Interestingly, about 10 years ago I was part of a group show at the very same QCC gallery space! I found a photo from then:
This was my debut into the world of children’s books. This was when I decided I wanted to illustrate for children, joined SCBWI, and worked on my portfolio. Here you can see illustrations I did for a book I wrote called “From a Crow’s Eye View”.
The story never went anywhere, but it was a great learning experience, and just the boost I needed at the time.
I wish I could remember all the other artists in the exhibit at the time, but the only one I remember is Benjamin Adwetewa-Badu who had gorgeous paintings. In his art, he had some akinkdra symbols, one of which was the gye nyame. During his talk, I was so moved by his explanation of this symbol (which I’d never heard before) that I was inspired to include this symbol in my future picture books.
So, in ALMOST every book, I have that symbol hidden somewhere! A fabric pattern, a decorative bracelet, a border. It’s swirly-looking, and reminds me of the design on my engagement ring.
It means something like “the creator always protects his creations” or “God is omnipotent”.
