I'm currently taking the course "Expressing" at Sketchbook Skool.  Our homework this week is to make a book.  The teacher, Jill Weber, demonstrated an accordion book.  Hers stretched out to reveal the story of Adam and Eve, with a sinuous snake slithering through the middle. 

I have an old sketchbook with a few pages filled with ideas- the bare bones of stories, wisps of thought that might one day become pictures.  I chose a story I heard a few years ago at the Hat Fair in Winchester.  An elegant lady in a red cheongsam guided us into a green tent where she held a tea ceremony.  As she made the tea she told stories, and the tent transported us to faraway lands.  

​I chose to retell one of her retellings for my little book. 
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Inspired by the tales her elders told, a golden koi carp leaves her pool to search for the celestial dragon. 

She fights her way upstream, swimming through currents and rapids until she finds her way blocked by a thundering waterfall. 
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She leaps up the falls, struggling against the raging torrent. Exhausted, she uses the last of her strength to make one final jump over the top of the falls. 
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Impressed by her courage and determination, the gods transform the little carp into the very creature she was looking for, and a golden dragon soars into the clouds. 

The actual book is 10cm x 40cm. I used watercolours, with Copic fine liner and Pentel brush pen for the lettering. 

And if you find yourself near Winchester, the next Hat Fair runs from Friday 1st July to Sunday 3rd July. A must for anyone who loves a good story and a little bit of magic.