November Giveaway!

No sun, no moon!


No morn, no noon

No dawn, no dusk, no proper time of day.


No warmth, no cheerfulness, no healthful ease,


No comfortable feel in any member

No shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees,


 No fruits, no flowers, no leaves, no birds

November!

Thomas Hood.

This month began much like the poem by Thomas Hood, dreary mist and rain, gloomy news from home about the state of our ash trees, and a distinct lack of birds, which was very worrying. Everyone has remarked on the shortage of starlings this year, even the house sparrows were thin on the ground. We watched the news and worried for the safety of friends across the ocean after the devastation of hurricane Sandy. Added to that we had our own drama here in the shape of a car crash which demolished the telegraph pole across the road, so added an extra line to the poem- No internet- November! Fortunately nobody was hurt and the fault was fixed but it took ten days, which made work very difficult.

It wasn’t all doom and gloom however; we had lots of trips and caught up with family and friends. We went to the NEC in Birmingham and handed over the original painting of “Hare’s Hideaway” to Mike and Hilary Emeny of “Art of the Imagination”. It is always a wrench to part with an original painting, knowing that if all goes well I may never see it again! I was comforted by the fact that printing technology is so far advanced as to allow an accurate copy to be made.

We also visited an exhibition called “The First Cut” in ManchesterThe exhibition showcased the work of 31 international artist who specialize in cutting and manipulating paper. I was particularly drawn to the work of Su Blackwell who’s work is book inspired (see paper house- Wuthering Heights). Many of the works were incredibly complex and fragile and made us wonder about the logistics of setting up such an exhibition. Later in the month we visited London but I will save that for next time.

And now, ladies and gentlemen, I have a give away for you. I have a copy of my “Nature” calendar for 2013 up for grabs. This slimline calendar has twelve different nature based images including many taken from my children’s books. You will find an owl, foxes, a puffin, rabbit and hare, hedgehog and many more. The calendar has been published by Judges and is available in the shops here in the UK only. My giveaway is open to everyone, no matter where you live but please note the holidays are UK bank holidays etc that may not be relevant to you. To be included in the draw all you have to do is indicate you wish to take part by leaving a comment below. I will pick a winner at random on Friday 30th of November.

You may also be interested to learn that you can help a worthwhile charity and buy my new Birthday calendar here- and my Gardener's Scrapbook Calendar 2013 here-

Antiques for Everyone Fair

I’ve been very preoccupied recently with helping my mum purchase a retirement flat and feel that I have been wading through mud as far as creating anything new artistically. I seem to spend more and more time sitting at my computer, trying to get to grips with some new programme or other, at the moment I am doing battle with Indesign. It is always so much more difficult to learn from a book but feel reluctant to enroll on anymore evening classes so I suppose I will just have to carry on regardless. I have been thinking for some time now about getting some of my children’s books back into print through one of the POD companies, one of the reasons why I need Indesign.

Light relief has been found in bookbinding, making origami structures from folded Elephanthide. In case you are wondering, I have not skinned an endangered species; Elephanthide is a very tough paper, which lends itself to paper folding! You can see the finished result here-


I also had some illustrations exhibited at The National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham where I met up with Mike and Hilary Emeny from Books Illustrated Ltd. (see above) at the Antiques for Everyone Fair.The day I went they were very excited to have sold an original Arthur Rackham. Other works on their stand included Ernest Shepard, Edmund Dulac and Annie French.

One Old Oxford Ox

Following on from my last post I promised to tell you about Oxford. We stayed overnight in St Stephen’s Hall, one of the many student halls available to the general public for bed and breakfast. Previously we have stayed at Keble College but this was out of action due to renovation; no matter, St Stephen’s did not disappoint and as an added bonus it had car parking, a rarity in central Oxford. I loved staying in this tranquil, cloistered building which was surprisingly warm and friendly with its hidden herb gardens and quiet corners (see top two images, click to enlarge).

It was only a short stroll down the Cowley road into the town centre where we visited the Ashmoleon, The Natural History Museum with its famous dodo and the most amazingly quirky Pitt Rivers Museum. Oxford looked beautiful basking in spring sunshine, which made its honey coloured stone glow. I love to peep into secret gardens and soak in the ambience of this famous city with its bicycles and lovely old pubs and bookshops.



On our way home we returned to reality and caught the Friday afternoon traffic on the motorway which took us to the NEC where “Books Illustrated” were exhibiting original children’s book illustration including for the first time the amazing Nicola Bayley whose work I have admired for many years now. Included in the exhibition was a small selection of work from my book “White is the moon” which you can just about make out in the photograph. The exhibition will tour various venues around the country, the dates and places are available from the website here.



Nicola kindly gave me her permission to show you some of her work which you can see in more detail here on her website. I have a collection of her books on my shelf starting with “One Old Oxford Ox” one of the many books she illustrated for Jonathan Cape. She is perhaps best known for her amazingly detailed, exquisite, miniature paintings of cats, possibly the best known being “The Mousehole Cat.” Perhaps my all time favourite and desert island book is “All for the Newborn Baby” by Walker Books which is what I can only describe a work of pure genius with jeweled medieval inspired decorations; one for keeping and handling with white cotton gloves!

Harrogate Exhibition.

We drove over to Harrogate at the weekend to visit Mike Emeny from Books Illustrated, in order to pick up some old artwork and hand over some fresh pieces. Mike was exhibiting at the Harrogate Antiques Fair and was showing work by old and contemporary illustrators.There were pieces of original book illustration by Kate Greenaway, Annie French, Honor Charlotte Appleton as well as newer pieces by Yvonne Gilbert, Peter Malone and Charles Van Sandwyk to name just a few. I had one piece in this show, a painting of fungi, leaves and grasses painted in watercolour and taken from my book “Down the Lane”. You can just about spot it in the corner in the photograph.


One piece that caught my eye was by an artist called Una Woodruff, see the painting of the harp in the photograph, you can see it here in more detail by clicking on the link. Hours, weeks, months of painstaking work have gone into the creation of this modern masterpiece. I gazed in awe at the tiny feathers, butterflies wings, mosses and ivy leaves all painted with a dedication and mastery seldom seen today.


Our time was limited which was a shame as Harrogate is a very beautiful town but we wanted to make sure we had time to call in for a cuddle of this little chap.



On the way home a perfect harvest moon lit up the sky, all in all a beautiful day.



"When the moon hits Your eye
Like a big pizza pie
-that's amore."
Lyric by Jack Brooks (1953)

Bookshop Treasures

On a recent visit to London we were delighted to find the rarest of all treasures, an independent bookshop by the name of John Sandoe Books Ltd. If I lived a bit nearer I think I would haunt this 18th Century bookshop, it is as if the owners have had secret access to your wish list of books and placed them strategically on view.

It was here that I found a paperback edition of “The Man Who Planted Trees” by Jean Giono and illustrated with wood engravings by Harry Brockway published by Harvill. I bought the book mainly because of its illustrations but the story is charming and for just £5.99 I think would make the perfect stocking filler for any bookworm.

Interestingly Harry Brockway trained as a stonemason and I think that his wood engravings have the qualities of a sculptor; they have a certain solidity to their form if that makes sense? You can see more of his work here.

Whilst I am on the subject of book illustration I have just heard from Mike Emeny at Books Illustrated that they will be making an appearance on the new BBC2 programme of ‘Trust me I’m a Dealer’ which is showing over the next few weeks on weekdays at 6:30pm. It is a programme where Paul Martin raises much needed funds for families with special plans.They will be involved with selling an Alice in Wonderland painting by Angel Dominguez as well as a Rupert Bear ink drawing by Mary Tourtel.

"Narnia" by Andrew Skilleter

I first met Andrew at an exhibition opening called “The Art of Christmas” which was organized by Books Illustrated. Andrew is married to the illustrator Patricia Papps who’s work I have featured previously and as I admire both artist’s we had much to chat about. The two beautiful illustrations featured here are part of his "Narnia" works by C.S.Lewis.

You may know Andrew’s art through his work as a Dr Who illustrator in the eighties. Since then he has produced hundreds of covers for adult, teenage and children's books across numerous genres. His work has also encompassed the illustration of many books, magazines, CDs and Audio, TV and Video and a long creative partnership with the BBC including for the Radio Collection covers for The Chronicles of Narnia, Brother Cadfael, Tolkein, Journey Into Space and with other BBC departments including visual entertainment and exhibitions.


In these days of digital art it is sometimes difficult to appreciate how an illustrator creates images. I have had the pleasure of seeing his original artwork, which is both intricate and detailed. I asked him about the technique he used on his Narnia pieces and he told me that the work is in acrylics on rigid CS10 board and mostly hand brushwork with some airbrush for the background.

Andrew now tells me that he has a brand new website and will be selling his Limited edition Narnia prints directly from his online shop He also has work in a new exhibition where he will be showing his original artwork for the BBC's adaptation of 'The Chronicles of Narnia' at The Salisbury Museum. The exhibition entitled 'The Wonder of Illustration' has been organized by Books Illustrated and features other artists as well as Andrew and it runs from Saturday 4th April until Saturday 4th July 2009. If you live in that part of the world you might like to go along, I am sure you will be astonished at his skill and draughtsmanship.

Christmas in "The Air"

Christmas Decorations at The Ritz.




Patrick at "The Art of Christmas exhibition"

Yesterday I exchanged my dog walking trousers and wellies for more suitable attire as I made my way down to London on board a lovely new train which tilted and whizzed it's way into Euston station from Crewe in an incredible hour and a half!

I had a lovely time mooching around some of my favourite shops in Covent Garden and of course Liberty's and enjoyed the opportunity to meet up with my brother. The main reason for the trip however was to visit The "Art of Christmas" Exhibition by Books Illustrated Ltd. which opened at the Air Gallery in Dover Street. I took along my son Patrick who happened to be working in London, so it was good to have some company. We took the tube to Green Park and as we walked past "The Ritz Hotel" I could not resist taking a photograph of a stunning window decoration.

It was a real treat to meet up with some of my favourite artists, Particia Papps and her husband Andrew Skilleter and of course the amazing Peter Malone, who's illustrations for the newly published "Nutcracker" adorned the walls of the gallery. Peter told me that he did not take up illustration until he was forty years old. You can read more about how this came about and what influences his work, here.Peter Malone

I also managed to persuade our usually camera shy son Patrick to pose for a photograph, perhaps the champagne helped!

"The Art of Christmas" an exhibition

Illustration by Peter Malone from "The Nutcracker"

Illustration by Patricia Papps "Winter Fairy"

Illustration by Kate Greenaway.

I have just received a rather beautiful catalogue, which has been produced by “Books Illustrated” to accompany an exhibition of original artworks to be held at The Air Gallery in London from the 15th to the 20th of December. I am looking forward to my visit with eager anticipation, it will be a great excuse to visit London and see the Christmas decorations and maybe do a bit of Christmas shopping.

I will be having three works in this exhibition, which is very exciting, including the robin illustration above which I did some years ago for the World Wide Fund for Nature. The star of the show however, will be Peter Malone who will be featuring the complete works from his new book “The Nutcracker”, (see above) recently published by Knopf. I am a great fan of Peter’s work, which looks even more exquisite when you see it up close. He has an amazing eye for detail and his work has a timeless quality I think.

There will be works by some of Britain’s best loved contemporary illustrators, including Christian Birmingham, Charles Van Sandwyk and Patricia Papps alongside classic illustrators from the past such as Annie French, Honor Appleton, Arthur Rackham and Heath Robinson to name but a few. So, if you are looking for any stocking fillers and you have very deep pockets, you could treat yourself to an original Kate Greenaway perhaps? Well we can dream…

Original Book Illustration Exhibition

If you live within reach of Harrogate and you love original book illustration you may be interested to know that Books Illustrated will be exhibiting there on the 13th to the 15th of June. Books Illustrated Ltd. are specialist dealers in original book illustration with prices ranging from £50 to £50,000. You can view beautiful art by contemporary illustrators, including the breathtaking work of Peter Malone (shown above, top is an illustration called Rappacinis Daughter) and many other talented individuals, alongside classic illustrators such as Arthur Rackham (see above, second illustration down) and if you are very lucky, maybe even an original Kate Greenaway. For details of the exhibition, please visit the Books Illustrated Ltd. website.