Image of the Week: The Grape Harvest
© D. Yael Bernhard
Here's an image from a children's book I illustrated in 2006 for a Korean publisher. Titled simply "My Grandpa," the book was part of a series that introduces Korean children to other cultures. The story takes place in Argentina, and tells of a family-owned winery and the special relationship between a young girl and her grandfather. It was written and published in Korean, and as far as I know never translated into any other language. The manuscript that I was given to work with was in English, but poorly translated, with little to go by in making the illustrations. The deadline was also short. I gathered a stack of photos of Argentina and wineries, and dove in.
I began by drawing studies of grape vines, right across the street from my house. It just so happens my neighbors are French, and have cultivated a grape vine along their garden fence. How fortunate that the project coincided with their little harvest! There's nothing like a live model, whether human or vegetable. I took some artistic license, however, and changed the color of the grapes. As I worked, I thought about the interesting confluence of cultures this project represented: a story in Korean that takes place in Argentina, with grape vines cultivated by French people who have moved to America. Truly, this was a multicultural book.
The words were printed in the sky on this particular page of the book. The characters' clothing and baskets were all carefully researched. I was surprised to discover the ethnic diversity of Argentina: 97% are descended from European immigrants; with the rest having indigenous or African ancestry. There is also a significant minority of Syrian and Lebanese Arabs; and Argentina is home to the seventh largest Jewish population in the world, most of whom fled there in the early 20th century. I decided to make my characters look like southern Europeans.
This was one of the last books for which I shipped out the original art to be scanned by the publisher. It was a big deal shipping the stack of 28 illustrations, painted on thick 22"x30" sheets of watercolor paper, off to Korea – and a minor miracle that the bulky package was returned to me several months later. I got two or three copies of the printed and bound book – which of course, I couldn't read – and never had any further communication with the publisher. After that I started scanning my illustrations at home, and didn't have to ship artwork anymore. Gone were the days of lugging my portfolio full of finished art into Manhattan on the train – for once upon a time, New York was the center of the universe when it came to children's book publishing. Not so anymore.
I enjoyed working on this simple story, and got a kick out of imagining Korean kids reading it.
A good week to all!
D Yael Bernhard