking out at the varied costumes, the cosplayers, experiencing the laughter and the joy of being with other fans, that celebration of creativity and expression. There was a flow of energy that was so intensely creative and beautiful, that I remember beaming out on everyone, thinking, “These. These are MY people.”

There is something so incredibly beautiful about being free to release an expression of one’s own unique creativity. And recognizing another unique creativity in someone else and delighting in that. I guess I knew in that moment that this beautiful sharing of each individual’s creativity and expression of that creativity shouldn’t be suppressed. There was life there: there was joy there. There was freedom of expression there. I began deconstructing from religious suppression and my creativity abounded.

If you could say one kind thing to your younger self, what would it be?
That younger version of me was doing the best she could in a very restricted place. She had so much entangling to get free of. I’m so incredibly proud of her and how far she has come.

Religion can be great for some people. But religious manipulation and control is soul killing. To get free of it all took therapy, reading books, sharing with others who had gone through similar upbringings and my amazing partner’s support and love.

I think I would tell that younger version of me, “Someday, you’ll get your wings.” And it’s true: it’s in the tattoo I got a few years after my deconstruction: a common tattoo, I’m told for my generation: a butterfly. Maybe there were a lot of us searching for our wings.

I think our readers would appreciate hearing more about your values and what you think matters in life and career, etc. So our next question is along those lines. What’s a belief or project you’re committed to, no matter how long it takes?
Well, this is why the Emily of New Moon graphic novel is something I am committed to, no matter how long it takes. The author, Lucy Maud Montgomery, also grew up in social and religious suppression. Her character Emily is the embodiment of her experience. Someone of great creativity plunged into an environment that is stifling socially, mentally, even spiritually. And yet, who eventually finds a way to survive and even thrive.

That’s why the project matters to me so much, I think. Maybe when complete, it will help others to hold on until they, too, can find their own unique wings.

Before we go, we’d love to hear your thoughts on some longer-run, legacy type questions. If immortality were real, what would you build?
I want to tell more stories through illustration after this one is complete. There are other wonderful, freedom inspiring stories to share and illustrate. I want to continue illustrating stories. There’s so many stories, old and new, that still inspire me and I think inspire others, that are so worthy of being put into graphic novel format.

Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” is just as prevalent now as in the era it was written in. “The Blue Castle” calls to me, too, and so do modern biographies like the true story of Robert Smalls or Harriet Tubman, a hero of mine since 6th grade. Stories like these aren’t just for entertainment: they are lifelines of hope to kids like I used to be: ladders of light dropped down into caves of restriction. I’d like to be a builder of that kind of ladder. A ladder to hope.

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Image Credits
Daniel Morrison

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