SEAN MICHAEL WILSON
  • About Sean's Books
  • Latest News
  • Further Info
  • All Books By Title
    • Articles and Essays book
    • A to Z of Anything
    • AX
    • Black Ships
    • Book of Five Rings
    • Breaking the 10
    • Bushido
    • Cold Mountain
    • Comic Book Collection
    • Christmas Carol
    • Cigarette Girl
    • Clear away the Cliches
    • Cross Cultural Studies
    • Demon's Sermon
    • Faceless Ghost
    • 47 Ronin 忠臣蔵
    • Fight The Power!
    • Gardening Mindfulness
    • Goodbye God
    • GFTU 120th Anniversary
    • Hagakure
    • Mamiya's Maps
    • Many Not the Few
    • Minamata Story
    • Morningside
    • Musashi
    • Ninja
    • Ocalan and the Kurds
    • Orwell
    • Parecomic
    • Portraits of Violence
    • Ranald MacDonald
    • Satsuma Rebellion 西郷隆盛と西南戦争
    • Spirit of Japan
    • Story of Lee
    • Sweeney Todd
    • Systems
    • Tale of Genji
    • Tao Te Ching
    • Tokyo + Olympics Guide
    • Wuthering Heights
    • Yakuza Moon
    • Yokai Stories
  • Social Issue Books
  • Books On Japan
  • Original Story Books
  • 日本語 Nihongo
    • 日本語の情報
    • 忠臣蔵
    • 西郷隆盛と西南戦争
    • 東京 +オリンピック
  • Digital/Ebook
    • Comixology, kindle, itunes
    • IZNEO digital website
    • 47 Ronin ebook
    • Articles and Essays ebook
    • Bits and Bobs ebook
    • Book of Five Rings
    • Black Ships ebook
    • Breaking the 10 ebook
    • Bushido ebook
    • Clear Away ebook
    • Cold Mountain ebook
    • Conway Connection
    • Cross Cultural Studies ebook
    • Demon's Sermon ebook
    • Faceless Ghost ebook
    • Fight the Power ebook
    • The Garden ebook
    • Goodbye God? ebook
    • GFTU 120th Anniversary
    • Hagakure ebook
    • Japanese Drawing Room
    • Mamiya's Maps ebook
    • Minamata ebook
    • Morningside ebook
    • Musashi ebook
    • Ninja ebook
    • Orwell ebook
    • Parecomic ebook
    • Portraits of Violence ebook
    • Satsuma Rebellion 西郷隆盛 Ebook
    • Story of Lee ebook
    • Tale of Genji ebook
    • Tao Te Ching ebook
    • Yokai Stories ebook
    • Français ebooks
  • Français, Español, Italiano, 中文 etc
  • Publishers and Distributors
  • Interviews and Articles
  • TV, Radio, Youtube
  • Film Production
  • Lectures & Teaching
  • Sean's Amazon page
  • Sean's books on Lulu
  • Hand Readers Press
  • Various Other Things
    • A History of Mr X
    • Anti-violence strip
    • Basic Income
    • Fountain of Youth
    • Fred Dixon
    • Infograph on comics as art
    • Manufacturing Consent - Illustrated
    • Poems
    • SSCC
    • What did you do in the war daddy?
    • Blogspot page
    • Where i was born
  • Contact メール
  • About Sean's Books
  • Latest News
  • Further Info
  • All Books By Title
    • Articles and Essays book
    • A to Z of Anything
    • AX
    • Black Ships
    • Book of Five Rings
    • Breaking the 10
    • Bushido
    • Cold Mountain
    • Comic Book Collection
    • Christmas Carol
    • Cigarette Girl
    • Clear away the Cliches
    • Cross Cultural Studies
    • Demon's Sermon
    • Faceless Ghost
    • 47 Ronin 忠臣蔵
    • Fight The Power!
    • Gardening Mindfulness
    • Goodbye God
    • GFTU 120th Anniversary
    • Hagakure
    • Mamiya's Maps
    • Many Not the Few
    • Minamata Story
    • Morningside
    • Musashi
    • Ninja
    • Ocalan and the Kurds
    • Orwell
    • Parecomic
    • Portraits of Violence
    • Ranald MacDonald
    • Satsuma Rebellion 西郷隆盛と西南戦争
    • Spirit of Japan
    • Story of Lee
    • Sweeney Todd
    • Systems
    • Tale of Genji
    • Tao Te Ching
    • Tokyo + Olympics Guide
    • Wuthering Heights
    • Yakuza Moon
    • Yokai Stories
  • Social Issue Books
  • Books On Japan
  • Original Story Books
  • 日本語 Nihongo
    • 日本語の情報
    • 忠臣蔵
    • 西郷隆盛と西南戦争
    • 東京 +オリンピック
  • Digital/Ebook
    • Comixology, kindle, itunes
    • IZNEO digital website
    • 47 Ronin ebook
    • Articles and Essays ebook
    • Bits and Bobs ebook
    • Book of Five Rings
    • Black Ships ebook
    • Breaking the 10 ebook
    • Bushido ebook
    • Clear Away ebook
    • Cold Mountain ebook
    • Conway Connection
    • Cross Cultural Studies ebook
    • Demon's Sermon ebook
    • Faceless Ghost ebook
    • Fight the Power ebook
    • The Garden ebook
    • Goodbye God? ebook
    • GFTU 120th Anniversary
    • Hagakure ebook
    • Japanese Drawing Room
    • Mamiya's Maps ebook
    • Minamata ebook
    • Morningside ebook
    • Musashi ebook
    • Ninja ebook
    • Orwell ebook
    • Parecomic ebook
    • Portraits of Violence ebook
    • Satsuma Rebellion 西郷隆盛 Ebook
    • Story of Lee ebook
    • Tale of Genji ebook
    • Tao Te Ching ebook
    • Yokai Stories ebook
    • Français ebooks
  • Français, Español, Italiano, 中文 etc
  • Publishers and Distributors
  • Interviews and Articles
  • TV, Radio, Youtube
  • Film Production
  • Lectures & Teaching
  • Sean's Amazon page
  • Sean's books on Lulu
  • Hand Readers Press
  • Various Other Things
    • A History of Mr X
    • Anti-violence strip
    • Basic Income
    • Fountain of Youth
    • Fred Dixon
    • Infograph on comics as art
    • Manufacturing Consent - Illustrated
    • Poems
    • SSCC
    • What did you do in the war daddy?
    • Blogspot page
    • Where i was born
  • Contact メール
SEAN MICHAEL WILSON
                                      The Garden
Picture
Written by Sean Michael Wilson
Illustrated by Fumi Obata


70 pages full colour hardback edition * £12.99 * Published 21st May 2020

THE GARDEN IS A BEAUTIFUL STORY OF HEALING AND GROWTH THROUGH MINDFULNESS AND GARDENING.
"Joanna is a high-powered finance consultant who’s been signed off work after having a nervous breakdown. Seeking more than just something to pass the time, she travels to Kyoto, Japan, to immerse herself in the arts of zen gardening and meditation.
Returning home – and to the challenges of daily life – Joanna finds peace and a new sense of calm through nurturing her own garden – and her soul."

Get the book:
From green fingered AMAZON

From Barnes and Noble
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-garden-sean-michael-wilson/1135447331?ean=9781912634163​
​
​From the publisher, LIMINAL 11


Distributed in North America by Sterling Publishing

Picture

Picture
Picture
Gardening has a rather nerdy image, in a middle class, middle aged way associated with Alan Titchmarsh, etc. But, as various people have noted, gardening can also be seen a form of mindfulness or meditation, of good old fashioned connection with nature.

Gardens are inherently visual, of course, therefore this subject lends itself well to a graphic novel.  I was inspired to do this by a non-comic book person saying to me 'are there any comic books on gardening?', and me being unable to think of any! That and because my own little garden and pond is a daily delight to me. Tending it has become one of my main pleasures in life and a source of calm and meaning.

The main aspects of this book being to visually show the beauty of the garden in different seasons...the grass, the flowers, the trees, the pond, the fish and the frogs in it…. and to the present the calm, mindful quality of how the main character, Joanna, relates with that, how it helps her deal with other pressures in her life as a once busy business person, who fell sick and had to take leave. In that time she began to focus on the garden and realise how useful it was in both recovery from illness but also developing a more calm, purposeful life.


And, on a related note, there is an article on "Practice Mindfulness This Year" on the site Gifted Health Care which may be of interest to people: 
​ https://www.giftedhealthcare.com/blog/practice-mindfulness-this-school-year/

​
Picture
Picture
Picture
Reviews
Very good reviews of the book, saying just the kind of things we hoped to hear:

“The Garden teaches us the restorative power of nurturing and creating something that was not there before, and the grounding effect this can have on a person’s wellbeing. This story is especially resonant in current times, with uncertainty appearing in all aspects of life. If you have a garden it will inspire you to nurture and reconnect to this space, and if you do not, it is an enjoyable, blissful escape for a little while.”
- Broken frontier.com


"Filled with delightful human moments and a broad cast of appetising characters, Joanna’s learning curve is a marvellously tempting invitation to combine our personal urban nightmare with a more bucolic experience that appeals to the suppressed nature lover in us all, and the life-changing challenge even comes with an appealing Poem of the Garden to start your own verdant rebirth… Calm, contemplative and mentally refreshing, The Garden is a seed of surprise just waiting for you to plant it…" 
- Comics Worth Reading

"I really love this book. It's the perfect tale to come out in these lock-down times when so many people are stressed and enjoying the solace of their personal outside space. "  
- OK Comics, Leeds.

“One thing the lockdown has taught me (and probably a great many other people) is that the rat race consumes such a vast amount of our time, and it's easy to get mentally lost in the pressure of work sometimes - to the detriment of the very thing that makes you 'you'. Sean and Fumio capture this perfectly in this book… It's a gorgeous peaceful graphic novel, like most of Liminal 11's publications, one that reaches into a place in all of us that we may have thought we've lost. Very much needed in these strange times we find ourselves in.” 
- Read it Daddy

"A book of genuine kindness to self and others. Well written and cleverly illustrated. For an old curmudgeon like myself, The Garden was a lovely break from my go-to books of dark cynicism and gritty "reality". Mindfulness is writ large herein but not in a preachy manner. Though it does act as a wee reminder to smile more which I shall (ok, should) take to heart." - Amazon review, D. Stewart.

“A worthy message of mindfulness and the benefits of taking time to stop and appreciate what’s around you rather than always pushing forwards.”  
https://bigcomicpage.com/2020/05/18/review-the-garden-liminal-11/

“Wilson’s words and Obata’s illustrations compliment each other wonderfully and create such a beautiful read.”  
https://northernplunder.com/graphic-novel-review-the-garden-by-sean-wilson/

“...a beautiful read that offers a moment of calm”  
https://acatabookandacupoftea.wordpress.com/2020/05/06/review-the-garden/

"...a passive look at self-awareness that is rare in this medium, presented beautifully in hard-back making it a lovely gift for the right person."
https://www.uk-anime.net/manga/The_Garden.html  


My personal take on our really lovely new book is featured on Turnaround distributors blog is HERE. 

Nice.
Picture


​Excellent photo by my old childhood friend, the photographer Barry-John Stewart, in the wood in Edinburgh that we used to play in:  
Picture

Fumio Obata and our lovely book, The Garden, at an event organised by the Japan Society
 
Manga Drawing for Wellbeing
​If you are stuck at home, and have a little more time on your hands, perhaps you are thinking of developing or honing new skills. The Japan Society has many resources online for those interested in finding out more about manga, or hearing from artists.
As part of this programming, we’re delighted to be able to offer our first online manga workshop with UK-based manga artist, Fumio Obata, which will focus on the healing aspects of creativity and being mindful of your surroundings, something much needed in times like these.
The workshop also reflects on Fumio's recent work, The Garden, created in collaboration with writer Sean Michael Wilson and published in May this year by Liminal 11.
https://www.japansociety.org.uk/newsitem?news=47&newscat=3

Picture
A muchty wee video, like, ken. Braw! 
Picture
Sean Michael Wilson - Wilson's Web