Me at Lio CarilloRecently I did an artist interview with Lyn Perry for Residential Aliens. Here it is:
Rachel (aka Pixydust) is a homeschooling mom to four perfect kids. She loves to ride dirt-bikes with her family and owns a quilting art business called Pixy's Garden, designing bags and other fun, crazy accoutrement's. She's also an author, a graphic artist, slush-pile reader, and co-founder and former editor of the literary zine, Haruah.
ResAliens (RA) is privileged to catch up with and interview Rachel A Marks (RAM), a busy wife/mom/editor/artist for our November issue as well as feature some of her artwork.
RA: Welcome to ResAliens, Rachel. I've seen quite a bit of your art at different zines. When did you become interested in fantasy art and what's been your journey so far?
RAM: It's funny, because both my parents have pretty normal jobs. My mom works for the city and my dad is a carpenter. But they both have very artistic bents. My dad studied art in collage a little and always held art in high regard. I grew up looking at his drawings and paintings on our walls and the walls of our friends. He was also an avid reader and my mom was a thespian in her free time (she was always dragging me to rehearsal and asking me to help her practice her lines). So, it wasn't a big stretch to see that I would end up doing something artistic.
And fantasy? Well, I guess that would be because I always have my head in the clouds. I grew up watching Star Wars, Ladyhawk, or something else just as fantastical. My favorite books as a kid were Wrinkle in Time and The Wind in the Door. I loved anything dark and tragic and as a teen would sit for hours at a time sketching out The Crow or a girl wondering a graveyard by moonlight.
After I had my daughter, though, the pencils got put aside. I just kept having little ones after that. My youngest son, Caleb, is turning five soon. When he was one I found myself feeling very antsy, so I decided to write a book - well, as we know a person doesn't just write a book - not a good one, anyway. That began a whole new journey and I suddenly found myself desperate to be a published writer. For one project I picked up my pencils to work on a character - sketch him out and get a feeling for him. From there it's been a constant struggle. You know how in the cartoons they've got the angel on one shoulder and the devil on the other. We'll I've got my sketch book on one shoulder begging to be used and my laptop on the other. I'm seriously bi-polar now. Luckily I married a guy who's really "down to earth" and he keeps me sane.
RA: Any interesting projects that you are working on right now?
RAM: I just finished up a project for Double-Edged Publishing. I did some illustrations for a wonderful collection of stories called, Servant of the Manthycore by Michael Ehart that will be released in November. It's turned out great and I'm really excited about all the great backing we're getting for it. Michael is an awesome writer, and I feel really privileged to have been chosen to work with him.
RA: Note - We interview Michael Ehart in Issue 6 of ResAliens. Some of his Manthycore stories can be found online at The Sword Review.
RAM: Other than that I've got a new manuscript project called, Golden, that I'm working on - and loving - you always love your newest baby best, I think. I'm in the grand editing stage of another manuscript project called, The Willow Door. But with home-schooling the four kids I kind of have to choose one thing at a time, so I'm more in pencil mode right now after finishing up the illustrations. I've been drawing a lot, trying new things, and learning loads from some artist friends. I also just raised my hand to weed through the slush at Fear and Trembling, so I'll be helping out over there.
RA: What else do you do for vocation or enjoyment?
RAM: My husband is just a big kid and a huge extreme sports nut. He surfs and mountain bikes and dirt bikes. As a family we spend lots of our time at the beach or the dirt bike track, having all kinds of fun - my sons are both in love with the dirt bikes just like daddy and ride like crazy too, even my five-year-old. We all love camping. Living in Southern California makes for loads of places to plant your trailer and play.
My husband and I are the youth leaders at our church and we now drag our teen kids all over too. We have a lot of fun. We just recently went to a weekend youth conference and I had more fun than I've had in years with those kids. Teenagers keep you young.
For life it's all home-school and keeping up with dishes and laundry (yah, right). My husband's a police officer and works odd hours. We try to make sure we stay on track so we can still be with daddy on his days off.
RA: Where can readers find more of your artwork?
RAM: I have two places for my art. My website gallery, Shadow of the Wood, and my DeviantART gallery. To order prints you just have to email me through my website and I can get you whatever you want.
RA: Thanks, Pixy, for taking the time to spend with us today. Sounds like you have a busy schedule and we appreciate this opportunity to get to know you better. God's best to you in your many and varied projects.
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Trigger for my story, "Sorrow's Shroud"A while ago I was interviewed by the great Scott M. Sandridge about my story Sorrow's Shroud for his column "Give it Meaning" at The Sword Review. I mentioned I'd post it, so here it is:
*update...Sorrow's Shroud was chosen to be in the Distant Passages anthology for the best of DEP fiction in 2006. It's set for release in March.
Give it Meaning: Another Author’s Insight - Interview with Rachel A. Marks
I couldn’t think of anything brilliant to write, so I decided to interview another brilliant writer who is also an illustrator: Rachel A. Marks, author of “Sorrow’s Shroud” and managing editor of Haruah.
How do you come up with the themes for your stories? Does it happen consciously or subconsciously?
Themes are one of those things that come as I write. I never set out to do anything special with a story, I just start writing. I begin with a character. I picture him/her doing something. Then I ask why he’s doing it. In “Sorrow’s Shroud” I pictured a young man walking up a mountain. He had chains on his feet. So, why would he climb that mountain—obviously against his will? And what’s at the top? I knew there was someone up there who would need him, but he really had nothing to give. All that was left of who he was, his soul, everything, was dying. But in giving of himself, he’d come alive again. I think each character tells his/her own part of the story. You just have to get them all heading in the right direction.
It seems like most of my stories, so far, have some deeper meaning, but I never set out to do that. I think you can ruin a story if you try too hard to say something specific. Each story has its own voice because each one has different characters. And, as vague as it sounds, I let the characters tell me their story to make it real.
What inspired “Sorrow’s Shroud”?
“Sorrow’s Shroud” was inspired by an image trigger that was in one of the Short Story Challenges at the writer’s forum that I belong to: Liberty Hall (“The Waters Stir” also emerged from a challenge there.) It’s of two skeletons clutching each other in a loving way. It’s quite beautiful, actually (in a sort of freaky way). It gave me a distinct realization of how my story would end. I knew exactly where I was going (and usually I have no idea).
How did you come up with the idea for "Absolution"?
I've always been fascinated with this idea of writing a story about an assassin. "Absolution" was kind of my first experiment. I have a series I'm working on set in the same world as "Sorrow's Shroud" and one of the books in the series is about a woman assassin. It's like, book #4 but I'm dying to write it.
The question won't leave me alone. How does the human heart live with something so soul-wrenching? And what sort of spark ignites the purifying flame?
In "Absolution" I was imagining a boy. An Orphan. How does lack of affection change who a man becomes? He may watch his parents die. He may be young and on his own. Who does he become in desperation? Horrible things, but these are the questions that shape amazing characters.
Being both an illustrator and a writer, do the two mediums co-inspire each other?
Yes, I think so. I’m a very visual person, and I use my senses a lot to get my muse going. Most of what I write is sparked by a smell, an image, or even something as silly as watching the breeze move through the grass. The same is true of my art. My favorite place to draw has always been outdoors—at the beach. I get a lot of stuff from taking walks, and when I get home I jot stuff down to remember the feeling later. I just drew an image of a sort of male angel-faerie, and I know now he’s one of the two main characters in my new novel. This face I saw online just sort of stopped me. So I sat there for about three hours and drew it. Then I added a torso and wings. He was the face I needed to get me going on my new novel. Like I said, it’s the characters that begin a story for me. But first I have to find them. I think this is really where my art helps out the most.
In what ways can themes be expressed in artwork?
Each image I do is a story of its own. So if I paint something related to a story it comes from the feeling of that story, from the main, distinct color of that story. It’s hard to explain cause art is such an inner process. I drew incessantly when I was young. I drew and drew and drew, sometimes all day long when I was in college. It was my way of writing, I think (I didn’t start writing until about three years ago). I had all these stories inside me, and that was the only way I knew how to get them out. I think every painter is really a writer in their own way.
What kind of stories do you look for as the managing editor of Haruah?
Ah, stories for Haruah. Well, I’d say right now we really want to see things that are impacting. We began not sure what we wanted to do, just knowing we wanted to be different, and I think that with each issue I see a pattern emerging. Things that hit the reader right in the gut are our favorite. We like stories and poems that challenge a reader. Something that leaves a fingerprint on your soul. Yes, I know, that’s a tall order, but these gems have been coming in. In issue #4 we have a “true to life” story that is very powerful, but it’s not comfortable to read. You can’t stop reading it, it’s hypnotizing, and then in the end you’ve learned something amazing about the human heart. But it’s a bit sharp and some readers will most likely be offended by some of it, however, it’s a very important story.
So, that’s what we’re looking for. Give us grit and hope and the dirt—but most of all give us a peek into your soul. That’s all the “unique” we need.
copyright 2006, Scott M. Sandridge. All rights reserved.
*Thanks for reading. Hope it didn't put you to sleep. :)*