Did your mom and grandma tell you stories about a witch when you were kids? La Kuruta is the witch my grandma used to tell us about when I was a kid. So she represents the stereotype of the old witch from my childhood. I’ve always wanted to portray her, so her she is.

As kids, my sister Susana and I used to listen to my grandmother Leo telling stories about this old witch who lived in the roofs of her home in downtown Madrid. She used to mention her whenever she wanted us to behave, menacing us with things like: “If you’re not good La Kuruta is coming to get you“. It was pretty scary, but not serious because whenever we were good kids my grandma used to give us easter eggs and then say La Kuruta brought them for us. So it was kind of cute to think of this old scary witch who was a sweetheart after all. That’s the way I wanted to portray her.

I can also remember going upstairs in my grandma’s flat and she would show me the window and tell me that La Kuruta lived in the roofs. The flat was in the top and, at night, whenever I heard sound from above I would think it was the witch walking on her tiptoes. Pretty scary!

For the location of this illustration I used a series of pictures of roofs of Madrid, including pictures that my sister sent me of her own flat in Madrid, which used to be our grandparents’. I have always found the views from the rooftops in Madrid very inspiring and I am keeping in mind doing other illustrations featuring the roofs of other cities, such as Paris and London.

Original pencil drawing of La Kuruta

I really don’t know where the character of La Kuruta came from, maybe my grandma made it up as many other things she used to say. I haven’t heard of anybody else talking about this character but is possible that she would also hear it from the local legends in her homeland, in the village of Lendoño in the Basque country. In my illustration, I have tried to portray the witch the way my grandmother would have though of her as a kid, with the mentality of a little girl from a poor family of farmers in a tiny village in the Basque country during the early century. Probably she wouldn’t think of her with the same cultural references that I had as a kid, meaning the classical witch with a hight top hat and a broom. I rather think of the witch as a character inspired by the local nature, so I decided that my grandma would probably portray her like some sort of scary crow or maybe like an old and ugly woman in the village.

Original sketches for La Kuruta

The Basque country is full of mythology and legendary characters similar to her, such as Mari (a witch), Jentilak (giants), and Prakagorri (brownies). I’ve always wanted to do an illustration book to compile all of these characters and is possible that I decide to go for it some day so this illustration will be there. Regarding witches, the Basque country is also a well-known place for witches and akelarres (sabbaths). The most famous legend is the one about the witches in Zugarramurdi, Navarra, related to the trial in 1610 and the burning of 12 women accused of witchcraft. In relation with the subject of witches, I’ve been also working in a very different illustration, not for children, inspired in two witches who actually lived in the area where I live now in north Madrid. I’ll be talking about this sometime soon.

Another book I would like to do sometime where this illustration may fit is a compilation of illustrations of Spanish popular scary characters, meaning those that the parents use to threaten the kids, such as The Man In The Moon and The Boogie Man. Some of the most famous “monsters” in the Spanish culture are El Coco, El Hombre del Saco, El Sacamantecas and El Destripaterrones. Most of these scary characters are not inventions but real killers who became famous in Spain for their horrible actions and got those nicknames. This is very interesting subject related to the popular culture in the villages in Spain, we call this “profound Spain”. I have the feeling that the collective memory in Spain and many of these stories are fading away and that makes me sad. I miss La Kuruta, I miss her chocolate eggs, and I miss my grandma the most!