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Hello Rick and Maria,
Welcome to Day 1 of Bijou's Be Well Series!
Maria writes ...
My childhood was exciting. It wasn’t that I traveled, or lived in a mansion, or that I was a daredevil. It was that exciting things happened in my mind, in my dreams and daydreams. I could be many things on any given day. I was content playing alone, an almost impossible feat, given the size of our family (7 children). Some of my dreams lingered as I grew up: fashion designer, commercial artist, calligrapher, and . . . wait for it ... cartoonist. I was always fascinated with cartoons and had created many myself.
I often thought I might grow up to be a professional cartoonist. I wondered should there be an E at the end, “Cartooniste”, as I had never heard of a female cartoonist at that time in my life. It sounded more like me, being French and all. . . Hey, never say never.
Years later the opportunity arose for my first shot at being a true “cartooniste”. I was doing some work for a design company, and I created these adorable snails for children’s linens and such. Originally named Hervé (pronounced French: Her-vay), named after my dad, a great and good man, I had so much fun developing the concept around the character. The drawings practically drew themselves. I loved every minute of it. I eventually ended up with a collection of drawings of Hervé in all kinds of fun situations: in Paris, climbing mountains, dancing with friends, and so on.
All this happened just as Zentangle was beginning, and that was more exciting than anything else I had ever done before. With only so much time and bandwidth, we decided to pull out of the project for the design company and put all our energy into Zentangle. Poor Hervé got put in a box for a later date.
Flash forwards a few more years, and the crew at Zentangle HQ came to me and said, “We need a mascot, a character that can sweetly and joyfully help us share the fun and meaningful philosophies behind the Zentangle Method.”
Without hesitation, I knew just the snail for the job. All the work was done and literally tied with ribbons. The rest is fate. We decided to change the name but wanted to keep it French … none of us remember the exact way we stumbled upon it but we knew …
… it had to Bijou.
Molly writes...
Since Bijou joined the team, he has been instrumental in helping us communicate and teach the philosophies behind the method. His gentle and happy way make a perfect match for us to send words of encouragement and support to all our Zentangle enthusiasts. Last year, we decided to feature Bijou in a campaign to create Zentangle art for 21 days straight during Mental Health Awareness Month. It was a huge success. We all, including Bijou, enjoyed the experience. Each day we featured a different Bijouism as an inspirational thought for the day.
This year, I thought to revisit my mom’s dream of becoming a “cartooniste”. I asked her to create 21 Bijou comics for each day of the series. So, without further ado, we introduce the first day of our 2024 Bijou's Be Well series, featuring Bijou himself. Enjoy!
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