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Interview with Author Tara Owens
and Illustrator Daniel Sorenson

 

Tara Owens: So, Dan, we know each other pretty well, having worked together on At Play in God’s Creation: An Illuminating Coloring Book. The project was based on the idea that while there are a lot of great adult coloring books out there, we saw a place for a coloring book that specifically ushered people on a journey of prayer. It was a great experience for me to work together with a talented artist like you, but Conversations Journal readers don’t know much about you. So, can you tell us a little about yourself?

Daniel Sorenson: Thank you, Tara, that’s very kind, and I enjoyed working with you as well. So I’ve been living in Colorado since 1998 after moving here from Ohio. I had been to an arts college in Columbus, Ohio, after serving in the military, and it was there that I realized that once I got out of the Navy, I needed to pursue art. I was a believer, but didn’t know how to be both a creative and a Christian. But a big part of my Christian walk has been living out the gift he’s given me, and that’s been to create things. I met you at a Christian arts conference, and it was there that I also met my wife, who is a writer. And that was just one of the many pieces—going to the Glen Workshop—that’s fit into the puzzle of my life on how to be both a Christian and an artist.

 

TO:     Creating a coloring book is a really different kind of art making for an illustrator. While normally your art is observed, interpreted, even analyzed, illustrations for coloring books are meant to be interacted with—you actually want someone to take up a marker and make something different with the art you’ve created. How was that process for you?

DS:      It’s been fantastic. You’re right, I’m often very protective of my work when it comes to people physically handling it. Paint can smear, and people may have dirty hands when they come up close to the painting—and often want to touch it. But the coloring book format is so freeing in that respect. I want people to interact with it, to touch it, color it, make it messy, and just have fun with it. It’s like a partnership where I just give people a starting point and leave it completely up to them how they want to finish it. The great thing is there will never be two pieces colored the same way.

 

TO:     What do you hope people receive from the journey of this coloring book?

DS:      There’s a lot that’s possible, really. I want them to follow the journey they see, to read the text, and to follow the prompts you’ve written. I want them to search and to pray and to be present and to slow down, as that’s when the power of these coloring books really begins to be experienced. But I also want people to have fun and to play. To color inside the lines or, dare I ask, to color outside of them. But most of all I would hope that in some way, whether the colorer believes in God or not, that God would still meet them. That the act of just opening the book and experiencing it would be enough of an asking, a seeking for God to say, “Hi, I’m here too, let’s get to know each other better.”

TO:     What’s your favorite illustration in the book? Or is that like me asking you to pick a favorite child?

DS:      Ha ha! That’s funny, but also true! I spent more than six months working on this almost every night and weekend, so it was like bringing a child into this world. It’s rather interesting to me that my favorite would be one that I concepted in my proposal idea but finished rather later in the process. And that one would be the spread with Jesus as the shepherd looking over the sheep. My style had become consistent throughout the book, and I wanted there to be a homage, somewhere, to Vincent van Gogh’s Starry Night. (Editor’s note: For more on Van Gogh’s journey as an artist, read Jan Johnson’s piece, “Van Gogh’s Struggle with Passion.” [link]) But I had also developed a swirling of lines, of movement and flow, and I was able to incorporate that into every aspect of this piece, from the swirly nighttime sky, to the sheep, but also in the shepherd’s robe and crook. When I finished it, I felt that there was a real sense of peace about this one, the peace that I’ve felt personally in times when my life’s been full of trouble and there was nowhere I could go to be safe or to get through that time, other than going to Christ. That piece has a lot of my personal experience and truth in it.

 

TO:     How did prayer work its way into the illustration process for you?

DS:      Yeah, that was pretty important in this project. I may not have prayed every chance I could have, but I would not have thought to try this without ever going to God for guidance or help. And that’s true with every piece of artwork that I create, whether it’s got an obvious Christian message to it or not. One way I like to think about this, that by actively pursuing and engaging in the gift that he’s given me, by doing it, it’s like a thank you back to him. So in a sense, doing artwork is in itself a prayer.

 

TO:     In what ways do you think that this particular project, but art making in general, shapes your relationship with Christ?

DS:      I am fortunate to have a community of believers and nonbelievers in many areas of my life who support and encourage my art making. And I’m lucky, so dang lucky, to have married a writer, so she really does get it, and I, in turn, get the chance to encourage her in her gift as well. So I guess I’m saying it would be near impossible for me to do any of this in a vacuum. To do it in a healthy way, at least. I need community, and if we talk about that in a spiritual dimension, then it’s like the church. We aren’t meant to be alone in this life but to walk with people. And I found out that having a good community of believers, not just my church, but my friends and other groups, helped me be myself when I would show in the Denver art scene as a whole, interacting with the greater public, who may not have cared anything about God. But I was able to be myself as an artist and a Christian.

 

TO:     I’ve been reading (as I know you have) recently about artistic collaboration and the importance of creative community. I know this is going for the jugular a bit, but what was it like working with someone else (meaning me!) on a project like this?

DS:      I thought this project went rather well. I’ve done collaboration before, and sometimes it is great, and sometimes it is, well, I’ll just leave it at “not great.” When people know and trust the strengths of the other, then it really works out for the best, and I feel you trusted me as the artist. I certainly trusted you as the writer. We didn’t leave each other alone, either. We had a schedule that we kept each other to as much as possible; you asked for my input on some of the writing, and when I was stuck as to the direction of a piece, I had no problem asking for your guidance. Your ideas or thoughts or the back-and-forth brainstorming we did, that was enough to get me started. Sometimes it was only a word or a phrase, which was all I needed to get to the [digital] drawing board!

 

TO:     I also happen to know that you’re married to a creative—your wife, Elena, is a creative writer of both nonfiction and fiction, but particularly of contemporary fairy tales. What’s it like working and living in such intimate creative community with someone who also considers herself an artist and an artist of faith?

DS:      I have to say that when I met her and found out she was not only a writer but one of fantasy, I was twitterpated. For real. And now married life? We love it and can’t believe how lucky we are to know each other.

I know I use the work “luck,” but in reality, we both believe God just finally said, “OK, it’s time for your single days to be over.” So without any of the ways I would navigate trying to meet a woman, it happened completely out of my control, which, as storytellers (me visually and she with words), makes for a really good story. What’s been good for us is that we have each other’s back and encourage our need to create—which means time alone—and growth—which means taking classes to get better. We’ve got some collaborative projects in mind that we get excited about.

In the daily grind, though, it’s been great as well, because we happen to be contractors at the same day job. So, we fight for the time we get to create our own projects and dream, plan, and make time for that. It’s also pretty interesting that when I see her writing and getting excited, that in turn helps me turn to my art. She would agree the same thing happens to her when I create.

The key for us is that we have actively pursued making God and art central to our lives.

 

TO:     What excites you the most as a creative right now? What are you seeing in both your artistic and Christian communities that makes you hopeful?

DS:      I see my brothers and sisters creating. But the creating comes out of passion, desire, and struggle. Ironically, for me, the end result isn’t the goal but the journey. That’s where it’s the most interesting and stories come out. The joys and pains of the creative person, and our need for a savior on all levels. The more I hear and see other people’s process and see the result of their labor, whatever their outlet, the more I’m encouraged, because I’m not alone in this life. I really don’t care if what they create is something I personally consider good. I’m just a person, and what I like or don’t like, that’s subjective. But, for me, when people create, that’s when they come alive, and are the more beautiful because of it.