Drawings That Didn't Make It Into My Book

CUTTING ROOM FLOOR

Like Kevin Costner in The Big Chill, this drawing never made it into I MISS MY MOMMY, my graphic novel about the long and winding grief journey of orphaned adults.

Copyright is the reason. Any dog that looks like Snoopy, like any mouse that looks like Mickey, won’t get past the bank of attorneys at Peanuts Worldwide.

So I redrew the dog, turned him into a more realistic spotted beagle, and still had him sitting on a green tufted sofa next to ... you guessed it, Roz Chast. But, by then, the drawing had stopped working.

Despite that, I still wrote a handwritten note to Ms. Chast, asking for permission to use her likeness and pre-War Brooklyn apartment decor for a drawing meant to be a seriously deep genuflection before two of my favourite artists.

In one scenario, she glanced at the drawing and also determined it wasn’t working. More realistically, my letter is still sitting in her in-bin. Chast has been on the road promoting her latest book, I Must Be Dreaming, about the absurdities and fraught sequences that run through our minds at night.

It’s another splendid tour of the human condition.

Thank you, Roz, for everything.

And Happy (?) Fourth of July.

Alison xo

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I MISS MY MOMMY: 150 Portraits of Orphaned Adults is available at PenJarProductions.com - link in bio.

This book takes you right to the heart of the five stages of grief through 150 portraits, some grim, some funny, but all relatable.

The stage you’re in may change by the hour, or even by the minute.

It helps readers struggling with grief sit with emotions they’d rather avoid but can’t stop feeling, but it does it through illustrations not case studies.

Because sometimes we need images to explain the language of loss. ~ Printed and shipped with care by @luludotcom