W-Women Globally

Elizabeth Patch is the author and illustrator of the book which title says it all : ‘More to Love’. Teacher and writer, shocked by one of her students’ early death from anorexia, she decided to do all she can in order to change the perception of the female body image. Her book is a fruit of her thoughts.

W-WomenGlobally: What is your activity about? Is it a business or hobby?

Elizabeth Patch author & illustrator More to Love”: My work is about bringing a fun, upbeat and friendly approach to the difficult topics of self-esteem and body image for women. I combine short, affirmation style writings with illustrations that show women of various sizes as positive, happy, healthy and attractive. “More to Love” has been a labor of love for me, done 100% at nights, on weekends and vacations, around a full-time teaching job and a full-time family, so in that sense it’s been a personal passion/hobby, rather than a business. However, More to Love is now available for sale, I am currently working on the second book in the series, and my sketchbooks are full to bursting with ideas for other related products, so it is becoming a one-woman business.

W-WomenGlobally: When did you get the idea of ‘More to Love’ project, when it all started? Why?

Elizabeth Patch: My career has been teaching art and multimedia, but I have always painted for myself, and kept journals and sketchbooks, even when busy raising a family as a single mom. And like many women, I suffered for years from eating disorders, always obsessed with becoming thinner. Shortly after one of my high school art students died from anorexia back in the 1990’s, characters began appearing in my sketchbooks: happy, funny, sassy, sexy full-figured gals going through life at full force! Captions, poems, and little stories popped into my mind and begged to be illustrated. Drawing, coloring and writing became my way of coping with the senseless loss of my student, and, surprisingly, acted as a healing for my own issues with body image, eating disorders and self-esteem. My art and writing style has evolved over the 10 years since my first rough draft of “More to Love”, but my core question remains: How can I create optimistic art to counteract a dark and painful topic, the hatred of one’s own body?

W-WomenGlobally: Is ‘More to Love’ your first book? As I can see it is not a book only, Its much more than that…. how can you describe it?

Elizabeth Patch: Yes, “More to Love” is the first book in a planned series of illustrated books on the topics of self-esteem, positive body image and “happiness at every size”. Its no secret that body size has changed radically over the past 25 years. 62% of the American population is defined as “overweight or obese”. Europe and other cultures that adopt a modern western diet are also showing a rise in weight gain. There is a 95% long-term failure rate for restrictive diets. Eating disorders are prevalent even among school children. The processed food industry continues to relentlessly market dangerously fat and sugar-laden food. And yet, most pop culture images of women are all unrealistically thin, leaving the average and plus-size women few positive images to aspire or relate to. Many terrific books, websites and blogs deal with the issues of negative body image and self-esteem from an informational, autobiographical or therapeutic standpoint. All of these approaches are valid, welcome and necessary, but they can sometimes be dry, technical and loaded with statistical studies, or filled with the pain and anger of being large in a thin-centric world. “More to Love” is much more light-hearted than most other resources on this topic. It is designed to be a cheerful visual reminder that one’s personal worth is not defined by the size of jeans you can squeeze into!

W-WomenGlobally: I understand that you are focusing on the healthy image of women /girls today and their self-acceptance, no matter the body they have. But from another side, obviously the obesity is not healthy at all. You may meet the argument against you that you are in fact defending it. What are your thoughts about it, where is the limit/border of a ‘healthy body image’ according to you?

Elizabeth Patch: I am not defending obesity, obesity is a fact! What I am striving to promote, in a very non-scientific, fun visual way, is fat acceptance: acknowledging that bodies come in all sizes and shapes, and that size or shape have nothing to do with one’s intrinsic worth.
Shame and blame, mockery and discrimination do absolutely nothing to improve quality of life, nor do they encourage healthy eating habits or promote enjoyable exercise. Accepting and respecting one’s body may be the step that leads to positive choices for better health.
“Health at every size”, promotes eating well without dieting and enjoying natural physical activity, whether or not weight loss occurs.
A great introduction is the book “Health at Every Size: The Surprising Truth about Your Weight” by Linda Bacon PhD.
Nor do I deny the fact that some fat people may have health issues related to their weight, just as some thin people may. The research on the why and how of the late 20th Century “obesity epidemic” can be conflicting and confusing, with blame placed on changes in our diets, our lifestyles, and even the effects of environmental toxins. What is absolutely certain, however, is that most diets do not result in permanent weight loss, and that repeated “yo-yo dieting” can actually harm your health. There are many
excellent books on the topic of the science of weight loss and why dieting does not work. One of my favorites is “Rethinking Thin: The New Science of Weight Loss—and the Myths and Realities of Dieting” by Gina Kolata.
The topic of fat, obesity, dieting and health is such an emotional subject, for the millions of people who will never be thin, and for the rest who will never be “thin enough”. I do not have the personality for angry activism: I am an artist. My grandmother used to say that you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar. If my sweet drawings, and light-hearted writings can touch someone whose life is negatively affected by weight, then I will be happy.
As far as I am concerned, there is no limit to a “healthy body image”! There are so many factors contributing to negative body image in this world. Promoting a positive body image, even for the obese, is a positive action that can only help, not harm.

W-WomenGlobally: Where is ‘More to Love’ available? Locally or internationally?

Elizabeth Patch: When I first tried to market “More to Love” over 10 years ago, I had the experience, like many authors/illustrators, of stacks of rejection letters from publishers and agents. A few kind editors scribbled positive comments such as “much needed idea!”, but others stated that women “do not want to accept they are fat, only diet books sell”! Now, with the magic of the Internet, I can do direct sales on Amazon.com! You can visit my book page at Amazon.com from anywhere in the world.

W-WomenGlobally: What is your vision/message to the people who read your book(s)?

Elizabeth Patch: Your heart, soul, mind, dreams, talents, intellect, humor, actions (the things that make you worthwhile and unique) have NOTHING to do with the size you wear! Thin, fat, old, young, dark, light, tall, short are superficial and do not describe the true potential of you. Life is short and precious; wasting time endlessly discussing the calories on your plate, or obsessively worrying if your butt is too fat leads to bad moods, another lost opportunity to live your life fully, and might become a long-term eating disorder. The image of beauty as thin, thin, thin is not only artificial and unrealistic, it’s boring! Make changes for your health: choose fresh, unprocessed foods as often as you can, get fresh air and activity that suits your lifestyle, take care of your body like the incredible machine it is, but please stop obsessing about a number on a scale! Make changes for your happiness: dress well, create an inviting home, have loving relationships with the people in your life, work in a job you love, express yourself through a creative outlet, do whatever it is that makes you feel complete. NONE of these positive things require a small body size. Weight is not your defining feature: YOU are!

W-WomenGlobally: What and who is your source of inspiration?

Elizabeth Patch: My entire life, I have had a passion for drawing the human figure. From my little girl copies of comic book heroes and hand-made paper dolls, to the art-school joy of drawing from a live model, I have always been fascinated by the variety, complexity and beauty of anatomy and the figure. I once spent an entire summer copying all the figures in the Sistine Chapel from an art book! Lucky me, I live near the fabulous museums and galleries in NY city, and I am constantly enthralled by what I see, most of which looks nothing like my illustrations! I have been know to burst into tears in museums, where I become breathlessly, happily exhausted by the power of human creativity. The list of favorite artists changes constantly but here are a few I return to often: Matisse for his astonishing color and sensuous line, Edgar Degas for his thickly drawn pastels and asymmetrical compositions, Michelangelo’s muscular, tragic figures, Picasso who never ceases to surprise and irritate me, Lucien Freud for his drop dead paintings of the human figure, and anyone, everyone, who really knows how to draw! (which includes commercial artists, cartoonists, and graphic novelists too!)

W-WomenGlobally: Where do you think you will be in 5 years from now?

Elizabeth Patch: My goal is to bring the concept of “Happiness at Every Size” to the millions of women who need to stop putting their lives on hold until the diet is successful. If “More to Love” proves to be popular, if my artwork and message strike a chord with women, then my plan is to be working full-time as an author/illustrator/entrepreneur, creating books and body-positive products that feature my illustrations & writing. I would also love to speak on the topics of body image and self-esteem, and perhaps continue to teach a few courses/seminars on illustration or drawing. We shall see!

Buy the book at Amazon.com
Visit Elizabeth Patch websites: elizabethpatch.com , moretolove.net
and blog moretolovesketchbook.blogspot.com
Other contact information: Facebook , Twitter , YouTube