The most excellent fantastic Daisy Hirst!

On Saturday we went to a most excellent fantastic printmaking workshop run by author illustrator Daisy Hirst. It was my first visit to the House of Illustration where the workshop took place, and I felt excited and inspired the moment I stepped in, with it's shop full of beautiful cards and books as well as the gallery filled with beautiful original artwork.

I was a little worried about the length of the workshop (3 hours for a 5/6 year old could go either way!) but he loved it and we made it through without any tears or tantrums, phew! He got stuck in right away and created some lovely prints and we both came away inspired, wanting to carry on doing more at home :)

I loved how we were able to have a real printmaking experience using simple, familiar and safe materials. Daisy was brilliant at planting a seed for an idea which set off the children's imaginations! I loved the village scene she had drawn on huge black sheets of paper, which she then invited the children to print on. Soon the buildings were filled with a whole array of intriguing characters and narratives. 

She shared her sketchbook with us, which was absolutely fascinating! Crammed full of teeny tiny lovely drawings, with each character only measuring about 1-2cm!! 

Below is an A3 sheet of paper which our boy crammed full of dragon and alien sketches today. I imagine they were inspired after seeing Daisy's sketchbook.

We've been reading our (tinily) signed copy of "Alphonse, that is not ok to do!" throughout the day and it's been top pick for their bedtime story 2 nights in a row - the boys LOVE it as do I :)

A River

It's been over a month since my last post, oops.

With 2 little boys to look after throughout the summer, I've had very little time or space in my head for much else, but now that the new school year has begun I can start thinking about arty things for me again, yippeeee!

It's so nice to feel those parts of my brain starting to work again.

It's taking a while to switch it all back on though. I want to be productive but end up in a bit of a flap and a panic not knowing where to start and feel like I've wasted my precious hour or so of free time. Today I actually managed to cut and stick down some bits of paper (it's only taken me close to 2 weeks!) so am feeling much better. Hopefully I will have something new to show soon :)

In the meantime, here is a beautiful book I treated myself to. I've been eyeing it up for ages and finally it is MINE! I spotted "A River" by Marc Martin at Rogan's Books a while ago and have been waiting waiting waiting till I got paid to go and get it. Each page is a thing of beauty! I love the colour palette, the detail, the variety, the mood...very inspiring indeed!

Lovely books

Me and my boy have been enjoying some lovely books lately.

First up are three books from the "Mammoth Academy" series by the brilliant Neal Layton, in Japanese!! Big thanks to my agents Arena for sending us these copies - it's a real treat for us to have books in Japanese, especially when the language is becoming more of a struggle for the boy the older he gets. He still gives it a good try though and has really enjoyed these stories, which often left him in a fit of giggles :D

Next up is the beautifully illustrated "Iron Man" by Ted Hughes. I'm a huge fan of Laura Carlin's art and bought this book for myself many years ago (although I never actually got round to reading it!) so it feels extra special to be able to read it together with my boy for the first time. We're about a third of the way through and I can't wait to find out what happens next. The illustrations really do match the mood of the story, and there's a great sense of suspense and intrigue - although I do have to remind him that it is MY book so his fingers must not be grubby and he must be extra careful with it!

Beautiful Books!

"One Family"

By George Shannon and Blanca Gomez

"Last Stop on Market Street"
By Matt de la Pena and Christian Robinson

"Beastly Verse"

By Joohee Yoon

"Jemmy Button"

By Jennifer Uman and Valerio Vidali

"Les poings sur les iles"

By Elise Fontenaille and Violeta Lopiz

"Home"

By Carson Ellis

Hello hello and a Happy New Year to you all!

I've been invited to give a talk as a visiting lecturer at Teesside University at the end of this month...bit nervous! My days have been filled with the feeding and cleaning of and day to day survival with our 2 little children for so long now that I've kind of forgotten the illustrator "me". It's going to be a bit of a task rifling through old work and trying to make it relevant and useful to illustration students. 

Putting together my inspiration and influences was easy peasy though, and brought me so much joy!

I thought I'd share a small selection of favourites from my bookshelf here. You can also find some more here, here, and here. I could go on and on about what I love about each book and illustrator but I thought it best to let the pictures do the talking.

Enjoy :)

The 5 Misfits

I treated myself to a beautiful picture book by Beatrice Alemagna called "The 5 Misfits". The illustrations are charming and full of character, delicate, rich, mischievous...I love her work so much! I don't get to good bookshops as often as I'd like to these days so feel a little out of touch with children's books and illustration but holding this book in my hands fills me full of joy and inspires me to pick up a pencil and paintbrush again...someday soon...

Oki & Fred

Last Friday, we took part in Yasmeen Ismail's workshop to make your own paper dog, as part of the Imagine Children's Festival at the Southbank. Her book "Time for bed, Fred!" is one of our favourites, and I'm a huge fan of her work so I was very excited to find out she was running a workshop :)
We had great fun and came home with a bright colourful dog which Oki imaginatively named, Fred!

Lovely scribbles by the lovely Yasmeen!