Benedicta Bertau: illustration for “E SONO FELICE“
Over a year has passed since last I published a blog post. Thanks for still being there, dear Reader. Much has happened since March 23, 2015. For now, let me just share this with you – that I am now also drawing and painting, and actually illustrating. How this all came about, that’s what this post is about:
Karl Bertau: Garten (2008)
My father always carried a small green sketch block with him. He would take out his black pen, quickly draw what he saw and date it. Later, he would often take a brush and some water and turn his drawing into a water-color. He filled 80 of these little green sketch blocks. My father was not a visual artist by training, but he drew and painted, even with oils, at least as long as I knew him, 43 years of his 88 year-long life.
one of the little green sketch books
I have followed his example every now and then. Never with true consistence. But seeing the world with a pen in hand is one of my ways of connecting to reality.
Last Christmas, I was invited to a party where each guest was to bring one gift to be randomly re-gifted among the present guests. So, I spent Christmas morning in bed, drawing and painting a set of 29 inspirational cards. I took my inspiration both for text and motifs from my set of “Abraham-Hicks” Well-being cards. But I also made things up. And thoroughly enjoyed myself. Here are some of those cards, prompted by that experience of aimless joy. These drawings are not perfect, they are my exploration into imperfection and free play. Aimless joy, indeed.
Benedicta Bertau: from 29 thoughts for Christmas 2015
And then, Gigi Borruso invited me to illustrate his column for the Italian language magazine Focus-in which is published in France. What an honor (and what fun!) – here is the link to the blog which was just born out of this collaboration:
E SONO FELICE is an ironic, poetic, and disarming column. Gigi Borruso slips into the (fictional) character Felice Sghimbescio who writes “letters to the powerful of this earth.” Felice is a simple man who lives in a dingy hole somewhere in Palermo. He does go to evening school, where his teacher encourages him to start a “blogh” and share his thoughts on current events. Felice writes as he thinks, doesn’t mince his words, is naive and, in the tradition of the fool, a truth-teller. His grammar may not be completely correct, but his world is view spot on – maybe because he cannot imagine anyone could read his words. He is funny without wanting to be so. He is fearless. – So far, he has written a letter to Matteo Renzi (Italy’s prime minister), Sergio Marchionne (the current CEO of FIAT-Chrysler Automobiles), and Christine Lagarde (the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund). If you have not yet found a good reason for learning Italian… I promise E SONO FELICE would be a good reason to…
And here the first four illustrations I created for this venture – all on packaging paper or the card board backs of note books:
Benedicta Bertau: illustration for “E SONO FELICE” – Portrait of Felice
Benedicta Bertau: illustration for “E SONO FELICE” – Matteo e i canguri (4/2016)
Benedicta Bertau: illustration for “E SONO FELICE”- Marchionne, Einstein e i fagiolini
I still feel a little self-conscious around this… I am not a trained visual artist! I am not an expert!
Well, if this post can encourage you to take up pen, pencil, brush, or anything at all and create, I’ll be happy. Why not?
It is one of the perfidies of the age we live in that we think (and are told) we must be experts before we can do anything. Not true. Not human. Go play. Now THAT is human.
with the flow 
