Art That Makes a Splash

At last!  The long-awaited interview with Gail Maki Wilson!  You may recall that Gail won the privilege of being interrogated by me by being the first person to spot the lie in my 10 Truths and a Lie game.

Gail is a good friend and the artist/designer behind my fantabulous lighthouse/moon logo, seen at the left.  She lives in Arizona with her husband, son, and dog and the occasional grown daughter (she has two).  You can visit Gail's lovely blog here and if you leave a comment there this week, you may win a fabulous signed print (but you'll have to beat me to it!).  So go forth and comment!

No, wait!  Read this interview first and see how cool Gail is and then go forth and comment, okay?

Name?
Gail Maki Wilson. You wouldn’t think I’d have a story about a name like mine, but I do! My Mom didn’t give me a middle name. She liked things simple. She didn’t see the need for middle names. So I grew up as Gail Maki. The problem was when I was old enough to file an income tax return, I found out the US government thinks you shouldn’t leave slots blank. So they gave me the middle name, “None.” By the time I got married, I was tired of getting mail as Gail None Maki so I decided to keep my maiden name as my middle name. (Maki is pronounced Mackey. No, it’s not Hawaiian. It’s Finish.)

What's your "thing"--your main interest? Your area?

Picture books! I love picture books! I love the words, I love the images, I love the stories.

What would you be doing for a living if you could?
Well, I guess I just answered that. I want to be able to make a living creating children’s picture books.

You did my logo and it sure looks spiffy! What's your favorite thing about doing that sort of work?
Oh, that’s my other love. To be able to condense a mood, a feeling, or an action into a symbol that people will immediately recognize and associate with a name is a very cool thing. I also love working with type. There is something so beautiful about the shape of letters.

Can we hire you for all our logo-related needs?

Yes! You can contact me through my website gailmakiwilson (dot) com.

How about logarithms?
I think that’s the wrong side of the brain for me. What’s a logarithm?

If one great artist (living or dead) wanted you to collaborate on some artistic venture, who and what do you think it would be?
Leonardo da Vinci. With the diversity of his interests and talents, I would work on anything that he was involved in. I have no idea what it would be, but what an amazing thing to consider.

You are being unexplicably sent to some random deserted island with the bizarro order to only take five colored pencils (this island has all the paper on it you could ever want). Which colors do you choose?

I’d have to have the primary colors, then I can make any color, right?
So, red, blue, yellow. (Specifically, Crimson Red, Cobalt Blue, and Canary Yellow.) Yet, that would make it hard to do flesh tones so I’d have to have Peach too. And to make things dark (I never use a black colored pencil) Black Grape. But then again, browns would be tough too, maybe I’d need a Burnt Sienna instead of Peach. Man, this is a hard. Are you sure I can only bring five...

What's the very last subject matter you'd ever want to tackle as the illustrator of a children's picture book?
Wow. That’s a tough one. Wait! I think someone already tackled it. “When Mommy Gets Plastic Surgery” (My Beautiful Mommy)

Have you ever drawn the curtains?
Every night.

What's better than a brand-new box of 64 crayons?
Do you really want to know? Oh, wait...never mind. How about a brand-new 132 count set of Prismacolor colored pencils.

If there was no such thing as copyright, would you stop creating?
NO.

Can YOU paint with all the colors of the wind?
Yes! I see those colors all the time. My son would say that’s because I grew up in the 70’s, but that’s not really why.

When do you work best? Morning? Noon? Night? Vernal Equinox?
That’s an easy one. I’m a night owl all the way.

You've got half an hour to kill on the internet. Where do you go?
Either Verla Kay’s Blueboard or the “Good Blog Reads” listed in the sidebar on my blog. Some of my favorite blogs are there. Your blog is there too!

Name three adjectives you'd be thrilled for someone to use when describing your art work.
Clever, energetic, powerful.

Briefly describe a pet project of yours--pitch it to us, baby!
I have one in particular that I feel very strongly about, maybe because the illustrations tell the story right along with the words. (Actually, in many places without any words at all!) With the seed for this story planted many years ago, I set out to learn the ropes and prepare myself for this career. Before I knew it, like a seed, the story grew and took on a live of its own. Here’s the pitch!

When it's Time to Wish –One bored child. One powerful imagination. One fantastic journey.  Through the power of imagination, a young girl discovers not only a world beyond home, but also how much she misses home once she has left it behind. Join her on a truly wishful fantasy, where each adventure transforms into a new journey.