James Mayhew - author & illustrator

What the Dickens? David Copperfield and me...

2012-02-05T10:04:00.000-08:00

A memory: I am sitting with my class drawing. We are not in school but outside and it’s raining. And we are using something I have never used before, called pen and ink. It’s not my usual teacher. I’m in year 5 or 6, and I have this scratchy pen and a bottle of black ink. And I am drawing bricks. Drawing and drawing, lines of bricks. Now windows. Now roof tiles. I am drawing The Rookery, the birthplace of David Copperfield in the novel by Charles Dickens, which was in a certain “Blunderstone” village, easily recognisable as Blundeston. And it was in this same tiny Suffolk village that I lived from the age of four until around twenty.

Charles Dickens’ 200th birthday is celebrated this week, reminding me of the last major Dickens celebration - the 100th anniversary of his death in 1970. Blundeston responded with a Dickensian festival which I can just remember, although I can only have been 6 years old. And I remember it mainly because of a large trampoline on the village playing field, an unheard of excitement! But also for a pageant of Dickensian characters and a real horsecoach trundling past our house. Everyone dressed up, and yes, that really is a picture of me, in 1970, as David Copperfield.

Although I didn’t read the novel when young – David Copperfield is long book and includes all sorts of “grown up” sin, such as fallen women and imprisonment - I suppose, without knowing it, a layer of awareness of the value of books and the written word was implanted that day, at the festival and through the landmarks associated with the story. I learned to appreciate the village – the Rookery, of course, The Plough pub, from where Barkis the Carrier set off for Gt. Yarmouth. And the village sign, carved in wood, depicting young David Copperfield himself, beside the church, with its famous flinted round tower, and sundial, so beautifully remembered by Copperfield:

“There is nothing half so green that I know anywhere, as the grass of that churchyard; nothing half so shady as its trees; nothing half so quiet as its tombstones. The sheep are feeding there, when I kneel up, early in the morning, in my little bed in a closet within my mother's room, to look out at it; and I see the red light shining on the sun-dial, and think within myself, 'Is the sun-dial glad, I wonder, that it can tell the time again?'”

My primary school was right next to that very churchyard. Whilst not exactly Dickensian, it was not a happy place; the cane and the slipper were regularly applied by the staff back in the 1960s. But at least the teachers introduced me to pen and ink. I can smell the inks now… And such colours! As well as drawing Dickensian landmarks, we also used them to create stained glass windows, on greaseproof paper, inspired by the windows in the church.

Years later I set up a dark room and photographed some of these land marks (my drawings are long lost). Between the Rookery and the church was a curious round wall – a pound for stray sheep. Inside the church it was always quiet and peaceful and I remember sitting at evensong, on a summer’s evening, listening to birds singing, the late sun lighting up the plain walls, and enjoying the tuneful repetition of hymns. I loved their stories too. Phrases like “For those in peril on the sea!” thrilled and frightened me as much as “The Lord is my Shepherd” still moves me.

My parents moved away about the time I went off to Art College. I have never been back to Blundeston, but I find I still dream of the house where I grew up, the trees I played in, the gardens, my bedroom, my den, shared with my sister Kate. The surrounding fields and quarries, the contorted hedgerows, ancient and twisted and hollow inside, were a wonderful playground and it was a landscape, full of stories for anyone with a little imagination.

This year, with Charles Dickens celebrated everywhere, Blundeston (with both good and bad memories), is calling me.

Perhaps this is the year to return to my old haunts… and put a few ghosts to bed.

Early starts in early January...

2012-01-07T23:15:00.000-08:00

Christmas and the New Year festivities may be past, but I am still trapped in a world of sugar and treats, of marzipan castles and icing sugar forests, of chocolates and candy canes and sugar plums. And no, I'm not referring to any festive binging (although there IS an abundance of chocolates strewn through the house; always dangerous with me around). This is the Kingdom Of Sweets from The Nutcracker. I have not yet reached that extraordinary land as I've been illustrating other scenes from the story. But I am dreaming and experimenting in readiness.

Ella Bella Ballerina and the Nutcracker has a particularly tight deadline - before begging an extention I had just four weeks to illustrate a whole 32 page book (in a highly complex method using three layers of art per image; I hope my students are reading this!). Then, just before Christmas my wife broke her wrist slipping on some festive ice, so as well as doing all the shopping, cleaning, cooking at Christmas (and beyond!), I've been getting up at 5am and working through until 11pm to give myself a chance of finishing the book on time.

Curiously, I am growing to love the early mornings, still dark of course, but deliciously quiet, and somehow that time seems all my own, with no one else in it to steal time and ideas. When I was younger I would happily work through the night to finish a book, for weeks if necessary. But I find evenings harder these days (something to do with being a parent I suspect...). Anyway, I am gaining ground and have almost completed the scenes of the book set in the real world. Then I can throw myself into the fantasy. Perhaps a chocolate induced sugar high will be required to fully inspire my imagination; on the other hand, if I don't get a bit more sleep I may well be hallucinating soon anyway!

Happy New Year!

Raise your glasses!

2011-12-20T22:33:00.000-08:00

It's that time of the year: to look forward and look back, and as an eternal optimist I intend to "hold onto that which is good", a mantra taught me by my retired agent and dear friend Gina Pollinger.

So even if you are only drinking squash this Christmas, I hope you'll raise a glass to 2011 and have a great Christmas. For me it's been a truly extraordinary year, thanks to a huge number of brilliant colleagues and kind people who have supported me through all sorts of wonderful events and projects.

The bespoke Whisky glass, engraved with Ella Bella is just one of four exquisite tumblers: an award winning design and one more extraordinary gift from the Davidson family and Glencairn Crystal.

In publishing terms, Katie in Scotland went out into the world (prematurely to fit in with the Authors Live event with Scottish Book Trust); I've completed Katie and the Starry Night; illustrated CDs for Naxos and begun work on Ella Bella Ballerina and the Nutcracker.

But outside my studio there have been other capers. The year began with the launch of the Katie trail at the National Gallery in London, and continued with BBC/Scottish Book Trust broadcast in May. There were Festivals (Cheltenham, Bath, Edinburgh, Oundle, Saffron Walden and the crazy inaugural POP UP!), Concerts, A trip to Brussels, a Tesco Bank Art in Schools launch and all sorts of events in galleries and schools, with murals and Mayhew Mayhem galore!

Here are a few pictures of happy memories from the year...

One of the big highlights was meeting Piper, at the National Gallery of Scotland during the Edinburgh Festival. She was the winner of the Nessie competition and who has her portrait of the wee beastie published in Katie in Scotland, a reminder of what it's all about - engaging children. Seeing the joy on the faces of Piper and the runners up, who all had their worked exhibited in the magnificent gallery, was just great.

Likewise seeing children jumping up and down in their seats to Rimsky-Korsakov (at the Sinbad & Scheherazade concert) or hiding from the wolf (in Peter and the Wolf) were cherishable moments.

And next year? More books, more concerts, and the development of Katie and the Mona Lisa: LIVE on stage. It's going to be an exciting year!

So... Cheers!

and... (can't resist this) "A Merry Christmas to all my readers!"

A portrait of Edinburgh

2011-12-06T12:04:00.000-08:00

The reopening of the stunning Venetian Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh took place on December 1st and on the 4th I was able to see for myself the astonishing building. It has an incredible main hall, with a starry ceiling, beneth which are murals and frieze of Scottish History, created by artist William Hole over a hundred years ago. Sparkling with gold leaf the almost Renaissance-like pageantry and PreRaphaelite details astound with their colour and clarity. The collection of art itself is also a joy to discover, from a tudor Campbell family tree to the deathmasks a kind of portrait) of Burke and Hare.

I was there to support the new partnership between the National Galleries of Scotland and Tesco Bank, and launch the Art in Schools competition that the Bank is generously sponsoring. It was a rather surreal day full of children and herby scones and stories and journalists and photographers. I told a favourite Scottish story, The Battle of the Birds and painted the school children a portrait of the giant in the story. My dear friend Linda, to whom Katie in Scotland is dedicated, was on hand with her usual warm welcome. And outside, Edinburgh fairly sparkled, with trees full of lights, gardens filled with skaters, the air fullof music and laughter, and a colourful fair with rides and markets stalls spilling over with nutcrackers and festive delights. And as if this wasn't Christmassy enough...it even snowed...!

More musical pictures... from Naxos!

2011-11-28T12:42:00.000-08:00

For all those who want their nippers to enjoy the Classics - a plan dear to my heart of course - will find the perfect answer in the CDs from the Classical record company Naxos. Here are the first four titles in their series: "My first Classical Album", and first Beethoven, Mozart and Piano discs. Each bursting with fabulous performances of brilliant music.

I had great fun illustrating the covers and there are more little pictures inside the booklets that are crammed full of information. I'm actually rather proud of these, and I'm currently sketching ideas for the next four.

And when your children are old enough, bring them to a concert... have plans for events in both Hatfield and Saffron Walden next year... and maybe elsewhere. Watch this space!

A passing reference...

2011-11-10T21:55:00.000-08:00

Even now my head remains full of pomegranates and princesses, Scheherazade refusing to fade away entirely. For permission reasons I'm unable to post any film; you'll have to use your imaginations. But we did get a mention in The Independent in an article by Daniel Hahn: Take a look by CLICKING HERE!. It's a very interesting article... and I will definitely be adding these books to my Christmas list.

Sailing away with Scheherazade!

2011-11-07T05:55:00.000-08:00

And so... a dream fulfilled. Yesterday, two concerts with the de Havilland Philharmonic Orchestra, featuring Rimsky-Korsakov’s symphonic suite, Scheherazade. The day went by in a blur, filled with spices and perfumes, sounds and stories and pictures of the East. Here are a few pictures from rehearsals and backstage through to the performance itself.

I hardly know where to begin to describe the day or how important it was to me. I have loved this music since I was a child. But also, of course, I was back with my lovely de Havilland colleages, and the tremendous and really rather wonderful Robin Browning, who conducted a beautifully warm and passionate account of Scheherazade, full of storytelling and drama, in the Beecham mould. He was, as always, superb!

I have been planning my part in the concert since March, and while this was my fifth concert with the de Havilland and Robin, every year is different.

This year I realised I could not achieve what I wanted to in paint alone, so I used oil pastels instead, with a tiny bit of paint added on top for certain details.
Interpreting the music, meant going back to Rimsky-Korsakov’s autobiography, My Musical Life (which I’ve read often), to help the detective work required to find the best stories to match. In fact he did not want to be too specific, but I settled on: Sinbad’s first voyage; the tale of the second Kalandar Prince; the tale of Prince Camaralzeman and Princess Badoura, and lastly, the third Kalandar prince’s tale, featuring the magnetic rock and famous shipwreck. All of this was held within the framework of Scheherazade’s story, of course. Then I practised for many weeks, developing compositions to match the music and stories...

All too soon the day arrived. There were fraught moments: I forgot some paint and brushes, so a double base player dashed to Homebase for some yellow emulsion and the orchestra treasurer lent some brushes... Such is the comradeship that exists between us!
And I must thank, as always, the St Albans Children’s book Group, and Orchard books and UH arts team for their brilliant support (including lovely Aladdin’s Lamp art activities between performances).

After a morning rehearsal, it was no time before the orchestra were tuning up and the capacity audience (both performances were sold out in advance) were filling the theatre. There was a real buzz to the day, and for me, being given this extraordinary opportunity to present this favourite music to an audience of children was a rare privilege. But how would it work out?

In the event, I am told that toddlers to teens were transfixed by the orchestra and the music. The day went by in such a blur... But there are fragments that I remember. I had a spectacular costume, created by Trina Bharwaney of Boo Boo Designs, with a turban and Arabian Nights shoes, baggy pantaloons and a tunic, all made out of Indian silks. I felt quite different in these clothes and strode on stage like a mighty Sultan. In truth I was terribly dry mouthed and nervous. But once I started... there was no going back. And I think it was the best concert yet. There were moments of humour (like spilling the raffle tickets all over the stage!), and drama, when my pastel flew out of my hand. But it is the concentrated moments I will remember most, the rare alchemy when music, story and image all came together. When the audience held their breath and even I felt carried away by Rimsky’s flying carpet. There were the moments when the music suddenly sounded so overwhelmingly beautiful that I felt rooted to the spot with emotion. The violin solos (so exquisitely played by Richard Aylwin) stopped my heart for a moment and I almost forgot to draw. And there were tears. From me, the orchestra and indeed in the audience as Scheherazade cast her spell.

It’s odd that Rimsky-Korsakov is so often dismissed as cold and unemotional. Perhaps that view comes from critics who don’t understand the power of a fairy tale or the joyeous outpouring that comes with a happy ending . Everyone pulling together made for a fantastic happy ending to this extraordinary day. I will never forget it. And while everyone who was part of it should be applauded, and while I get a bouquet, for me the real hero of the day was the man himself... Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov.

“Spasibo Rimsky!”

Sinbad and Scheherazade

2011-11-04T03:37:00.000-07:00

THESE PERFORMANCE ARE NOW SOLD OUT

Arabian days and nights

2011-10-30T01:52:00.001-07:00

My days and nights are filled with dreams and visions, of pomegranites and lions, sea monsters and palaces and valleys filled with diamonds. Of a prince as fair as the moon, and of magnetic mountains, and of sea journeys and adventure!

Rehearsals are fully underway for the de Havilland Philharmonic Family Concert, exactly a week today. Both performance are very nearly sold out, and while the musicians grapple with the oriental cadenzas in Rimsky-Korsakov's score (and indeed the music by Nielsen that will also be performed), I'm making final decisions about the stories, which easel to use, which materials and paints, and exactly what to paint to match the music and the composer's intentions. So an intense week of painting, drawing and listening and reading and writing and rehesarsing. And it may just be my favourite week of the year!

Anyone who is coming, please remember to buy a raffle ticket BEFORE the show, for your chance to win one of the paintings created during the performance. The money raised will go to the National Literacy Trust, also supported this year by Orchard Books, my publisher, in the hope of getting more stories into the lives of more children. With Scheherazade as a theme, it seems very appropriate!

Tales from the land of TinTin

2011-10-22T23:33:00.000-07:00

With my head still spinning from the concert in Saffron Walden, I set off last Monday for four days in international schools in Brussels. Not having ever been before I was looking forward to the trip enormously (not least for the chocolates!). Plans were thwarted when an Albanian refugee jumped off my train and died. And so after eight hours I was back where I started: at home. Tuesday I set off again and this time Eurostar worked out just fine, although the image of TinTin on the wall at Brussels Midi Station was surprisingly poignant in the light of the previous day's tragedy.

Although I had missed some morning sessions at my first school (the International School of Brussels), they were accomodated in other sessions. I spent two days in the school, and was supported brilliantly by Gary and Anny of Book Box International, who set up the mini-tour and sold a really stimulating range of books at their book fair... including one or two of mine of course!

The next school was one of four European schools, and like the previous school, it was enormous. Because Brussels is such an important business and political centre, and since the European Union was based there, the population of children at this European school alone grows by up to 300 children per year. Next year they have to move as they are running out of room. As with the International School I was given a very warm welcome. I was also struck by a beautiful mural painted in the 1950s in the music room, reminding a little of the Jack O Legs mural from the same vintage in a Letchworth Garden City school (see earlier post below).

The last school was quite different. It had just over 100 children, and was established in a beautiful old town house. And it was enchanting, with staff and children alike giving me a tremendous welcome. At the end of the day, two teachers guided me across Brussels via the metro system to ensure I found the railway station to get home, for which – tired and bewildered by then – I was very grateful.

It was a whirlwind few days in a busy and fascinating city. Although I never saw “the sights” like the main square, the mannekin piss, the opera house... I did see watermills and Dutch gables and grand house with swan lakes, and the most remarkable bookshop that was also a restaurant with a transparent floor in the children’s department underneath which ran a complex model railway; a silverstream caravan graced the retro travel section; the music section had the atmosphere of a 60s Beatnik bar, while all over TinTin of course loomed large. And with Spielberg’s film just opening back here in Letchworth there was a lovely sense of things dovetailing as I returned from the land of Herge to the promise of a trip to the cinema with my son, a huge TinTin fan.

And so, as I gather my thoughts it’s time to crack on with Ella Bella and the Nutrcacker... and also Scheherazade in Hatfield... only two weeks to go!

Uttlesforde Orchestra in Saffron Walden; a family concert

2011-10-17T00:56:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, on a golden october afternoon, the long-awaited collaboration with the Uttlesforde Orchestra took place in the Friends' school hall. We opened with Peter and the Wolf and then zipped through Bizet's Jeux d'Enfants, Patterson's Rebecca and Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake suite, rounding off with Grieg's "In the Hall of the Mountain King" for an encore. It was a terrific afternoon. The school hall looked wonderfully English and charming with the orchestra on stage and the bunting strung along the windows.

After setting up my board, easel, paper and paints - on a scale I've never done before - it was straight into rehearsals with the orchestra. The festival people did a fantastic job, setting everything up, including a raffle and book sales. It all went by so quickly and suddenly the hall was packed to absolute capacity by excited children and eager parents. And we were off.

All I can really remember (apart from dwelling on the odd fluffied line!) is a sea of colour: literally hundreds of children enjoying the music, watching the pictures and having fun. And the roar of approval that greeted the orchestra at the end was thoroughly deserved as they played brilliantly.

Peter and Rebecca were the BIG challanges. The picture of the inside of the piano give you an idea of the "orchestration" of Rebecca, with balls, balloons and tin cans, whips, megaphones and buckets of water... A crazy piece!

We are already considering another concert next year. I wonder what we should perform. Any ideas...?

PETER & THE WOLF in Saffron Walden

2011-10-12T01:41:00.000-07:00

This event is now SOLD OUT!

Words , wolves and wonders in Walden

2011-10-09T03:23:00.000-07:00

Earlier in the year, I visited the Friends' School in Saffron Walden, to take a look at the hall where the Words in Walden Family concert will take place. Suddenly, that concert is only a week away, and all my worries are rising to the surface. The hall has a lovely old stage that the orchestra will squeeze onto. And I will be in front, on a raised platform, with an easel and a large (A0) board to paint at. Book illustration it is not! I'm busy learning all the words and practising paintings. It's going to be a full-on hour of music art and stories! And with only a handful of tickets left, it looks set to be a full house.

But I'm so looking forward to this event, I truly think it will be a really fun afternoon, not least because of some really mad music - like Patterson's Rebecca. I rehearsed this for the first time with the orchestra on Friday. Oh my goodness! what a crazy piece! The conductor asked for me to be as mad as I can, suggesting Margaret Rutherford as a role model!

So I'd better practise a bit more. Now where are my tweed cape and sturdy walking shoes?

Bath time

2011-10-03T00:50:00.000-07:00

The spectacular weather and blazing hot temperatures gave the breathtaking city of Bath a mediterranean air this weekend. I was there for the Bath children's book festival, with an event at the truly stunning (and recently refurbished) Holburne Museum.

The city looked especially lovely with the bright autumn sunlight picking out architectural details. The warm coloured stone positively glowed amongst trees just starting to turn gold. Just walking past the famous Pump Room and Roman Baths, or over the bridge inspired by the Ponte Vecchio in Florence was unplifting and inspiring (although I resisted the temptation to sing Puccini's "O mio Babbino Caro" which mentions the Ponte Vecchio!). The Holburne Museum itself, with a sweeping drive and surrounded by gardens, makes a huge impression. Inside are artefacts and paintings, mostly from the collection of William Holburne (who gave his name as well as his treasures to the museum). Amongst the impressive collection are fine paintings from the Golden Age of British Art, including Turner, Constable and Gainsborough (who spent much of his life in Bath). Sitting beneath a vast Gainsborough portait was a thrilling setting to talk about Katie and the British Artists.

As usual, I told a story or two. In particular, I chose the tale of Benito the Pirate, which not only links to Turner's Fighting Temeraire (as used in the book), but also William Holburne, who joined the British Navy in 1805 and fought at the Battle of Trafalgar, alongside Nelson, the Temeraire, and of course, Benito! It was a small world even back then! As always, the children were very taken with the shark's eye lens, from a shark my grandfather caught while searching for Benito's treasure on Cocos Island in the 1930s.

After the storytelling session, the children were able to go to the art room for a chance to create their own masterpieces. And after that, I had the chance to meet other authors at the festival: Jeremy Strong, the Bath festival author-in-residence, and Mackenzie Crook, star of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. Naturally he was very interested in the shark's eye lens, but I refused to let him swap it for his wooden eye!

Roll Up for Rebecca!

2011-09-24T03:11:00.000-07:00

So... I've opened the score of Paul Patterson's Rebecca. And admittedly I'm not a musician (I'll be narrating and illustrating), but even I can see this is no usual score. "Rub balloons with palm of hand"; "Plastic comb drawn across strings"; "Glissando with deflating balloons"; "drop table tennis balls into piano".

The narrator's intructions range from piano to Forte Fortissimo (ie: SHOUT!) and at one point require a megaphone! Other instructions demand the pianist sing a funural chant, others to tap their instruments; blow into piano with trombone; throw tin cans into the air... and slam the piano lid!

And I think it's going to be hilarious.

All of this will be sqeezed into the 8 minute piece, using Hillaire Belloc's immortal poem "Rebecca who slammed doors and persished miserably". This was a student work by British composer Paul Patterson, and it's never been recorded so I have NO IDEA what it will sound like. My first rehearsal is next week. I wonder what the orchestra will make of it?

If you want to find out, come along to Saffron Walden for the festival concert with myself, the Uttlesforde Orchestra and conductor Richard Hull. It's on Sunday, October 16th at 3pm, at the Friends' School Hall in Saffron Walden. See details on the picture or the panel on the right. The concert opens with Peter and the Wolf and also includes music by Bizet and Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake suite.

And now... I not only need to learn all the words for Peter, but also Rebecca....

So, from the top...

"A trick that everyone abhors
In little girls is slamming doors.
A wealthy banker's little daughter
Who lived in Palace Green, Bayswater
(By name Rebecca Offendort),
Was given to this furious sport.

She would deliberately go
And slam the door like billy-o!
To make her Uncle Jacob start.
She was not really bad at heart,
But only rather rude and wild;
She was an aggravating child…

It happened that a marble bust
Of Abraham was standing just
Above the door this little lamb
Had carefully prepared to slam,
And down it came! It knocked her flat!
It laid her out! She looked like that.

Her funeral sermon (which was long
And followed by a sacred song)
Mentioned her virtues, it is true,
But dwelt upon her vices too,
And showed the dreadful end of one
Who goes and slams the door for fun.

The children who were brought to hear
The awful tale from far and near
Were much impressed, and inly swore
They never more would slam the door,
— As often they had done before."

Wish me luck!

Peter and the wolves

2011-09-17T02:00:00.001-07:00

I know there should only be one wolf in Prokofiev's tale. But I'm practising so much that there are wolves all over the studio, running through sketchbooks and leaping onto the floor.

The concert is just one month away, and I'm getting very excited about working with a new orchestra, the Uttlesforde Orchestra, and performing in Saffron Walden, a town I love.

I'm getting on top of the narration. It's making the illustrations for (and remembering it all) I need to work on. And on a big scale so everyone can see without the pictures being projected.

The programme also includes music by Bizet, Tchaikovsky (Swan Lake) and a mad piece by Paul Patterson setting Hilaire Belloc's "Rebecca who slammed doors". Which I must post about soon, as it is quite an oddity! If you are interested in coming along, you can BOOK HERE!

Meanwhile the autumn garden is yielding peaches and crabapples. so I may have to leave the wolves to themselves and make some jam!

Hurrah for a boy!

2011-09-16T10:07:00.000-07:00

I don't normally blow my own trumpet and post good reviews, but I'm sorry I can't resist this time. This reviewer from TEACH NURSERY magazine understands exactly what I set out to achieve! Originally the book's fate was destroyed by a stupid review that classified the book as "Non fiction" and criticised me for including a boy and a dinosaur. Now, though, I feel vindicated! Hurrah! (If you click the pic it should be big enough to read!)

The sounds of September

2011-09-12T14:18:00.000-07:00

It is turning into an agreeably musical autumn. As I move up a gear in my preparation for the two family concerts (see "Events" panel to the right), I am working a lot on Peter and the Wolf this week, but with an eye on Sinbad at the same time.

Meanwhile I have completed two more covers in the new Naxos children's CD range. These will be released in November and will be a great introduction to the classics, with particular themes for each disc. Here you can see the Beethoven and the Piano albums. Dear old Ludwig was the hardest, as he isn't easy to make approachable for children. In the end everyone decided to go with the wild tempestuous image of Romantic legend. I supposse it's not so far removed from a toddler tamtrum!

Sinbad the Sailor and the stories of Scheherazade

2011-08-27T05:27:00.000-07:00

For the last four years I’ve been working with the de Havilland Philharmonic Orchestra on a series of children’s concerts. I think what we do together is pretty unique and is certainly a highlight of my year. Apart from narrating stories around sections of the music I also illustrate them at an easel as the orchestra play. This is then projected onto a screen behind the orchestra so everyone can see the pictures grow in time to the music.

It’s a bit of tight-rope walk, which takes months to prepare and lots of careful rehearsing. But I love it and believe truly it is the very best way to introduce children to classical music. The concerts are fun and exciting yet also true to the composer and stories.

Since I was a child I have loved Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Scheherazade” and at last I am able to bring the original stories alive in words and pictures with an orchestra. I am so excited. What could be a better theme than that of the world’s greatest storyteller, Scheherazade herself? Her immortal stories include Sinbad the sailor and many other fabulous tales of geniis and magic and monsters. I’ve been researching and planning since March and I truly believe this concert will be the best ever!

As you can see, I have been experimenting with posters and advertising... hard to get right when so much information needs to be conveyed...

It takes place at a fantastic modern theatre, The Weston Auditorium on the de Havilland campus of the University of Hertfordshire in Hatfield – only 20 minutes out of London. And the date?

NOVEMBER 6th 2011 two performances at 2pm and 4.30pm

Obviously we can only continue this distinguished series with an audience. So please spread the word and come if you can. I promise you an unforgettable afternoon of music, art and stories!

Booking opens on Tuesday August 30th: Box office: 01707 281127

CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO!

Edinburgh Festivities

2011-08-22T04:17:00.000-07:00

Edinburgh is a city that never disappoints. Once again I have returned from a visit to this remarkable city, full of ideas and filled up with excitements and culture and pictures in the head. This time my family came with me and my free time was spent climbing Arthur's seat, the castle, the Camera Obscura... everything seemed to involve climbing (my poor Suffolk-trained legs are still recovering)!
And here are few photographs to decorate this posting.

Now it's onwards with the Naxos CD sleeves, the Katie & The Starry Night cover, preparing for family concerts, the Bath and Cheltenham Festivals, and writing and illustrating Ella Bella Ballerina and The Nutcracker. And developing something NEW and secret... It's going to be a busy autumn.

MEANWHILE...

You can read about the Katie celebrations on my KATIE'S PICTURE SHOW website. It was quite something!

An ending and a beginning

2011-08-12T02:51:00.000-07:00

Recently I have been working away on the 12th book in my Katie series, "Katie and the Starry Night", a magical exploration of Van Gogh's pictures. It's been a tough book as Van Gogh felt harder to interpret than many artists, because of the very obvious struggle and drama in his life and work. It seems a bit ridiculous, comparitively, to apply the word "struggle" to my own work. But it's been a full on few weeks, with Cheltenham Music Festival, the Pop Up festival and other things - lovely things - all coming at the same time. I was, simply, pushed for time.

To compound the problem, I was unwell and, very regrettably, had to cancel my planned visit to the Seven Stories centre in Newcastle; I hate letting anyone down and I was especially looking forward to this event. I can only apologise to those who had booked and I hope that you can forgive me and that I have an opportunity to make it up to you in due course.

Orchard Books sent a splendid bouquet this week to cheer me up. It worked, for I was rather taken with the Van Gogh theme in the sunflowers, contrasting with blues, reminiscent of the Starry Night palette. So I put them on my very own Van Gogh chair for a quick snap...

Meanwhile, apart from the cover, the book is FINISHED. And my pills are working, so I'm all set for my events in Edinburgh next week - at the Book Festival on Tuesday 16th and at the National Gallery of Scotland on Thursday 18th. I love Scotland and I can't wait to celebrate Katie in Scotland with my good friends North of the Border.

And when I return... a new beginning: watch this space! (something very different that I've been experimenting with...)

OUT NOW!

2011-08-02T02:31:00.000-07:00

Katie and Waterlily Pond is published in paperback this week. The hardback went out of stock within weeks of publication in the UK, and I know there are people who couldn't get their hands on a copy. So now's your chance! With five Monet masterpieces reproduced within the story, it's another mad-cap romp through art with Katie...

Words in Walden: a Family Concert

2011-07-13T08:00:00.000-07:00

When I posted about a visit to the Fry Gallery in Saffron Walden recently, I never expected to find myself posting again so soon about this beautiful town. Yet I couldn't be more thrilled to tell you that the Uttlesforde Orchestra and I will be collaborating on a children's concert. It will take place at the Friends' School Hall on October 16th at 3pm. The programme will include Prokofiev's immortal "Peter & the Wolf", selections from Tchaikovsky's "Swan Lake", Curzen's "Robin Hood" suite and - unknown to me - Patterson's setting of Hilaire Belloc's "Rebecca who Slammed Doors for Fun and Persished Miserably"!

It's a small hall and tickets are limited to just 250. So if you are local and want to go, book early!

This event is part of a superb Literary Festival, organised by Harts Bookshop, called Words in Walden, and I'm delighted to be participating.

For more information, CLICK HERE!

POP UP!!!!!!

2011-07-10T23:53:00.000-07:00

A crazy few days have taken me first to Cheltenham, for a magical Ella Bella concert at the Music festival (you can read about that on my Ella Bella site by CLICKING HERE) and then to London for the very first - and completely triumphant - Pop Up Festival. This is the brainchild of Dylan Calder, and it's undoubtedly the best children's book festival I've ever seen. Not that I saw that much... as the main Festival was in the lovely, hidden gardens of Coram's Fields, near King's Cross. I was just across the road at the Brunswick Centre, behind the Renoir Cinema.

And there, on a stage in broad daylight the giant pop up book made a few weeks ago (see here) was put up and children came in waves to grab outsized pens and fill it with pictures and colours and stories. We had dragons and princesses and castles and witches and a number of maurauding black panthers courtesy of Raphael, whose father runs the Splats Theatre Company (and who is creating the theatre version of Katie's Picture Show). Yes the whole thing was deliciously mad, and the turning of the pages and the revealing of the pop ups never failed to bring gasps of delight from the children.

It was lovely to see so many friends, and some of my own old students from Cambridge Art School (Children's Book MA) as well (and yes, I made them add their own talents to the project! The book contains original pieces by Nicola Killen, Susannah Moores, Emma Symons' children (!), and Patrick Kennedy (and son).

The best bit? seeing children sitting contentedly INSIDE a giant book, crawling through the pages, and through the cut out doorway, brandishing pens and losing themselves in concentrated effort. Some spent hours lost in a reverie of their own creation. And when it was done it was taken to Coram's Fields and set outside the bookshop tent, where it became a tunnel, a slide, a climbing frame, a spur to storytelling... and of course what it was always supposed to be: a giant pop up book for a giant pop up festival!

A Big Day for "Boy"

2011-07-04T01:29:00.000-07:00

This week, a very happy occasion: the republication of "Boy", a book which means a very great deal to me and which has been unavailable for many years. I wrote about it before (see HERE to read the history), and now I've made a little film, to celebrate publication day (Thursday). The film is just me showing how I used pastels to make the illustrations, and you can watch it on YOUTUBE. It's worth a watch just to see me grappling with one of my antique gramophones...

Oh, and if you want to own your very own copy, it's already available on Amazon (although I would always recommend supporting your local bookshop).

So if you have a toddler, who is just exploring the world; if you have a child who crawls into your bed for warmth in the morning. Or if you have a boy who is trying to learn to share: take a look. It's one of the books I am most proud of and it was truly written (and illustrated) from the heart!

popping up...

2011-06-29T12:38:00.000-07:00

To paraphrase Alice, what is the use of a book without pictures? or words? In this case the use is that this giant blank pop-up book is empty, waiting for children to scamble over it's oversized pages and create their own book by literally stepping into it.

Possibly the maddest thing I've ever done, I spent the day at Hachette Children's books (being very well looked after as usual), cutting up sheets of foam board and trying to create pop ups, not only for the first time in my life but also on a vast scale. Isambard Kingdom Brunel I am not... but it nonetheless feels like a minor miracle of (paper) engineering!

The idea was given to me by Dylan Calder, director of London's newest and brightest Children's Book Festival - the Pop Up festival. Dylan felt the one thing he didn't have was a pop up book. Well he has now! So if you have bored children on Sunday 10th July, bring them along to the Brunswick centre, near Kings Cross, where I'll be installed from midday, and help me create the biggest and best pop up book ever. There's a story to tell and pictures to create and fun to be had. CLICK HERE for further information on the Pop Up Festival. Oh, and it's all FREE.

Legs, legends and ladders; painting Murals.

2011-06-26T23:28:00.000-07:00

Working in the Grange school in Letchworth Garden City, I was asked to help children create a mural in the entrance hall. I've done many simular projects but this was a bit different... Firstly, it was to be painted directly onto the wall. Usually I paint onto large boards which are cut to size, then hung on the wall later. It was undeniably exciting to have ladders, pots of paint and excited children. It felt really... thrilling... to paint straight onto the wall!

The theme was stories with food in them. The children at this school have their own allotment and greenhouse and grow all sorts of things. And the theme for their topic work has been food and eating. So the mural includes: the Witch with an Apple (Snow White), James' giant peach, the Enormous Turnip, the Princess on the Pea, the Firebird (who ate golden apples), Jack's beanstalk and Cinderella's pumpkin carriage.

What is especially lovely is that the work really was created by the children.

The whole idea of murals grew from the recent exposing of a stunning wall painting in the school, created when the school was first built. I can't read the artist's name, but I am told she was a painter of some distinction.

The mural shows a famous local legend, Jack-O-Legs, a mediaeval Robin Hood figure who was believed to be around 8 - 10 feet tall. Jack O legs was an old term for giant, and this Jack lived in a cave in the woods at Weston. He took from the rich to feed the poor in post-plague Britain, but fell foul of authorities when he stole bread (for starving children) from bakers belonging to a guild and therefore covered by strict laws of bread distribution. He was found guilty, and his final request before being hanged was to be buried where his arrow fell: it landed in Weston churchyard, where his grave can be seen to this day. Letchworth Garden City of course did not exist then, only the hamlet of Leceworde. The village of Weston is just a mile out of the town, and the hill leading into modern Letchworth is called Jack's Hill in his honour. We often take family walks in Weston Woods, and will do so with wider eyes now after learning this fantastic folk-lore.

It's wonderful to see the mural and the school intend to get it fully restored. Quite right too, as it is undoubtedly of historical importance. I love the way the artist has long elegant figures for the needy and (of course) for Jack, while the small-minded bakers are stumpy and squat. The painting has a post-war (early 5Os?) stylisation in terms of form and design that appeals especially to my eye.

Jack O Legs is definitely a legend I want to investigate more. I think there is a book lurking there somewhere!

After the "food" mural was completed the cheery headteacher bribed me with fish and chips and got me back to help create some theatre scenery. The stage area was all painted a dreary black and they needed a rain forest. So with a little help from Henri Rousseau, that's what they got. Teachers, the head, the site manager, the children, they all pitched in with left over emulsion paints and produced a wonderful moody stormy jungle scene worthy of a West End show!

The dancing paintbrush

2011-06-10T11:12:00.000-07:00

It's been a busy week. Mainly visiting schools. And I've met some very special and talented kids this week, who will remain in my memory for a very long time. In the middle of it all I escaped to the de Havilland Philharmonic rehearsal for a bit more sketching. This was the last rehearsal before the day of the concert (Sunday) and so it took place in the theatre where the concert will be performed: The Weston Auditorium at Hatfield University. I took along my very dear friend and artistic partner-in-paint, Vanessa Stone. She's a wonderful, inspirational artist and it was very satisfying to sketch along to beautiful music, the brush waltzing along to Strauss, and in such good company.

Because the orchestra were rehearsing more formally than at other rehearsals, on a proper stage, it wasn't easy to be very near them. So I attempted to capture the whole thing... not easy to draw so many people waving their arms around, and somehow the paper wasn't big enough. But I loved every minute of it. It's going to be a wonderful concert. I shall go along on Sunday to hear the final thing! There are only a very few tickets left... so hurry up if you want to go! (SEE HERE FOR INFO)

Through a glass ... brightly...?

2011-06-09T01:02:00.000-07:00

The Scots have a reputation for being warm and friendly. I've always found them to be so. Nevertheless I was completely unprepared for the kindness and thoughtfulness of one particular family. A couple of days ago a parcel arrived from Glencairn Crystal, based near Glasgow. Inside were two champagne glasses, one engraved with an image of Katie, one with an image of Ella Bella!

These beautiful glasses were sent as a gift by the Davidson family, from Glasgow. The very same family who came - from Glasgow - to last year's Ella Bella concert in Hatfield. That was honour enough! But the father, Scott, works for the company and in exchange for a signed copy of Katie in Scotland, he organised these really exquisite gifts, which I just can't get over. The glasses themselves are so beautiful. But it is the kindness of these people that has really touched me. Obviously I shall treasure them. Aren't they wonderful? Take a look at their website, they can engrave anything it seems... And to the Davidson family: THANK YOU. I shall think of ways of making it up to you!

In search of Scheherazade

2011-06-02T10:32:00.000-07:00

I am so happy to announce formally the next Children's Classical Concert with the de Havilland Philharmonic in Hatfield this autumn. This will be the fifth year I have collaborated with this outstanding orchestra and the brilliant young conductor Robin Browning. I believe modesty will permit me to say that the concerts have become something of a annual tradition and I truly think this will be the most thrilling of all of them.

Ever since the inaugural concert, with Peter and the Wolf and The Firebird, I have been hoping that we would be able to present my most favourite music in the world. And now we are.

So mark your calanders, because this one will be truly very special.

November 6th 2011: Sinbad the Sailor and other tales from the Arabian Nights with a complete performance of Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov's magnificent suite "Scheherazade". Two performances (times to be confirmed).

This is extraordinary music that will put every part of the orchestra through it's paces, and it will be the perfect way to introduce children to live classical music as they will hear all the different instruments shine in turn. Also it is a wonderful way to open a door to stories and art, because once again I will be retelling the stories... and painting scenes and illustrations LIVE on stage as the orchestra plays. The art created will either be raffled or auctioned - so it could be yours!

I am absolutely beside myself at the thought of this concert: I fell in love with this music, and indeed this composer, at a very young age. I have over 30 recordings of "Scheherazade" on LPs, CDs - even on 78s. Because no-one else tells stories quite so vividly with music as Rimsky-Korsakov. He really was a musical illustrator and storyteller.

Having said that, I have a mystery to solve, for Nikolai was rather coy about the specific inspirations for his "symphonic suite" in four movements. Premiered in St Petersburg in 1888, Rimsky-Korsakov originally labelled the four movements with "hints to direct the listener's imagination". For example, the first section is "The Sea and Sinbad's ship". The trouble for me is that Sinbad had seven adventures, so I need to decide which story to tell. And so it is with the other movements of the suite...

Rimsky-Korsakov later withdrew the titles, preferring the stories to be unspecified. Later, his family were outraged when, posthumously, extracts were used for Diaghilev's famous Ballet Russe production of "Sheherazade" (French spelling) in 1910. The ballet scenario uses the prologue to the Arabian Nights, in which the Sultan of Baghdad discovers his wife's treachery and kills her. Scheherazade herself does not even appear.

I hope to restore - as far as possible - the original stories (if I can work out which ones they are!) and provide some appropriate paintings so that, as Rimsky-Korsakov originally intended, the listener is carried away by a "kaleidoscope" of fabulous Fairy Tales.

I've posted some of the wonderful sleeves from assorted recordings. The one that I loved as a child has Edmund Dulac's illustration on it. From there I discovered more of Dulac's astonishing work, and even obtained an antique edition of "his" Arabian Nights... and began dreaming of becoming an illustrator myself.

Thank you, Rimsky!

Eastern Promise...

2011-05-29T02:50:00.000-07:00

I've been scouring my bookshelves for copies of the Arabian Nights these last few weeks. I have various editions, for they are stories I've loved for many years, although not one of them is the complete collection "The Thousand and One Nights". Mine are all children's illustrated editions, with pictures by all sorts of wonderful artists, from Brian Wildsmith through Kay Nielsen, to Edmund Dulac (my personal favourite). Whenever I happen upon a different version in a dusty old second hand bookshop I have to have it!

Perhaps I'll post some illustrations here soon, and share with you this exotic, fragrant and magical world of stories and pictures. And music...

For the reason for this current Oriental exploration is part of my preparation for the next Children's Classical Concert with the de Havilland Philharmonic. While I've been sketching the musicians I've also been talking to conductor Robin Browning. And after years of relentless hint-dropping he has agreed to perform a piece of music that is especially dear to me. The clue is in the books. Can you guess what it is yet (as Rolf Harris used to say)...?

It's going to be an incredible concert. But I'll say no more just now. Soon, all will be fully revealed. And it's going to be very special.

Orchestral Manoeuvers

2011-05-27T08:26:00.000-07:00

I’ve been thinking for a while that I need to do more drawing, and after sketching the conductor Robin Browning a few months ago, I asked permission to return and sketch the orchestra. What was I thinking? Sketch an ORCHESTRA? There were dozens of them flapping their arms and waving bows, fiddles, oboes and trumpets around. All so very hard to draw! And I went through my usual self-critical bashing trying to decide “how” I should try to draw them; with what materials; and who am I as an artist? Then I got over myself and looked and looked and just tried different ways of capturing the lovely shapes of instruments and the concentrated players.
My determination to crack this one has become something of a little goal to aim for. For years I’ve been illustrating and trying to produce “perfect” or at least accomplished images that will be printed, preserved and published. The freedom of a sketchbook is wonderfully liberating. I just need to “let go” and enjoy the ride. Enjoy the mistakes. Be brave.
And what a wonderful environment to sit and sketch in, listening to Beethoven, Strauss, wallowing in the sounds and learning so much about the structure and nature of the works as they are taken apart and put back together again. It WAS hard work, but I loved it. Here are just a few of the sketches. Eventually I would like to work up to larger more expressive pieces. But we will see how it goes.

The concert is going to be fabulous and I’m especially looking forward to hearing the truly great pianist John Lill CBE in the “Emperor” concerto by Beethoven. Lill played at the very first Classical concert I ever went to, in 1982 at the Royal Albert Hall. I was 17 and I loved the whole thing. He played Grieg’s piano concerto and I’ve always remembered it. If you are local, then why not come along? CLICK HERE FOR A LINK.

Mini Mozart

2011-05-26T09:19:00.001-07:00

This is a picture of Mozart as a child. Salzburg can be glimpsed through the open window, and birds gather as he plays his music - perhaps inspiring the character of Papageno in The magic Flute. These were my ideas when developing this image which is for a Naxos Classical CD called "My First Mozart Album". I've just posted it off to Naxos and fingers crossed they like it! The big blank space is where the text will go.

Remaining in a musical mood, I'm off to sketch my friendly orchestra, the de Havilland Philharmonic, tonight. Unless they are all dreadful I may post a few on here for you to see...

An eye for an eye...

2011-05-24T06:57:00.000-07:00

A shark's eye! Here it is for all to see. I've had rather a lot of requests for a good close up of this antique curio. So here it is: the lens from the eye of a shark, caught by my grandfather Henry Leighton in the 1930s around Cocos Island in the Pacific Ocean.

It's a remarkable story and I am going to have to think carefully about how it could be used in a book. It's too good to just let go of. I've tried before... but become over-critical. So when I get some spare time...
It's rather appropriate, perhaps, that I told and illustrated this story in Scotland a few weeks ago. The legend of Benito Bonito is thought to have inspired Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island!

Drama on the High Seas!

2011-05-20T09:25:00.000-07:00

On my way to Glasgow for the Authors Live event, Sarah from Orchard told me the hair raising tale of how they secured copies of "Katie in Scotland" in time. Publication had been scheduled for August, but with the BBC in Scotland and Scottish Book Trust inviting me to speak on camera, Orchard Books decided to do something pretty unusual, and reschedule the book. So Publication day was brought forward to one week before the Meet Our Authors event. Sounds sensible... except the books are printed in China and sent by ship. A few days before the big day, Sarah phoned the Scottish Book Trust who said "they were having trouble getting copies". She then discovered there was NO stock even in the warehouse of the distributor... Even I had noticed that Amazon said the title was not released, even though it was after the new publication date. It all made sense... in a bad way. So Sarah phoned the publisher in China who confirmed the books were mid-ocean on a cargo ship. They arranged to have the ship intercepted and a crate or two lifted off and sent top speed by air!

This all fitted rather well with the pirate story I told in Glasgow. I practised the picture many times as you can see in the photo!

Meanwhile, the next Katie book is well under way. CLICK HERE to see progress being made!

Authors Live Event in Glasgow!

2011-05-13T11:34:00.000-07:00

I’m often mindful that I do most of my work quietly on my own in the stillness and calm of my studio. Having to speak publicly in schools at festivals and conferences requires a lot of work and planning and can be quite intimidating. And I’ve never been made more aware of this than yesterday when broadcasting to over 20,000 children for the The Authors Live event from the BBC in Glasgow, arranged by the Scottish Book Trust! But WOW! What an incredible experience... utterly unforgettable! All the people who supported me – from Sarah (Hachette Children’s Books) to all the Scottish Book Trust people and presenter Janice Forsyth and all the BBC people – made everything as easy as possible. My thanks to them all – I’m so very grateful!

I must also mention the school - the children were a wonderful bunch! Thanks for coming and making the day so special...

I was so excited to be there, and truly very honoured to be added to the extraordinarily illustrious list, which includes Michael Rosen, Julia Donaldson, Michael Morpurgo, Charlie Higson, Jacqueline Wilson and Eoin Colfer. Indeed when first invited my immediate reaction was: Why me? surely they've made a mistake!

Most of all, I was really proud to be the very first illustrator to be asked to take part.
The Authors Live programme is a wonderful scheme broadcasting events with Children’s Authors to children in far flung schools who might otherwise miss out. Of course any school can join in the fun – and many others did so, including lots of schools that I’ve recently visited.
The set up was an open space in the enormous new glass building which is the home of BBC Scotland in Glasgow. It was agreeably low-key and much less formal than my fearful mind had anticipated. As usual everyone in Scotland was incredibly warm and friendly and put me as much at ease as is humanly possible.
Here are some pictures to give you an idea of how it was all looked. There were a few hitches. Something exploded on the technician’s equipment; a motorway accident delayed the Book Trust people; the event was 30 minutes not the 40 I’d expected. But all came right in the end (I think) and despite a few garbled sentences I don’t think I disgraced myself too badly.

You can now watch the event - wherever you are in the world - on the SCOTTISH BOOK TRUST website. Just CLICK HERE!

I can’t bring myself to watch it just yet. Perhaps it’s best not to dissect everything and worry. It was a big deal to me and I gave it my best shot. But for now… it’s back to the stillness and calm of the next book.

I'll take the High Road...

2011-05-10T22:29:00.000-07:00

Well, I'll be taking a train from Euston really. Bags are packed, shoes are cleaned, and off I go to Glasgow for the AUTHORS LIVE EVENT at the BBC. I'm incredibly excited. Or is that nerves? I'll tell you all about it when I get back. Wish me luck!

Here come BUBBLE & SQUEAK

2011-05-09T01:07:00.000-07:00

Please can I share some wonderful pictures with you? Illustrator Clara Vulliamy has been working hard on thumbnail sketches for our new collaboration. I thought you'd like to see them, so why not visit Bubble & Squeak's very own website? The sketches are fabulous and this book is going to be very special I'm sure!

BUBBLE & SQUEAK

Katie in Scotland - published TODAY!

2011-05-05T00:12:00.000-07:00

In advance of the AUTHORS LIVE EVENT in Glasgow, now just a nail-biting week away, the latest Katie book, number 11 in the series, is published today! KATIE IN SCOTLAND is a celebration of the things I love about Scotland, with Katie, her brother Jack and - for once - even Grandma having the holiday of a lifetime when Scotland's most elusive citizen reveals herself and joins them on their travels. It shouldn't be too hard to guess who that is - here she is in the picture. You can see she's very pleased to have her own copy of the book to read!

There's still time to register for the live internet session next week. So if you are a school or an individual in the UK follow the links here and join in the fun as I tell stories, paint upside down pictures and celebrate stories and art!

SCOTTISH BOOK TRUST

BBC SCOTLAND

The promise of a little black book

2011-04-28T01:36:00.000-07:00

A brand new sketchbook, purchased from the student supplies shop at Cambridge School of Art. White pages, black cover, gold lettering. It's a handsome thing isn't it? But what will go inside?

I find new sketchbooks dreadfully intimidating. To begin with I convince myself that I must fill it with something wonderful and worthy. But eventually I relax and enjoy drawing, and writing, within the rather sombre covers, and worry less about mistakes and disappointments. I have learned that they are part of the process.

In fact I already know what will go inside this one: The new Katie book. The story has now been approved (subject to a bit of editing), and today I begin the roughs for the illustrations. This is the difficult part. The time when all the important decisions regarding design and composition are made. And I have to spend enough time on the roughs to convince my publisher that what I am doing is the right thing. Skimpy roughs don't save time as they very often need to be redone. Although with Katie there is an established sense of trust between myself and my publisher.

I'm truly excited to be at this stage. The story is... a little different to other Katie stories and it will be a lovely thing to illustrate. The title? Katie and the Starry Night. I promise I will regularly post progress here so you can follow the ups and downs of a Katie book's creation.

So off I go... beginning with thumbnail sketches... although my mind is also distracted by the AUTHORS LIVE event, which is exactly two weeks away! Looks like a bit of multi-tasking required...

Meet Buns and Bunting

2011-04-26T08:58:00.000-07:00

While I am poised to begin the next Katie book, I find my days lately are filled with cake recipies, tracking down vintage china and generally indulging my wife's Country living/Cath Kidston fantasies. For she has gone into business with a friend, and they have set up a company called Buns and Bunting. They offer "Vintage Celebrations", which means bespoke tea parties, vintage china hire, retro delights generally (although the cakes are deliciously fresh!).

Most often they will be found providing splendidly old-fashioned teas at assorted events. They stage everything beautifully, with antique props and really beautiful tablecloths, cutlery, tea-cups, saucers and cake plates (and forks). Even the tea pots are things of loveliness, and the Buns and Bunting girls all dress up in their 'forties (ish) costumes to bring a bit of community togetherness and home-front nostalgia to their events. I have to say they do things brilliantly and work incredibly hard to make everything really special.

It's good to be reminded that sometimes it's important to take time to enjoy tea, cake, good company and beautiful things - like a civilised, grown up tea party. Their next event is at the First Garden City Heritage Museum in Letchworth Garden City on May Day: May 1st. You'll find all the details on their blogsite. So if you are anywhere near Hertfordshire, come along. If you're very lucky I might even make some of my famous Lemon Drizzel Cake!

A dedicated friend in Scotland

2011-04-21T01:13:00.000-07:00

With just three weeks before my Authors Live event in Glasgow, I've had the honour of being mentioned by Linda McClelland of the National Gallery in Edinburgh in a special blog piece for the Scottish Book Trust. Linda has been a wonderful supporter and has become a dear friend over the last few years. Her kind words have coincided with my advance copies of "Katie in Scotland". The timing couldn't be better as the book is dedicated to her!

Thank you Linda, for all you have done!

You can read her kind words HERE: http://www.scottishbooktrust.com/blog/teens-young-people/2011/04/linda-mcclelland-james-mayhew-and-the-joy-of-picture-books

Jackie Morris is a bit of a dragon...

2011-04-12T10:17:00.000-07:00

She's also a bit of a wild cat, and a tiger and bear and selkie and most of all she's also a wonderful friend. I was recently in hospital for an operation, and few days later a mystery parcel arrived from Mr B's Emporium of Books in Bath - a novel combining music and Russia (two of my passions), courtesy of Jackie Morris. What an exceptionally thoughtful thing to do, but I suppose I expected no less from someone who writes and illustrates and paints with such luminous and glorious depth of soul.

Recently her book "Tell me a Dragon" won the Norfolk Children's Book Award, and it's wonderful to see that book in particular getting well deserved recognition. I remember when Jackie was planning it she telephoned me, insecure about it's value. I always encourage her and she always encourages me. I think I'd be lost without that friendship and understanding of the difficulties we both share with our work. And so Jackie went ahead and I like to indulgently think that our conversation at the start was important in the success at the end. But I think it's such a wonderful book it would have taken wing in any case. I hope it sells a million. The book - and Jackie - deserve nothing less!

Ella Bella's Cheltenham debut!

2011-04-09T07:11:00.000-07:00

Last year I was invited to the Cheltenham Literature Festival, but unfortunately a bout of Tonsilitis meant I had to cancel. Happily I have now been invited to make amends by appearing at the Cheltenham Music Festival 2011. I'll be presenting an Ella Bella Children's Concert with a wonderful live string quartet. They will play arrangements of Tchaikovsky's immortal ballet music and I will tell the stories that inspired the ballets and then illustrate the tales LIVE in time to the music.

It will be simular to the concerts I have given in Hatfield with the De Havilland Philharmonic, only rather more intimate and friendly. The perfect way to introduce kids to Classical Music!

The event takes place on Saturday July 9th at 11am, at the newly opened (and beautiful) Parabola Arts Centre. There are only 300 seats so do book early for this one.

Click HERE for full details...

Artist in Residence: Radburn School

2011-03-28T02:16:00.000-07:00

Oh what a week I had last week! Five days of hard work and eye-opening talent by some brilliant children and supported by fantastic teachers – open, receptive and warm – all of whom completely restored my faith in why I visit schools and what the benefits of art can be.

Radburn School is a complex school, with children from a mixture of backgrounds and with a variety of needs. This presents a particular challenge to the teachers. Often getting children engaged, especially boys, is tough. But I’m particularly interested in reaching out to those who seem to be slipping through the net.
Each class had different projects. The early years and year one looked at dragons and dinosaurs with me. Year two illustrated the Russian folk tale Baba-Yaga, while Year three did some illustrations based on stories of pirates that linked to The Fighting Temeraire by Turner. Year four illustrated to music and Year five produced “story scrolls” of Beowulf (these are long narrative sequences produced collaboratively on lining paper, like a sort a “Bayeux Tapestry”). Year six illustrated The Firebird. On the last day the two top classes worked together on a large mural combining four famous paintings from the National Gallery.

The year four session was especially gratifying, with one autistic boy sitting focussed for an hour and forty minutes listening to stories and music and watching me paint. The whole class seemed mesmerised by the powerful effect of Sibelius’ “Swan on Tuonela” and Bax’s “Tintagel”. This was all adapted from the annual Children’s Concert I give in Hatfield, using a CD instead of a real orchestra. But the music worked it’s magic and the children did some fabulous art, especially for Dukas’ Sorcerer’s Apprentice.

I was also really pleased with how the Beowulf scrolls turned out, with children collaborating and sharing and producing phenomenal art, which will be an ideal spur to future creative writing and even storytelling verbally, which I had demonstrated during the session.
The other illustration workshops also produced some exception results. One year six girl produced an incredibly mature and sophisticated “Grey Wolf” for The Firebird, and the year two Baba Yaga pictures were full of humour and detail.
A variety of materials were used and the children really responded well to being challenged with unusual and new things – like emulsion paints for the mural, and inks for illustrating.

The invitation to work in the school came on the back of a conference in “creativity in the classroom”, in January. This was attended by over a hundred teachers from local schools and I was asked to be the key note speaker. It felt rather intimidating at the time, but several schools have subsequently invited me in to practise what I preached that day.
Of course, much of the effect is simply due to having a new face come in to the school. But I also believe very strongly in the power of oral storytelling, of art, both demonstrated and practised, and of music in a specific context. I also believe that illustration as art is not often fully exploited in classrooms and it is essential to thinking about stories and characters and is such a useful aid to literacy, especially amongst children who find that subject hard. To hear that unlikely children were actively asking (bewildered)parents for sketch books as birthday presents speaks volumes!

Star of stage and screen...

2011-03-22T10:02:00.000-07:00

Yes, move over Colin Firth... that Oscar is mine! With the Scottish Book Trust event looming, a Flip camera was thrust into my paws by Orchard Books and I spent a day trying not to sound (or look) like a complete idiot and create a preview for the event in Glasgow on May 12th (tricky given I have yet to decide exactly what to do). Oh how deeply embarrasing it is to hear my own voice and see my ugly mug, and even my 11 year old son rolled his eyes and said, with a sigh, that I'd become a "Luvvie". Meanwhile I fumbled around in my studio, grappling with farting Guinea Pigs (audiable on several "takes", all deleted) and the mammoth task of trying to tidy a studio that latterly resembles a branch of Pets At Home rather than a sophisticated artistic and literary working space. Ah well, all in a good cause I suppose. You can see the results (and laugh heartily) by clicking the link below. Just don't judge me too harshly! The live event will be much better. I promise! Don't forget to register...

Brace yourself now: http://www.scottishbooktrust.com/podcasts/video/authors-live-with-james-mayhew

Soaring Sibelius and Fantastique Berlioz

2011-03-20T23:11:00.000-07:00

Last night's concert with the de Havilland Philharmonic in Hatfield thoroughly reminded me of the importance of live performance. The works performed were, of course, intended to be heard that way. And one hears differently... different details, different harmonies, instruments I had not noticed on recordings.

The central work was the Violin Concerto by Sibelius, ravishing played by Yuko Uchiyama, a Japanese born, Pittsburg-based violinist. Her playing of this dazzling, icy, yet heartbreakingly expressive work was exceptionally accurate. But I barely noticed the technical skill, for her expressiveness and eloquence quite simply swept me away. The concert was preceeded by a minute of silence as a mark of respect for the people of Japan following the terrible earthquake; there were many Japanese in the audience supporting Yuko. It was a powerfully moving start to the concert and the rapt faces of the orchestra players themselves, completely under Yuko's spell, were a real testament to her talent.

Robin Browning conducted the concerto with great sensitivity and sometimes thrilling drama. The virtuoso endings of both the first and third movements had me truly on the edge of my seat, barely breathing. Absolutely thrilling stuff. The more I hear of it the more I just love this man's way with Sibelius.

The biggest work was Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique. It certainly was fantastic, seeing and hearing such a brave mixture of players creating all the epoch making sounds and effects that bring this opium-den of a work to life. My friend Ed Soloman was excited to be playing a rare trombone (don't ask me what it's called!) for a fabulous rasping noise in the "March to the Scaffold" and watching Robin and the players almost dance through the famous waltz was absolute enchantment.

Afterwards I gave Robin his picture... he seemed to like it! For me, the other great news is that there WILL be another children's concert this November. I'm over the moon and although the repertoire isn't officially confirmed, all I can say is that if the plan stays on course, this concert is going to be something else! Watch this space!

Robin Browning - conductor

2011-03-20T10:45:00.000-07:00

Here's the finished thing... Robin said he didn't want a cartoon, nor anything too realistic. I hope he likes it! I've referenced some of the repertoire we've performed together. see if you can spot them: The firebird, Peter & The Wolf, Baba Yaga, The Great Gate at Kiev (Pictures from an Exhibition), night on the Bare Mountain, The Sorcerer's Apprentice, Tchaikovsky's ballets, Danse Macabre and The Swan of Tuonela. Phew! Now I'm off to get changed for tonight's concert in Hatfield with the de Havilland Philharmonic: Nielson, Sibelius and Berlioz - fantastic stuff!

Maestro Fantastique

2011-03-20T00:03:00.000-07:00

I really ought to do more sketching; I'd forgotten how much I love it (even if I am rarely - if ever - satisfied with the results). Recently I've been sketching the conductor Robin Browning in rehearsal with the de Havilland Philharmonic. It's really rather wonderful to sit amonst the musicians, surrounded by a bit of Berlioz and Sibelius, sketching along. Robin asked if I could rustle up a sketch of him for his website, but I wanted to do a bit more that that as he's been so generous in allowing me to work with himself and the orchestra on our concerts for children.

It's quite hard to draw a conductor as they tend to wave their arms about rather a lot. Anyway, here are some of the sketches. The more fantastical one is, appropriately, inspired by Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique. The final concert is at the Weston Auditorium TONIGHT and I hope to have the final image ready to give to Robin after the show!

Meanwhile another concert for children is "in the works". I'll post details here as soon as they are confirmed, but it looks like it is going to be extremely exciting!

Tuneful doodles...

2011-03-11T01:40:00.000-08:00

While the texts for my next books are being edited, I am busying myself with various musical projects. The first is designing covers for a series of children's Classical CDs for Naxos record company. Here are some of the roughs for the first album. I've been experimenting a little bit, but I think they prefer the slightly more traditional approach (as do I, if I'm honest!). So the image with a starry sky is the one to be carried forward to finished art...

See if you can spot references to William Tell, The Sorcerer's Apprentice, The Magic Flute, Carnival of the Animals, Swan Lake, Peer Gynt and the cat from Peter & The Wolf!

Authors Live!!!!

2011-03-03T09:53:00.000-08:00

Scottish Book Trust run a wonderful programme of live author broadcasts in conjunction with the BBC, called “Meet Our Authors”. Only 15 authors will be invited over the two year project, and so far they have included Michael Morpurgo, Phillip Pullman, Michael Rosen, Julia Donaldson, Charlie Higson and Jacqueline Wilson. On World Book Day Ioin Colfer’s event was streamed over the internet live to around 300,000 children.
And the next two authors invited to Glasgow to take party are David Almond … and little old me!
I’m so excited/nervous/terrified/honoured. Especially as I seem to be the first illustrator to be asked to take part. It’s a colossal surprise… I just hope I can live up to the standard so far set!
My event is on Thursday May 12th at 11 am.
More details to follow…

The Fry Gallery in Saffron Walden

2011-03-01T10:20:00.001-08:00

Last week I accompanied Martin Salisbury and the current full time MA students on a trip to the Fry Art Gallery in Saffron Walden. As always I fell in love (again!) with this jewel of a town and extraordinary art gallery. It is a miniature gem, a doll's house sized gallery with a fabulous classical-baroque entrance hall and a collection of work from a golden age of British art that's to die for...

Many years ago, when my father left the RAF, he went into banking and eventually became manager of the HSBC in Saffron Walden. And so my family upped sticks from Suffolk and moved to the Essex village of Great Chesterford. So Saffron Walden – which became our nearest town - holds many memories for me, and it was good to return with my students and make new ones.

The pride of the Fry Art Gallery is it's significant association with the artists generally called the Great Bardfield group, who included Edward Bawden (they have his magnificent poster for The Titfield Thunderbolt - one of my favourite films!), and Bernard Cheese. Eric Ravilious is another important artist represented there. It's simply wonderful to be able to see the sketchbooks and processes of these great artists, printmakers, designers. Inspiring and humbling all at the same time. Their influence on design cannot be overestimated, stretching into the 21st Century with the work of Allan Drummond and Angie Lewin (whose St Jude’s Gallery was until recently based in Aylsham, where my parents live now!).

Most extraordinary of all was a sketchbook and dummy for a version of The Twelve Dancing Princesses created by the woefully neglected Sheila Robinson, mother of Chloe Cheese. This miniature masterpiece, created entirely and lovingly by hand reveals a God like deftness of line, planning, colour, composition, pacing and design. It’s something I’ll never forget seeing as long as I live.

LONG LIVE THE LIBRARY

2011-02-05T02:28:00.000-08:00

Today seems to be the day: people all over the country are (I hope) turning out to support their local library. We are lucky here in North Hertfordshire: Letchworth Garden City Library seems to have escaped the axe (for now). Nevertheless, I will go along today and see if anything is going on that needs supporting.

The whole situation has raised interesting arguments. On the one hand it seems obvious: Of course libraries should not close. On the other hand, the country is (apparently) so short of money that something has got to give. Why it has to be mainly artistic and literary pursuits I don't understand... or maybe I do a little. When I was growing up and dreaming of being an artist (bear with me; this applies to writers too), there were those who told me that such a profession was a self-indulgence. It was not a real job; a living could not be made from it. I was told often by relatives and even teachers that it should remain a hobby. Of course that made me more determined to stick with it.

But the point here is that this is a view that persists. That writers and artists: those who document civilisation, those who challange and inspire, those who comment and cause controversy, discussion, debate, those who guide us, warn us, entertain and enlighten us, those who (mostly) work so hard for so little... are in some way a waste of space.

Obviously that offends me. I've often said that I have much pride in the being part of an industry (horrid word) of such long standing integrity. What a tradition of art, music and literature belongs to this land! We are all, in this community, superb international ambassadors for our country. What we contribute is woefully underappreciated compared to the sickening adulation of "celebrity" in this age.

Cutting libraries threatens the livelihoods of writers (less PLR; fewer books sold to libraries); it threatens publishers; it reduces the opportunities for the next generation because it chips away at what civilisation should be about. And the dumbing down of society - the X-factor / Saturday night TV culture - continues apace.

Some are saying, don't close libraries, change them - make them digital. Actually libraries have been changing for years and it's been their downfall. They have alienated people like me who go there for a humble book and have to fight past DVDs, CDs, computers etc. The range of books seems to have become ever more narrow.

Is digitilisation the answer? At the moment, the rare, obsure and funny little books that I delight in finding on shelves are not available digitally. Indeed none of the books I myself have created over the last 22 years is digitalised either. I doubt many will ever be revived in a digital format. So I'm not convinced.

I can see the value for reference books - easy to update. Even fiction could work if the Kindle is your cup of tea (it's not mine; I hate the split-second blank screen you get when you scroll down). But it will never be the practical answer for children's books, unless you are a Yummy Mummy in Kensington and have an Ipad for your 3 year old.

Most of the families I meet in schools simply wouldn't prioritise money for that sort of thing; and if they did I don't believe their children would use such a console for reading. Removing libraries can only make that trend worse rather than better...

There are also all the old sentimental arguments: you can't press flowers in a digital book. You can't lend it, give it as a gift, inscribe it or get it autographed. But they are good arguments, and I for one resent having the digital revolution FORCED upon me. In a free world, I want the right to choose a book over a console.

It seems to me that in a truly civislised world, there shouldn't be any discussion about money for libraries. Whether libraries make or lose money is beside the point. In a decent society, libraries, knowledge, books, and information should be available to all. Education - of all ages - is the only way we will survive. With ignorance comes darkness and danger.

New year, new projects...

2011-01-06T22:49:00.000-08:00

After all the excitement and drama of "the coldest Winter since records began", I'm looking forward to getting on with some new and exciting projects. It's always hard to get motivated after a good break, but I'm so excited by future plans it should be slightly easier to get up and running.

Yesterday I had a very exciting meeting with Genevieve Helsby at Naxos Records, postponed from December (because of the weather). A colleague of hers plays with the de Havilland Philharmonic and recommended me as a possible illustrator. Naxos are developing a new series of CDs for children and have invited me to submit some designs for CD sleeves. I'm really happy about this, as Classical music is my big love, and this is a bit of a dream project. I'll post some things when I've started sketching.

Meanwhile several new story ideas are fighting for attention in my head, despite the distraction of sharing my studio with a pair of Guinea Pigs (my wife is allergic to them!. And the one story I really must get written is a new Katie book focussing on Van Gogh. And of course that's the one I'm stuck on the most! Ah well... 'twas ever thus.

This will also be the year when Bubble and Squeak progress in the safe hands of Clara Vulliamy. And later I'll be working on Ella Bella Ballerina and The Nutcracker, and launching Katie in Scotland, possibly with events at the Edinburgh Festival and Loch Ness. Fingers crossed!

Happy New Year!

'Tis the season to be jolly!

2010-12-20T00:38:00.001-08:00

Hurrah for PLR! Liberty for Libraries!

2010-12-17T01:59:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago I met a student of journalism who attended a talk I gave at the National Gallery in London. His name is Steve Peiris and we kept in touch as he has a particular interest in covering the arts.
After a subsequent conversation, in which I mentioned the demise of the Public Lending Right department, Steve and his colleagues attended a hearing at the House of Commons on this very topic.
For those unaware of the circumstances, Public Lending Right (or PLR) was set up in 1979 to provide authors and illustrators with some compensation for the free public lending of their work. While writers understand that this kind of exposure of their work is good, and that books should be available to all, they also felt that they may lose significant sales if people borrowed only and never bought.
The scheme has worked well for three decades but the new coalition government have, suddenly, in their wisdom, closed the PLR department in an attempt to reduce costs (although it only employed 9 people!) and PLR will now be absorbed into a larger government funded body, possibly the Arts Council. Meanwhile the amount given to authors – currently around just 6p per loan – is being gradually cut away over the next few years.
The most any author can earn with PLR, regardless of popularity, is £6,600. This capping means the funds are spread further and more authors benefit. Most authors earn substantially less than that (me included!). But nevertheless it really is valuable income. We authors and illustrators work in an industry with very little support. We have no union (the Society of Authors is many things but a union it is not), we have no pensions, we have no fixed regular income. I am happy to embrace all these things for the privilage to work in the distinguished field I have chosen. And I accept it IS my choice. However, a regular February payment of PLR was always very welcome, especially after a January tax bill. To have this threatened, to consider it’s demise, is worrying. In fact my PLR represented around 10% of my annual taxable income this year. It IS a significant sum to have under threat. PLR is every authors right. Music, film and TV are all protected. This is a matter of the borrowing of a person’s intellectual property, and so quite apart from financial considerations, there is an important and symbolic principle at stake here.
But perhaps even more importantly, it seems to come at a time when libraries themselves are beleagured and threatened with huge cuts and closures. One starts to question the place for literacy, informed thought, and broad, meaningful education in a society that closes libraries and threatens the livelihoods of those who create the books within them. Add to that the hike in University fees and I really do question the motives of the coalition. "The battle for Middle Earth has begun" - that's how it feels (I'm reading The Lord of the Rings to my son at the moment... hence Gandalf's words).

And so, with all this in mind, yesterday I was interviewed by Steve and two student colleagues from the City University,London. And I couldn’t have hoped for three more charming, sensitive and impeccebly mannered guests. They were superbly professional and yet entirely open and friendly. This was the good face of education.
In January they will interview Ed Vaizey, minister for culture & creative industries. Steve asked if I had a question for him, so I replied with this:

"Given the international profile and reputation of so many British writers and illustrators, should the government do more to support their work as ambassadors for British culture, especially during a time of rapid change in publishing, media and creative industries? With changes to book format (i.e. digital publishing), book-selling and PLR, is he aware of how vulnerable we are?

Furthermore, as a writer and illustrator of children's books, I would like to know why school library provision is so poor and whether the educational importance of children's literature should be more celebrated. People in this industry work extremely hard often for very low return, creating work of real value for children. With school libraries disappearing and a very narrow range of digital publishing being implemented in schools, my fear is that authors will lose sales and children will lose that vital intimate connection with a rich and varied diet of fine writing and art, an area this country has a world beating reputation for."

If anyone else in the writing or illustrating community has anything to add, please comment and I'll ask Steve to bear it in mind!

Keeping Warm

2010-12-08T00:10:00.000-08:00

The Big Freeze over Britain has kept me indoors working productively on various little projects. Outside, the trees around my studio look like they have been dipped in icing sugar, while my little red fox weather vane is frozen to the spot.

I keep thinking I should try to draw or paint this extraordinary hoare frost. But deadlines are looming. Firstly I have the Katie trail to complete for The National Gallery. And now I have been asked to create a revised cover for Shakespeare's Storybook by the publisher Barefoot Books.

In both cases I find I am looking backwards, recreating older techniques and outlooks, while all the time what I REALLY want to be doing is moving in new directions. It's a difficult schism; I wonder what my work could be like and feel I am only imitating a version of myself that is so far ago, so distant it is like another life. Perhaps next year will be an opportunity for pastures new... Of course I am very fond of Katie. And next year will begin with a whole new book about Van Gogh's paintings. But 21 years is a very long time. A person grows and changes in that time. I'm starting to think that it is just possible that this new Katie book might just possibly be the last...

A sticky moment

2010-11-20T02:52:00.000-08:00

On my way to the post office in Letchworth Garden City this morning I was startled to find myself face to face with... ME! A life sized figure has been fashioned out of sticky tape - along with ten other figures of local and historical interest. It was a bizarre situation! And yet a rather a lovely honour. I particularly liked the "Mustard" Jacket (which I often wear, although the concept has been taken rather literally here with a jacket fashioned from Coleman's Mustard labels!)

This sticky tribute is the transparent work of Selina and Scarlett from the Letchworth Arts Centre, who helped me with the World War Two project in schools earlier this year. It is part of an ongoing project leading to an exhibition in April.

Other figures include Raymond Unwin and Barry Parker (architects of Letchworth), Nigel Hawthorne (who lived locally) and Annie Kenney, a suffragette. Happily I am one of only 2 out 11 who is still alive...

Ella Bella Concert

2010-11-08T02:44:00.000-08:00

The concerts are over... and today I feel happy, tired and a bit bereft! All went really well and you can read all about it at:

ELLA BELLA BALLERINA

(Just click on the words for a link)

To everyone who came along: Thank you! It was a wonderful experience...

Concert weekend!

2010-11-05T11:46:00.000-07:00

I'm so excited that this weekend is finally here (although extremely nervous). On Sunday the "Stories from the Ballet" will finally take place after months and months of planning and hard work. I'm lucky to be able to have this opportunity of working with such lovely and talented people - the de Havilland Philharmonic are a fine orchestra.

It's going to be hard to paint along to this music: the scores by Tchaikovsky are so beautiful I will have to remember why I am on stage with a paint brush in my hand. I'll probably start conducting with it if I'm not careful!

Here's a sketch for a scene from Swan Lake. For more information, do visit my ELLA BELLA site.

And although almost 700 tickets are sold, there are still a few tickets left if you are local and can go. See the advert on this site for details. This unique event will never be repeated!

A tale of three meals...in Paris!

2010-10-22T01:38:00.000-07:00

My busy autumn has not gone entirely to plan. Tonsillitis thwarted my intended visits to the Cheltenham Festival and a school in Guildford (apologies to all). Happily, Shoo Rayner, another author and illustrator, filled my shoes at Cheltenham.
At least I got to Paris and back in one piece. More importantly I had a wonderful time, and you can read a bit about the "Katie" celebrations on my KATIE'S PICTURES SHOW blog.

But it wasn't all work and my three evenings there each yielded a memorable experience...

The librarian, Janee (and her family) whisked me around Paris on the cruise, upon arrival. Here you will see snaps of The Garnier Opera house, a huge station clock outside the Musee d'Orsay, Notre Dame Cathedral... and the Eiffel tower of course.

That first evening I was taken to an extraordinary Parisian restaurant, Chartier's, which appears virtually unchanged since the days of Toulous-Lautrec. Above each table were long and elegant brass hat stands. The lamps gleamed, reflected in the many mirrors. Downstairs, tiny drawers in the panelling contained the napkins of regular customers; the waitress wrote out our order on the tablecloth. The systems and traditions were like stepping into another world. I felt I should have a top hat and cane at the very least, possibly a twirly moustache too. In living memory the restaurant still had sawdust on the floor, and where we sat (upstairs in a spectacular balcony that could only be rivalled at the Opera Garnier itself) we were entertained by a small brown mouse, who evidently lived in the panelling. And if you were a mouse I cannot think of anywhere on earth you could make a better life for yourself! Imagine the cheese! It was a truly enchanting experience - for there was food too, of course, and it was superb.

On the next night, headteacher Jamie Hornshaw took me to another lovely restaurant, and fine and grand as it was inside, the view outside, across a square in Saint Germain en Laye (just outside Paris) to the extraordinary Chateaux where Louis XIV was born, was the real thrill. Today it is a museum of Archaeology. When lit at night it reminded me of the Beast's castle in Cocteau's fabulous film "La Belle et la Bete"!

The last night in Paris, Janee kindly invited me her home, a beautiful house in the suburbs, where her husband Nicholas, prepared a typically French supper and we ate, with family and friends in a beautiful dining room crammed full of pictures and drawings by Janee and Nicholas's children.

My head is spinning with ideas... some may find their way into a book. Of those, the first to appear must surely be a story about my little mouse!

Fantastic Faye

2010-10-01T05:55:00.000-07:00

One of the best things about teaching students at Cambridge Art School (I'm a visiting lecturer on the MA in Children's Book illustration) is seeing them take off and do wonderful things.

I have especially happy memories of working with Faye Durston (also known as Faye Hanson). Like many illustrators, Faye lacked confidence, yet she is a remarkable talent, and not only for her exquisite and astonishing artwork. She is also a brilliantly imaginative writer and indeed won the Cambridge Art School/Anglia Ruskin University writing prize upon graduation.

Here's a short film to whet the appetite for her first book.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXYQ4NYKDbo

It's a gloriously imaginative confection with eye-popping images. I'm convinced Faye is destined for greatness and I am proud to have been her tutor.

The book is called the The Wychwood Fairies and is published today by Macmillan Books.

Katie goes to Paris!

2010-09-29T22:13:00.000-07:00

No, that's not the title of my next book. To be more accurate, her creator goes to Paris. I've been invited to work with the children of the BRAND NEW British School of Paris, which opened a couple of weeks ago. It's been built on the banks of the Seine...and I'm very excited and honoured to have been asked, and especially as a previous visit was scuppered by a spell in hospital. This time I intend to remain well and acually get there!

I'm not sure if I will see much of Paris itself... I will be so busy at the school. But any interesting pictures I will post here for all to see.

The Boy makes good

2010-08-31T22:29:00.000-07:00

Regular readers (hello? are you really there?) may recall a posting about the demise of my book (and planned series) "BOY". You can read about it BY CLICKING HERE if you missed it.

In brief, the original publisher of book one cancelled their contract and effectively ruined any possibility of a series.

I had so many lovely comments urging me to try to revive the book. After some thinking I decided to stare into the gaping jaws of disappointment once more and try to salvage something from this sorry little tale. And so, through a circuitous route, I secured all necessary rights in the book (which was "fortunately" out of print), and I approached Orchard Books. Would they want a "second hand rose"?

The crucial problem was the obtaining of discs of scanned artwork. Although I had most of the original art, I didn't have it ALL. Besides, rescanning is an expense that in this situation can make or break a book.

My principle concern, however, was that the book had been tarnished by it's poor showing first time around (even though I blamed the publisher for that!).

The good news was that a Korean co-edition publisher wanted to reprint. This deal was effectively the carrot on a stick.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, The Chicken House redeemed their reputation by giving me discs of all the scans ... and Orchard books said YES! The contract is signed and (re)publication is pencilled in for next summer. I'm so happy to have found a happy ending for my BOY. And I hope this time it does well enough to justify a sequel...

Time will tell, but for now, I'm really pleased that this book is joining Katie and Ella Bella at Orchard. Keep your fingers crossed!

Finally...it's an odd day to be writing this as the real "BOY" - my son - is now a great big 11 year old who starts his secondary school tomorrow. All the more reason, then, to celebrate this book which captures (I hope) a tiny fragment of his adorable and funny self when just a little scrap of a thing...

Katie's Loch Ness Monster

2010-08-13T04:18:00.000-07:00

You might like to know that today Orchard Books and I have formally announced the winner of the Locn Ness Monster competition.

This was run to find a picture of Nessie that would look like the sort of portrait Katie herself might produce, to fit in with the story in my latest Katie adventure "Katie in Scotland"

I went to Orchard's offices to choose the winner and sign books for runners-up.

You can read more about it on Katie's blog-site:
KATIE'S PICTURE SHOW

Meanwhile here is a picture of the winning Nessie - congratulations to Piper from Scotland!

Katie and the Waterlily Pond

2010-08-04T23:35:00.000-07:00

The tenth Katie book is published today, and although I have only one week now to complete Katie in Scotland and shouldn't even be writing this, I felt I had to at least pause to celebrate the tenth Katie book being published. Katie will be properly celebrated with events at The National Gallery in London, at the Cheltenham Festival and at the British School in Paris this Autumn. So she won't lose out. But for now... away with the Monet and it's back to Nessie!

The Stone Hart

2010-07-23T02:11:00.000-07:00

I recently found a whole folder full of old work. It was quite a shock to discover my ‘A’level exam work amongst the pieces, and to experience the memories associated with that time. Usually ‘A’ level exam work is destroyed by the Examining Board, but because my sixth form art department was burned down, destroying all my work produced to that stage, the Board made an exception and found my exam pieces and returned them, thus allowing me to have at least something for a portfolio. This was in 1982 – 28 years ago!

The theme for the “composition” paper is the one that particularly touches on deep memories; rather tragic ones in fact. The painting is of a derelict cottage in the woods. It’s real place with which I have a particular association, and it’s a great story. One day I intend to use it all in a book.

The cottage is in fact a “tea house” in a large rambling Romantic garden in Norfolk. Originally a Roman dock on the edge of the Broads, this unusually vertiginous piece of land (unusual for Norfolk) is called Brundall Gardens. In their heyday, as a public garden, the vast acres must have rivalled any of the great parks and were popular enough to warrant their own bespoke station on the Lowestoft to Norwich line.

In time the gardens became privately owned, which is where my association begins, as they were owned by my very own Great Aunt Rita, who “married well” (as people would say) to a millionaire called Max Stringer, and moved to the huge and beautiful estate and it’s house “Redclyffe”. In the mid 1960s I would be taken to these grand, elaborate gardens and lose myself amongst the camellias and rhododendrons, the tumbling “Cinderella”steps and tiers of shrubs that possibly rivalled Babylon.

Leading down to a vast expansive lake, were three stepped ponds. The lowest contained a large and legendary pike that could never be caught. And in the tea house there were real Delft tiles of sailing boats around the fireplace.

Nearby, my favourite thing of all: The “stone hart”. I can just remember sitting on this with my sister and imagining galloping away on adventures. I found some old photographs of me with my sister and father, and they are posted here.

But then my Uncle Max died unexpectedly. My widowed Great Aunt found herself with an unmanageable estate (she had no children), and decided to sell. She kept a plot for her and her sister, another for her brother and his wife (my grandparents). The rest was sold off to a builder.

Theories abounded about what happened next, but I remember watching the television news in 1969, and seeing my Great Aunt’s house in flames. Redclyffe was razed to the ground. Soon after vandals destroyed the tea house, smashed the stone hart, and the garden fell into neglect.

Time passed; a new estate of houses appeared at the top of the escarpment. But below, the gardens remained. The ponds, the lake, the legendary pike. They all got forgotten and things grew over them. The stone steps were covered in ivy, the rambling roses covered everything, like Sleeping Beauty’s castle.

Meanwhile my assorted relatives had houses built on their bits of land and so, many years later, I returned. The gardens were really out of bounds. But no-one stopped me. And I had these wild, overgrown acres, this wilderness entirely to myself, summer after summer. The tea house was my hermitage, and the rambling romantic gardens with their memories and neglect so beautifully entwined was my grand kingdom.

Happy days! Following the birdsong, chasing kingfishers, swimming (in spite of the pike!) and above all – sketching. Here I developed my skills in this faded, forgotten paradise.

Today parts of the garden have been restored, but the estate is divided between various houses in Brundall. Occasionally sections are opened to the public and tours are offered.

A couple of years ago I visited Brundall Primary School. Instinctively I had parked outside where my aunts and grandparents “new” houses still stand (although they died long ago and I hadn’t been to Brundall since I was 18 and produced this ‘A’ level work). And by pure chance, one part of the garden, with the three descending lakes, was having an open day for charity.

And so, stepping back in time, I briefly revisited the re-imagined gardens. I was overwhelmed with memories; it was hard to make it seem real. Last of all I found the place where the stone hart once stood. It was probably the last time I will ever see anything of Brundall Garden. At least until I close my eyes and dream. Then I can run around, as a child, those stately trees and play in the tea house again, and sit once more on the back of the stone hart.

The Golden voice of La Gheorghiu

2010-07-10T00:04:00.000-07:00

There are certain things I have always wanted to see: an erupting volcano; the northern lights; the great blue whale… But now I can tick one off my lengthy list: Angela Gheorghiu’s Traviata. Two operatic treats in as many weeks (see posting below about Manon)!
Ever since she made her debut in the role, 16 years ago (which was televised) I have wanted to see and hear Angela Gheorghiu in La traviata. Alas, every time I’ve tried I have been thwarted by underground strikes, derailed trains or illness. But last Thursday everything finally fell into place. It nearly didn’t though... I was recovering from Tonsillitis; My train WAS delayed (but did finally arrive… just in time). It was a tense day until curtain up... when Angela Gheorghiu also showed up, returning to “her” traviata, the production that brought her fame. I took along three people who had never been to an opera before: Tim Rose, who used to be my designer at Orchard books, and is now a freelance designer and good friend; Clara Vulliamy, the writer and illustrator (and another good friend), with whom I shall soon be collaborating; and her enchanting daughter Martha, who wore a divine 1920’s style dress and hat. We had Box 100 all to ourselves and despite a restricted view thoroughly enjoyed the vertiginous proximity to the stage.

Before the performance I showed them around the beautiful theatre. Seeing the Royal Opera House for the first time is a real thrill – I remember that feeling vividly myself: My first visit was, funnily enough, also a performance of La traviata, with Gheorghiu’s predecessor and compatriot, Ileana Cotrubas (it’s fascinating how many Romanian singers suit the role. Nelly Miricioiu is another who made Violetta her own for many years). Cotrubas sang in an extraordinary production with black-and-white Art Nouveau sets and costumes.
In the foyer these costumes and others are now exhibited as museum pieces which made me feel rather nostalgic. You will see here some photos of other old Traviata costumes, including those worn by Elisabeth Scwarzkopf, Maria Callas and Joan Sutherland.

The performance itself was revelatory for Gheorghiu’s voice isn’t easily captured on disc. It is a voice of liquid gold. In the theatre it has a rounded, soft warm sound, and a fluttering, dark vulnerability, perfectly suited to the role of Violetta Valery, the operatic Lady of the Camellias. Her fragile frame and haunting beauty add to the credibility of her casting. She is undoubtedly the greatest Violetta of her generation. Her coloratura runs in "Sempre Libera" (taken very swiftly by the conductor Abel) were like strings of pearls, and her feverish performance as she flung herself around the stage had a wraith-like desperation.

James Valenti – all 6ft 5 of him, was a dashing Alfredo, although his voice is a little bit light for Verdi; Mozart is probably more appropriate at this stage of his career; yet he was sincere and tender in the intimate scenes. The powerful Germont Pere who destroys Violetta's chance of happiness was formidably sung by Veljko Lucic.

The sets and costumes were lavish, with beautiful colouring: gold in act one; red and black in act two…

Some reviews have been mixed. Is it that same old malaise that those we build up we must knock down? The same happened to Maria Callas, of course. How churlish of them! Gheorghiu will not be singing forever. I felt so lucky to have been there. My party of guests (doesn’t that sound grand) loved the whole experience - the spectacular sets, the singing, the music, the audience in their sequins and jewellery. They are now hooked and longing to see another opera. The cast were genuinely moved by the volcanic applause at the end; from our box we could see between the curtains, sideways. Off stage Gheorghiu literally leaped into the air, arms raised, in absolute joy at her achievement and the audience's reaction.

Perhaps the happiest moments were watching the rapt face of the young Martha. For her, Traviata will always be her "first opera", Gheorghiu her "first great singer" and it is a memory she will always carry with her. And so the torch is passed on.

For me, I feel as though I spent the evening inside a diamond.

Manon: a musical interlude

2010-06-29T07:01:00.000-07:00

Once in a while I will treat myself to a trip to the opera. Of course everyone has opinions on that. Sadly, most people think opera is terribly dull, elitist and highbrow. In fact it's pretty much the same price as a football match and I find the whole business of sets, costumes, orchestra, singing and grand theatre anything but dull. And so last night I went to a performance of Massenet's Manon at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden.

Vanessa Stone, the papercut girl accompanied me which made for an especially lovely evening. We both felt the strange sets left something to be desired and spent the intervals redesigning in our minds. I have no doubt we'd have done a better job; perhaps one day we can prove it!

But the big draw was the Russian soprano Anna Netrebko. She has a tendancy to cancel so we were much relieved when she turned up. And she WAS sensational, rich warm low notes at one extreme, with the lazer-like brilliance of her high D at the other. The fact that she's also rather beautiful certainly helped the audience believe in the story of Prevost's young girl, destined for the convent, who is seduced by men and money and becomes the toast of Paris, only to end up arrested as a woman of ill-repute. It all goes badly wrong of course, and she dies in the gutter. I suppose she's a sort of operatic "it" girl, who burns herself out, and is led astray by some very inadvisable men. In many ways the misogynistic elements of the story are just as pertinent today. Nevertheless she herself turns her back on true love, for it comes entwined with poverty.

But the real thrill for me was a new young tenor, Vittorio Grigolo, as the idealistic des Grieux, who is loved and then spurned by naughty Manon. I don't think I can recall hearing such a beautiful tenor voice for a very long time. He's a dashing presence on stage as well, but regardless of looks, he has a stunning voice. His delicate singing in the famous "dream" aria was heart-stoppingly lovely.

At the curtain call there were roars and flowers and stamping of feet, and Vanessa and I came away all topped up with beauty and light and wallowing in the quality of such phenomenal talent. But with a bitter-sweet aftertaste - after all, 'tis a terrible tale...

A different daVinci

2010-06-17T01:29:00.000-07:00

This daVinci has nothing to do Mona Lisa or Katie…it is a robotic contraption that has revolutionized prostate cancer treatment. A local prostate cancer consultant, Professor Tom McNicholas, told me about this special art auction and I wanted to help raise funds for this treatment – which my own father underwent a few years ago. The Lister hospital in Stevenage has a new robotic daVinci machine that is greatly improving Prostate Cancer outcomes, and the auction aims to enhance this treatment still further.

So I have donated an illustration from "Katie and the dinosaurs" (and I'm throwing in a signed book as well). I suppose I should have donated something from "Katie and the Mona Lisa"... but this piece is already framed, and would suit a boy as much as a girl (you can see a photo of it... and a detail of the art).

This will be a unique opportunity to bid for an original Katie illustration, as I very rarely – if ever – part with any of them. Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men, so it’s a really important cause to support. If you are at all local, do try to be there and help out

A comprehensive catalogue will be published featuring the names and details of artists, together with details of the artwork and indications of value. Viewing will be from 29 June with the auction at 8pm (viewing from 6pm) on 2 July in the historic Lancasterian Hall at the British Schools Museum in Queen Street, Hitchin in Hertfordshire. This event is part of the Hitchin Festival.

Wartime Book Bash

2010-06-12T11:05:00.000-07:00

Yesterday and today I've been helping the team at Letchworth Arts Centre celebrate their book "I Remember The War". This, you might recall, is a project using real wartime memories, provided by Garden City residents, illustrated by children from six Letchworth schools. The workshops have been described before on this blog (click here), but in brief, the children used pen and ink (a good wartime technique) to bring the memories to life. The Letchworth Arts Centre team then had to squeeze as many of 300 illustrations into an 80 page book as possible. inevitably not everyone made it in. But I hope those children are not too disappointed; they still participated and that's good. And some other images have been made into greetings cards and others are featured in a special exhibition at the Arts Centre.

Everyone has worked incredibly hard on the book and it seems to have been a big success. Yesterday a vintage celebration in the art centre invited first the children then later the people who were themselves children during the war and who provided the poignant and fascinating memories.Today in David's Bookshop, our wonderful local independent bookstore, a huge signing session took place with dozens of children and pensioners finding out together what it's like to be a famous illustrator and having to autograph books. A lovely event, a fantastic project and a brilliant way to celebrate 65 years since VE day. The book remains on sale around Letchworth; if you are remotely local, do go and see the exhibition and get a copy. At £3 it's a war-time priced bargain!

Presenting Bubble & Squeak

2010-06-10T04:09:00.000-07:00

I'm really excited to be able to tell you about the beginning of a new collaboration.

Many years ago I met Clara Vulliamy at the Arvon Foundation in Devon. I was tutoring a course there in writing for children with Mark Haddon, and he invited Clara as our guest speaker. Clara and I hit it off immediately, and often bumped into each other a publisher parties. Clara always said the same thing: "write a story for me". I was far too unsure of myself to succeed... until now. At last I've put pen to paper and written a story for her and as the project progresses (slowly) I'll post things here about it.

The project, we hope, will be a series of books and will, for Clara, be the start of an exciting new approach to her illustrations. Clara is, in fact, a superb portrait painter who studied at the Royal Academy in London and I have huge respect for her. Her illustrations inhabit another world, though, and they are full of playful charm and humour, and brilliant characterisation. She is perfect for these stories...

We have been meeting regularly for tea and cake at either the Royal Academy, the National Gallery or the Ritz. It's hard work but someone has to do it.

We called ourselves the Two Cake Club (we never bother with anything healthy, we just always eat two cakes each). There we have sat and eaten the most delicious things and discussed all the various stages of the stories and pictures, and we have bonded over a shared love of vintage techniques and retro style (and cake). The samples Clara has produced so far are divine. The books will be published by Orchard Books in 2013...

And who are Bubble & Squeak? Ah...you just wait and see!

Stories and secrets

2010-05-27T08:33:00.000-07:00

While the sketches for "Katie in Scotland" are pondered over by Orchard Books, I had a meeting today with... well, that would be giving too much away. All I can say is that if plans come to fruition then the end of Katie's 21st Anniversary year should be quite spectacular. I wish I could say more, but that would jinx things. I should have some news in about three weeks time - keep checking the blog!

Orchard Books have meanwhile produced a lovely advert for the Katie books, part of which is posted here, announcing the new title which is published in August. And enties to the Loch Ness competition are coming in thick and fast and are of a very high standard I'm told. I've not seen them but I'm getting very excited.... Only five weeks left to go, so get your children to sharpen their pencils and get cracking!

Lilac Time

2010-05-24T08:33:00.000-07:00

Outside the studio, the Lilacs are just past their very finest and are beginning to fade. The garden is filled with birdsong and abundant foliage, although the late frost pinched the Wisteria and scorched the leaves of the Japanese Maple. But this has been a glorious and relaxing weekend. The roughs for Katie In Scotland are now with Orchard books and so I have a few days of peace before cracking on with that book.

It was too hot to dig the garden so I just relaxed and even found time to paint a picture. I was going to use oils but being so hot and bothered found some emulsion paint first and started dabbling. I chose the lilacs as my wife has a particular fondness for them (partly because of Stephen Duffy's The Lilac Time - her favourite band). I used an old canvas which had a not very nice painting on it but a beautiful frame, bought from a charity shop. So the picture was instantly framed. It's not very good, but it's a nice way to remember a really lovely family weekend filled with Scout camps, pool parties and home-made cake, all finished off with a hot air balloon above the garden, rubbing shoulders with the moon.

Wonderful Wycombe

2010-05-20T22:58:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I visited the South Bucks Children's Book Group (part of the National Federation) in High Wycombe. It was a super day, perfectly organised and run by lovely enthusiastic people. These enthusiasts make a huge difference to the fortunes of children, by celebrating books, literacy and image. And also to the fortunes of authors and illustrators, who they so splendidly champion.

In High Wycombe we ran two workshops for first younger then older children. Both were well attended (which is always a sign of a well-run book-group!) and I met so many interesting families.

Some children insisted I keep their pictures, which was very sweet. I'm posting one here which I love. I retold the story of St George and the Dragon, and here's what one child painted as a result. There's a rather large pool of blood, a fabulous fiery dragon, a striking castle and of course St George himself. Stirring stuff.

St George seemed particularly appropriate as the organiser's husband, Kevin, is a medieval armourer (Plessis Armories) and as we talked I was reminded of why I (and he) do such crazy jobs: we both do what we love! It's good to be reminded of that sometimes.

Rocks from the Lochs...and other pictures

2010-05-03T03:30:00.001-07:00

After a week away I have returned from Loch Ness and Edinburgh, where I was able to see for myself the exhibition "Katie's Picture Show" at the National Gallery of Scotland, run workshops, give storytellings, and then later go off travelling to research "Katie in Scotland", my next book.

You can read about it all on my "Katie" site, just click HERE.

Meanwhile, here are some photographs of a brooding Loch Ness, some stones I gathered from the shores (which I imagine to have been rubbed smooth against Nessie's scales), Edinburgh Castle and Ben Nevis distillery (with snow still on the distant peaks).

Old Work No. 3 : Theatre trouble and the Legend of the Invisible set designs

2010-04-18T00:50:00.000-07:00

My third and final attempt at theatre design (thus far) was for Rimsky-Korsakov’s epic opera The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and of the Maiden Fevroniya. I remember the first time I heard extracts from it on the radio as a teenager. Immediately I fell in love with the music, the composer and the legends and indeed Russia. Considered by many to be Rimsky-Korsakov’s finest opera, it was premiered in St Petersburg in 1908. Soon came the revolution though, and it’s spiritual and profound subject was unpopular in a newly atheist country and the opera fell into neglect.

In 1986 I went to Russia for two weeks, on a cultural tour. It was an eventful trip: firstly Chernobyl exploded (I had to be checked with a Geiger counter before being allowed back into the UK); secondly I was introduced to a dynamic young conductor, Valery Gergiev. We kept in touch and a few years later – when communism collapsed – he became the director of the Kirov (now Mariinsky) opera. I heard that he planned a new production of Kitezh. I offered to design sets for free.

We met a few times when he came to London for concerts (see old photo of me with more hair!), and he seemed to be wrestling with a conundrum. He liked my designs, but he couldn’t afford to fly me to St. Petersburg to work at the theatre, and this was a very important production. Beyond that, this is a very patriotic work and the Russians felt a Russian should design the opera. And so eventually Maestro Gergiev said “no”. A new production opened in 1993 with designs by a Russian. It all had seemed too good to be true anyway and I was just glad this beautiful jewel of a work was being revived. In the event, the sets - which relied on elaborate projections - were not much liked (although the opera was recognised as a neglected masterpiece), and to avoid catastrophe, I believe that my own designs were projected onto the basic set. I have no idea how much or little was used or to what effect. I wasn’t there and I didn’t see any performances.

After this, my designs were returned and were wistfully put away. Meanwhile a new production using designs “inspired by” Ivan Bilibin (ie, stolen from him) was mounted, but this too was problematic. In 1994 the Kirov performed it in Paris, and it was so heavily criticised that when they came to present the opera in London, it was given in concert, without sets or costumes. And astonishingly, I was asked if my designs could be used to illustrate the programme!

I suppose that was a small feather in my rather crumpled cap.

Several other commissions for Kirov/Mariinsky programmes and leaflets (and even T shirts for Heaven's sake) followed. Throughout this period, Valery Gergiev was always warm and grateful and appreciative. I got the impression he was juggling so many (temperamental) balls that the plight of a forlorn English artist was not high priority and I certainly didn’t push things. There was talk of me designing Stravinsky’s The Nightingale opera. But in the end... silence.

I eventually saw Kitezh performed in Edinburgh in 1994. The Bilibin sets had been reduced to crude Disney-esque caricatures, and the potential of the piece to be magnificent was missed I felt, however glorious the singing.

A year later another new production was commissioned, this time with modern, abstract, expressionistic designs: the city is never seen and the clothes are largely contemporary. Critics liked this and felt it made the opera “political” and “relevant”. I think this living breathing musical icon deserves something more glorious. And so once again, my unfulfilled dream is ... to bring this work to life on stage as I see it. As with Traviata, these old designs posted here are not what I’d do now by any means. But it is an interesting story to retell and remember.

For those interested, Kitezh combines two “old believer” legends from Russia, summed up in the lengthy title. And the story is one of the most ambiguous and beautiful in the operatic world. It takes place in mediaeval Russia, at the time of the Tartar tyrants:

Fevroniya is a child of nature who understands the language of the birds and talks to the animals. She knows all the flowers and how they heal, and lives alone in the vast Volga forests. A nobleman from the Sacred city of Kitezh finds her when out hunting. He thinks she is a sorceress, for she admits she never goes to church. But she explains that “God is everywhere. This forest is my cathedral, where, day and night the flowers and birds and animals sing their praises to their creator.”

The hunter is overwhelmed and gives Fevroniya his ring promising to return with a wedding carriage: she will be his bride and the forest will become a sanctuary. It is only afterwards that she learns that her betrothed is the Prince Vsevolod of Kitezh.

The villagers don’t approve of their future Queen, however, and interrupt her wedding cortege. Fevroniya answers their comments with humility and convinces all but one: a drunkard called Grishka. When Tatars invade the area he is captured and tortured, and he betrays everyone and offers to show the Tartars the secret path to the Sacred City of Kitezh.

The Tartars murder the villagers and also capture Fevroniya. She prays for a miracle – may Kitezh become invisible.

Within the Holy Citadel, people pray for salvation. Vsevolod summons an army, but as the enemy approaches the Royal Page, from a tall tower, sees a fantastic sight: a golden cloud is descending, hiding the city. The bells ring by themselves “As if touched by the wings of angels”. The city vanishes from the face of the earth - of all the people who prayed it is the simple Fevroniya whose prayers have been answered

On the battlefield Vsevolod is slaughtered, and Grishka is driven mad with guilt. He sees a vision in the lake - when the mist clears, the city is completely invisible, yet it is still reflected in the water. The Tartars also see this vision and flee.

It is now winter. Freezing and alone, Fevroniya imagines it is Springtime again and sings to the birds. Suddenly, miraculous Birds of Paradise appear and lead her to the ghost of Vsevolod, who breaks bread from Kitezh with her. Fevroniya gives the bread crumbs to her friends, the birds and animals, before taking leave of this world. Together with Vsevolod she ascends to Kitezh which, in the final scene, reappears as paradise: nature and civilisation joined in heaven. Everyone welcomes the new queen, and she sends a message of hope to earth: put your ear to the ground and listen – you will hear the bells of Kitezh calling the good to prayer. In Kitezh there is no suffering – only eternal joy. Search and you too can find the path to the invisible city...

The pantheistic themes combining nature and faith are extremely potent and this is without doubt my desert island disc. I have been obsessed with both composer and legend for over 30 years. But...whether I will ever reach MY invisible, unattainable goal, who knows?

Old Work No.2: Theatre Trouble and Traviata

2010-04-15T01:15:00.000-07:00

After graduating from my illustration degree, a National competition was announced to design sets and costumes for a production of La traviata, the opera by Verdi (see elsewhere on my blogs and especially here). It is one of my favourite operatic works and so naturally I thought, "this is it - my opportunity", and I threw myself into the project. I had no other work to distract me.

The senes created show the tragic consumptive courtesan Violetta Valery, and her Parisian salon; her country house (in symbolic autumnal shades) and finally her decaying Miss Haversham-like bedroom where she dies in the arms of her forbidden lover, Alfredo. The costumes are decorated with camellias in the first act, and I had a very clear vision of how I felt the opera should be presented.

So... what happened? I lost confidence. And not for the first time. The overwhelming thing in life that has held me back is a fear of failure. Rather than face that, I decided to not enter. After all, who did I think I was? I had no training, no understanding of fabrics and making costumes and no concept of stage craft. I overlooked the fact I had passion and fire in my belly and a deep knowledge of the work, the era in which it is set and the costumes and architecture of the period. I also ignored the fact that I had a vision and was inspired. My sensible and anxious voice won, and my day-dreaming risk-taking voice bowed down. I cancelled my application form and shelved the art. It has never been seen by anyone... until now.

Interestingly, I don't just think - Oh! I wish I'd entered. Mainly I think... these are interesting; but I would approach and interpret the story very differently now, and I think much much better.

Designing La traviata one day remains one of my biggest hopes and dreams. I know I could do it; I know I could do it damned well. I have things to say about this opera, visually, and I would so love to try them out. Maybe one day... who knows? For now I will content myself by playing one of my umpteen recordings and if I close my eyes I can see my sets and costumes come alive in my imagination. I wish you could see them, too. They are very beautiful.

Old Work No.1: Theatre Troubles

2010-04-13T08:50:00.000-07:00

I recently found drawers full of old student work, mostly fit for the bonfire. But one or two things were of slight interest (well, at least to me) and I thought I'd sort of preserve them here in case they intrigue anyone. First up is the first of three dalliances with Theatre Design. Anyone who knows me well or has read widely on my blogs, will know how much I love theatre, opera and ballet, and have long dreamed of designing sets.

While on my second Foundation Course at Lowestoft Art College (the first was interrupted by a serious illness), I was faced with the decision of applying for either Illustration or Theatre Design degrees.

Now my interest in set designs at that time was entirely Romantic. I swooned over Swan Lake as I shut myself away with my old L.P. records and drew imaginary scenery for beautiful and elegant dancers.

To really test me, my tutors set me a Set Design Project based on The Troubles in Northern Ireland. They thought it would completely put me off the whole idea - a bit of gritty realism to bring me to my senses. But in fact I rather enjoyed creating streets filled with graffiti, and banners that could be raised or dropped to reveal changes in scene.

I was greatly helped by the fact that a fellow student, Andy Peters (now an illustrator and designer himself) had served in the Army, and still had some old clothes. So he dressed up and lurked convincingly in doorways and dark alleys while I protographed him. I had my own dark-room in those days (in the upstairs "loo") and he helped me process and print the films, which provided most of the figures for my little sets.

The tutors were like dogs-with-two-tails over the project and urged me to look at Theatre Design courses. Which is when the dream unravelled slightly because I didn't like what I saw. There was an aloof snootiness amongst students, and a competitive, aggressive edge that made me feel very unwelcome. It suddenly seemed a slightly bitchy world that I didn't want to inhabit, and my parents were entirely against it as well.

And so illustration beckoned instead, and I put my idea of set-design in the file marked "pure fantasy", for a rainy day...

Garden City at War

2010-03-30T01:30:00.000-07:00

Don't panic! Letchworth Garden City isn't under assault (well, there's all the town centre redevelopments...but that's another story). I'm referring to the Letchworth Garden City Heritage Foundation's summer festival, this year celebrating the 65th anniversary of VE day. The Letchworth Art Centre have decided to produce a book of wartime memories by local residents old and new, who lived through the war.

The book is to be illustrated by local schoolchildren and so I have spent the last week or so visiting various schools to work with Year 6 children. Each school has been assigned a selection of memories and the classes have been using old-fashioned dip-pens and ink to continue the vintage theme.

It's been a struggle for some. "What! no rubbers? No rulers?" they've cried. But in the end they've all had a stab at it and a few results are posted here. Aren't they fabulous? The themes range from evacuees to bombings to Dame Vera Lynn. The way the children have interpreted the stories and this, combined with their vulnerability with the tools and yet the naive strength of their purpose, has created something dazzlingly good. The book will be a knockout. We are hoping to have the world's biggest signing session when the book comes out as there will be anything up to around 200 illustrators! My only heartache is that there will not be room for EVERY illustration in the book, although I intend to squeeze in as many as possible. This is a great project, cross-curricular, cross- generational, a community project, a chance to learn new skills (with the ink pens), and especally an opportunity to be published and thus appreciate what a book can be. Lucky children... and lucky me.

Rare sighting of Nessie!

2010-03-18T06:46:00.000-07:00

A rare viewing of Nessie occured today...as I sketched out an early version of the famous beastie in preparation for the new Katie book Katie In Scotland. There is a particular reason for Nessie to be seen early on: a major competition is about to be announced, inviting children to create a portrait of Nessie. This picture will be used in the advertising. The winning entry WILL BE PUBLISHED IN THE BOOK and exhibited at the SCOTTISH NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY in Edinburgh, when it reopens in 2011 - an amazing and unique opportunity for a child to get their work in print! Full details will follow shortly - so keep looking!

Starting and finishing

2010-02-17T08:50:00.000-08:00

As various little bits and pieces get finished for the Edinburgh exhibition and gallery trail (you can find out about that at Katie's Picture Show), and the final parts of Ella Bella come together in time to be sent off for proofing (see Ella Bella Ballerina)my mind is already looking ahead to new things.

I'm so often asked "Where do you get you ideas from", and today I am almost asking myself the same question. In truth there is no formula, and frankly every book is different, the process is different, the inspiration (if I can call it that) is also different.

Notebooks are my life-blood. Without them I simply could not work, and I begin by writing... in the sitting room, the dining room, kitchen, bedroom and even bathroom. On trains, out walking, in destist's waiting rooms. In my head... I write there too. And I have to fight past the initial sense of disappointment that I don't like what I'm writing, and try to make it better. Always I am trying to be better. Why? what drives me? well as I get older (and my birthday approaches...)I am increasingly aware that this is my time right now. And I would like to leave just one book behind that might do some good somehow in some small way and thus be considered a perennial classic. I also have two eager illustrators asking for stories. I won't jinx things by saying more. But I am optimistic (for once).

Meanwhile, my dear friend Nelly Miricioiu (see here) kindly introduced me to the man who runs the Royal Opera House gift shop. She could not understand why they did not stock either Orchard's Ella Bella or the Opera stories I illustrated for Barefoot. Happily both publishers have now been in touch with him and I understand that large orders are being placed, which makes me very happy. Not just for the obvious reasaon but also because I truly believe in the value of encourageing a love of classical music. This was very kind of Nelly to set up, especially as she is incredibly busy preparing for her performance of the title role in Verdi's La traviata at the Southbank on Sunday.

On that theme, the de Havilland Philharmonic Orchestra have pinned me down for another concert, on November 7th. The repertoire hasn't been decided yet, but as in previous years it will be a mixture of storytelling and live illustration, matching the original inspiration to the correct music. So a busy year is falling into place. But I always say I am at my most creative when I have too much to do! Bring it on!

More About a BOY

2010-02-01T23:13:00.000-08:00

Such is the response to my last post - and I'm very touched - I thought I'd post a quick follow up. Firstly because I found some very early experiments, in acrylic, clumsy pastels (which was my eventual choice) and watercolour. I always like seeing artists unfinished work, their disasters (I have plenty of those) and their process of work in general, so rather than throw these in the bin I thought I'd let you have a look at them. Just don't judge me too harshly, this is me being generous and exposing all my flaws, OK?

The other reason for posting is to say that all the kind comments people left about BOY have galvanised me somewhat and I have (sharp intake of breath) sent a copy to a publisher and they have expressed a tiny drop of interest...a sparkle in the eye...a wistful ambition. So we shall see. Meanwhile that superstar Jackie Morris has also mentioned the idea to a publisher she works with. And guess what? they are also not entirely uninterested!

Now, I'm the last person in the world to even consider counting any chickens before hatching. I wouldn't even count the eggs. But you never know... you really never do. There's just the tiniest fragment of hope that possibly...just possibly...BOY may have a happy ending after all. I'll keep you (literally) posted!

Boy Story

2010-01-23T02:50:00.000-08:00

A recent posting about pastels got me thinking again about the one book I did using them. It’s a difficult story to tell, but here goes.

When my son was very young I enjoyed watching his observations of the world. I wanted to capture that in a book. To him, the world and its excitements was all new. I came up with a stone-age toddler, for whom the world really WAS brand new. The idea caught like kindling wood in my mind and before I knew it I had written a series of five or six stories. I was really excited as I felt certain it was absolutely beyond question the best set of texts I’d ever written (although Fatherly love may have clouded my judgement).

Called simply "BOY" I was a determined that the stories be accepted as a series. I didn’t want just one book published while the other stories languished. At the time I was working a lot for The Chicken House, the Somerset based near-cottage industry that purported to find new and exciting ideas; a fresh approach to publishing. etc

They liked the stories but needed a sample image – they were unsure how, with my “sophisticated” style I could create something for pre-school children. And so I began to experiment. I have never pushed myself so hard I truly left no stone unturned in my quest for a suitable visual language. In this task I was inspired and encouraged by the students I taught at Cambridge art school, who were similarly scared and excited about their work.

Eventually I settled on pastels, and free from the constraints of Van Gogh, Monet or Turner (the Katie books) I was able to explore composition, mood, sequential image and pacing in a way I simply never had done before. And I loved it. I realised that the whole emotional sweep of a landscape could be changed by a single rock or a drawn line. I’ve rarely worked so hard on a picture book (the first Ella Bella is perhaps comparable) but I truly felt I had come up with something that was, for me (in relative terms) a genuine advancement and a bold new approach. Of course it raised issues of who I was as an artist: my visual language (style) has never been clear to me, my identity often hidden, especially in the Katie books. Was this, then, the real me?

I progressed rapidly and the Chicken House loved the art. I got a contract for the first two books – not quite the whole series but a realistic commitment. I happily threw myself into completing the book, and the sum of the parts was very pleasing to me.

Publication day came and soon after a review in Books for Keeps. Inexplicably the book was listed under “Information Books” . The reviewer proceeded to heavily criticise a book that ignored the scientific sequence of life on earth, for I had included a Woolly Mammoth, a Sabre-Toothed Tiger AND a dinosaur. In short, as a non-fiction title (as she saw it) it was worthless.

I was outraged because the book makes no such claim to being an “Information book”. It is quite clearly a work of fiction, a picture-book. The dinosaur is no more unexpected than those in The Flintstones. Interestingly my GP loved it for, as a man of faith, he felt it endorsed his view, that science doesn’t have all the answers and one shouldn’t close doors on theological explanations for these mysterious beasts. That openness is what makes him a really wonderful doctor.

But books for Keeps – when I wrote to them – were fairly unrepentant, the reviewer countering my complaints by saying the cave painting end papers suggested to her I was attempting a realistic account of prehistoric life (which I certainly wasn’t). What can you do with such people? The dinosaur was there to satisfy that childhood fantasy – of meeting a dinosaur. No harm was intended to the assorted scientific minds of the world, and the very controversy raised makes the book good for classroom discussion. But oh dear, how unimaginative these so-called experts and critics can be and I’m afraid I have no time for their narrow view of the world. That’s why I can write stories and they can’t I suppose.

But worse was to come. The Chicken House see themselves mainly as a publisher of teenage fiction. They put no real effort into their picture books. I did five for them and was never asked to promote one of them. So it was perhaps hardly surprising that BOY didn’t sell very well. It wasn’t a disaster, but The Chicken House had financial concerns at that time (they were subsequently bought out by Scholastic in America). They decided to cull several outstanding contracts. And one of them was for BOY.

The book remained in print for some time. They even produced a paperback. But eventually they sheepishly admitted that they would not honour their contract and publish the second title, even though they had approved the text before signing. It was appalling behaviour from any publisher, especially one that markets itself as friendly and approachable. Barry Cunningham (the “man who discovered Harry Potter” as he never fails to remind us all) treated me dreadfully. It took three years of negotiating to get a settlement. Prior to that I had been suddenly left with no work and no money and no immediate prospects.

Worst of all, I had no chance of ever publishing those remaining stories about “Boy”, an especially poignant situation as they were very much about my own little boy who was growing up so fast. The whole thing just about broke my heart and left me deeply distrustful of the whole industry. Thank goodness Orchard stood by me and in time Ella Bella flew up from the ashes. But it was a bleak, terrible time, frightening too with a family to support.

The rights in Boy are now back in my possession. The remaining stories are still unpublished and it’s hard to see how a publisher would want to take on the whole project now; it’s reputation has been rather tarnished. But I remain proud of the one book. It reads well in schools, it pushed me in new directions, it holds within it a precious memory of my son scrabbling in the mud in the garden like a prehistoric troll.

I think publishers are sometimes unaware of how much we writers and illustrators give of ourselves. This isn’t some egotistical self-indulgence, it is a sharing, a communicating. It is a giving of oneself. I can barely begin to describe the hours and hours of work and thought I put into that book. It deserved to be treated better.

And to anyone with a manscript I would say: approach The Chicken House with caution – their contracts are not worth the paper they are printed on.

A late flowering camellia

2010-01-17T23:05:00.000-08:00

This has nothing to do with books, but I am posting about it anyway as it is very much on my mind.

My favourite singer – an opera singer – is the Romanian born Nelly Miricioiu. She suffered terrible things in Romania before escaping to Britain, and through the Barefoot Book of Stories from the Opera, we have become great friends. Indeed for the revised edition, Nelly added an endorsement, along with Placido Domingo. In fact Nelly has sung very few of the light-hearted parts in the collection, being a dramatic-coloratura soprano. She did once sing the Queen of Night from the Magic Flute though. Indeed it was her debut role.

One of Nelly Miricioiu's finest roles - one she has sung over 350 times - is that of the Lady of the Camellias, or Violetta Valery in Verdi's immortal opera La Traviata.

It's not a story you will find in the book - it's too much of a romantic tragedy for young children. It is a role I have always longed to hear her sing since I first heard her (as Musetta in La Boheme) in 1985. Alas Covent Garden ignored her throughout the 1980s when she sang it with glory all over Europe and America. Her only London performances of the role were with the English National Opera in 1984. She made her British debut in the role in 1981 with Scottish Opera in Glasgow and her last performances were in 1994 for the Bath opera, as a (luxurious) guest singer.

Her stage partners around the world have included Jose Carreras, Alfredo Kraus and Roberto Alagna. Her glamour and integrity as well as her brilliant technique make her unusually well equipped for the role. And yet Covent Garden's elderly Visconti production, though often revived, ususally starred her compatriot Ileana Cotrubas. When it was finally replaced the new staging was given to Angela Gheorghiu - another Romanian! Nelly somehow got overlooked between these two singers, and it was most definitely Covent Garden's loss. I find it a great mystery that she never achieved the fame that was her due. But then she never sought publicity or played that game. She simply got on with giving superb performances in the theatre, and studying ever more deeply the bel canto techniques of singing.

Many times I dreamed of travelling abroad to hear her sing the role: in Verona, Monte Carlo, Washington, San Franciso, Paris, Frankfurt...but I could never afford to do so. Latterly I have been overjoyed to find recordings of some live performances. They confirm what I imagined: she is a superb Violetta. All the reviews in all the music journals of the time said the same.

And now - suddenly, unexpectedly - she has decided to return to the role one last time, for a concert performance with her beloved Chelsea Opera Group at London's Southbank. It is a brave thing to do for Nelly is now in her 50s. And yet her well preserved voice and her life-time of knowledge will I am sure reap huge rewards with a role easily dismissed as over-popular. Sutherland recorded her second Traviata at 55, and many singers have approached the role in their maturity. Last summer Renee Fleming had a big success at Covent Garden in the role at 51.

And so - my ticket is booked - and at long last my dream is set to come true. I will finally hear Nelly in the role that she was born to sing.

All the world's a stage

2010-01-10T02:49:00.001-08:00

Recently I was asked to run an art project at my son's school. His Year 6 class are looking at Shakespeare generally, and Macbeth in particular. Rather than just create an image based on the play I wanted the children to delve deeper. As I've always loved toy theatres this seemed like a good idea.
I made a set of scenery in my own Pollack's toy theatre, and it was entirely black and white except for Lady Macbeth's red dress. The children grasped the symbolism immediately and were able to produce far more thought-through pieces of art as a result.

Then children were asked to bring in a shoe box each. I designed a simple "proscenium arch" which was stuck on the lid. The necessary hole was cut out to create a stage opening, and slots on the top for scenery and the sides for characters were also cut.

The really creative bit, though, was imagining the scenery. This meant the children had to really look at the scenes given in the play directions (and not just be inspired by a cartoon film that they'd all seen; some scenes in the film are only referred to in the original play). Also they had to consider how to best represent the characters and who the characters were, quite a sophisticated concept for 10- year-olds.

I believe the follow-up writing appeared to benefit from this visual and mini dramatic immersion. For my part it was wonderful to see thirty children poring over their beautiful miniature theatres and acting out little scenes: "Out damned spot" and "Is this a dagger I see before me...?" were favourites... along with "By the the pricking of my thumb..."

Their puppet "actors" were glued to straws to allow them to enter the stage (although some had flying witches descend from above). One boy brought in lighting and pricked out star-holes at the back of the theatre, a lovely effect.

I am always amazed, humbled and inspired by what children can produce, without the self-critical baggage we adult artists carry around with us. Often it is unexpected children who start to shine, and that, rather satisfyingly, proved to be the case. I wish I had taken more photographs, but as usual it was a busy afternoon, keeping all the children happy and giving them the attention they deserved. At the end of the two days they all took home a Macbeth theatre and they all, deservedly, had a huge pride in their work and a good knowledge of the play. Happily, the Regent's Park theatre are performing the "Scottish Play" this summer. We've already booked!

Russian weather for a Russian Christmas

2010-01-06T08:11:00.000-08:00

Let it snow! It certainly has snowed here in Hertfordshire. While I listen to my old Soviet recording of Rimsky-Korsakov's opera Christmas Eve, I am thinking of the blini in the fridge. Perhaps a little Vodka and a quick hopak would be appropriate as well?

This is such a beautiful fairy-tale opera, and the story also inspired Tchaikovsky's "The Tsarina's slippers", performed at Covent Garden this Christmas. I prefer Rimsky-Korsakov's fantastic take on the story, which features a ballet of comets, a chorus of snowflakes and the goddess Kolyada, who symbolises the Russian Christmas Carols that celebrate the rising of the sun on Christmas morning.

Rimsky-Korsakov is sometimes criticised for his "puppet" operas, devoid of emotion. but I find the pageant-like celebration of tradition, and the fairy-tale ending surprisingly emotional.

Many years ago the work was given it's British stage premiere by the English National Opera in London. As a fan of Rinsky-Korsakov I went to the opening night - and six other performances. Each time I left the theatre on a cloud of joy and enchantment.

The story is set in the village of Dikanka in the Ukraine, drawn from a collection of tales by Nikolai Gogol. The Blacksmith Vakula adores the vain and indifferent Oxana. To complicate things, Vakula's mother rather fancies her chances with Oxana's wealthy cossack father. But HE won't marry her because SHE is a witch.

In Slavic mythology, Christmas Eve is akin to Hallowe'en as a day of darkness before the light returns and Jesus is born. Because Vakula drew cartoons of the devil in the church, the devil and Solokha decide to take revenge, make mischief, and spoil Vakula's courting of Oxana. To this end they steal the moon and the stars!

But Vakula still finds Oxana in the dark and tries to woo her. She declares to her friends that she would only marry him if he fetched her the Tsarina's slippers.

Meanwhile the witch is so embarrased to have the devil himself in her kitchen that when several visitors call she hides him in a sack. Vakula thinks it is a sack of food and carries it off as he embarks on a reckless journey to see the Tsarina at the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg.

The devil reveals himself and Vakula, showing him a cross, gets the devil to carry him to St. Petersburg. An elaborate ballet of stars and comets accompaies them to the Imperial court, where Vakula eventually wins the Tsarina's slippers.

Back in Dikanka, Oxana imagines the missing Vakula is eaten by wolves. Such is her joy when, on Christmas morning he returns, that she agrees to marry him with or without the slippers.

It's an enchanting and very Russian story, filled with eccentric cameos, and I had the good luck to pursuade the author of the Barefoot Book of Stories from the Opera to include it, which enabled me to illustrate it. It remains my favourite story in the book. It's such a shame it is so rarely performed - I remember it as one of the most spectaculaer and touching evenings at the opera I have ever enjoyed.

S’ Razhdеstvom!!!

Perfect pastel prism

2010-01-04T11:46:00.003-08:00

Colour is a magical thing. I rarely indulge myself, but the reduced box of 48 gorgeous artists quality pastels in the local art shop was too much. I was enchanted. They are deliciously crumbly, almost (I imagine) melt-in-the-mouth Edinburgh Rock soft (which can't be a bad thing). I don't use pastels very often, as it happens. Only one book, "BOY" was produced entirely in pastels. But for my current project "Ella Bella Ballerina and Swan Lake" I need a Romantic softness and I've been using a lot of pastels, including some giant hand-made Italian ones called Kremer. It's amazing how far you need to go to find just the right colour. Usually it's the very pale ones I need, because the standard cheap pastels generally available are far too garish. And the pale ones are really hard to find.

I haven't tried the new set yet. The prism-rainbow colours are too lovely to spoil, but I daresay in time they'll end up like my other tatty old sets, covered in pastel dust (like me and my books and records and nik-naks). I'm reminded how every Christmas I'd get a new set of felt-pens, all in a rainbow arc of colour in a plastic wallet. I'd spend many a happy hour putting them in some sort of order. Perhaps I'll do the same with these. They deserve a little more respect than the other crumbly old sets. And they come in a lovely wood box, which makes them seem even more cherishable.

Madame Nightingale Will Sing Tonight

2010-01-02T12:13:00.000-08:00

One of my earliest books (published twenty years ago, in 1990) was this optimistic parable aimed at introducing children to opera through the tantrums of a stage-struck nightingale. In fact the book sold reasonably well and secured several co-editions, including a Finnish edition. I was so delighted I sent it to my childhood inspiration, Finnish author and illustrator Tove Jansson, legendary creator of the Moomins. Astonishingly, she replied and put Moomin stamps on the envelope!

Madame Nightingale shows the influence illustrators who worked in the 1960s. there are shade of Brian Wildsmith, John Burningham and Gerald Rose (who taught me at Maidstone College of Art). I had yet to find my own voice.

The story tells of a band of woodland creatures who discover a discarded toy theatre and decide to stage an opera with the Nightingale as the star. But disaster strikes when, just days before the premiere, the diva gets stage fright and loses her voice. All sorts of personal things crept into the illustrations. The wrecked car is a reminder of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and the gramophone is modelled on one from my own collection. The landscapes have a hint of Samuel Palmer about them, and - like Palmer's bucolic scenes of harvesting - are taken from the Kentish countryside where I had lived for three years whilst studying.

To accompany me on promotional trips I even made an elaborate cardboard toy theatre, with a mouse audience. When the curtain rises it reveals a diva-like Madame nightingale in mid-aria.

I remember one particular event when I manfully carried this theatre, a (portable) antique gramophone and a priceless 78 rpm record of a real nightingale singing to the accompaiment of Beatrice Harrison's 'Cello, all the way to Blackpool Zoo. A children's book event was hosted there, and as the weather was set fair it was held outside. Unfortunately a pair of male peacocks decided to display their tails mid-way through my storytelling, and I paled by comparison. I later had the further indignity of being chosen from an audience to be attacked by a sword-wielding magician. Those were the days.

Madame Nightingale is now out of print and long forgotten. I can't imagine many children discovered opera as a result of her little adventure. But I had fun with the book, and was an important stepping stone in my development.

Winter Day Dreams

2010-01-01T08:27:00.000-08:00

The new year has brought a return of the cold weather, but no more snow. Warm and cosy in my studio I am working away, my head filled with memories of those magical days before Christmas, when the little church outside the house was transformed into a fairytale scene, and I played outside with my family and forgot about work. Sledges and snowballs and snowmen dance in my mind while I listen to Tchaikovsky's Winter Day Dreams (his first symphony).

On December 21st - the solstice - I joined my colleages at Rhapsode for a day of music, art and magic. Using the story of an ex-student, Quitterie de Castelbajac, forty children joined myself and Rebecca Leek and Vanessa Stone to create a shadow play. It seemed appropriate for the darkest day of the year.

Quitterie's story - which won this year's Rhapsode Writer's Award, is Mr Winter's Vanishing, an exquisite story of how Mr Winter one year refuses to appear. He believes he is so disliked that he stays at home in his little frozen house.
Mr Autumn is trapped and Father Christmas has no winter wind for his sledge. It takes the wish of a boy and little swallow to resolve things.

Outside the snow fell as we transformed the beautiful Howgills (the Friend's Meeting house in the old Quaker town of Letchworth Garden City) into a miniature theatre for the day. The little orchestra played as the shadows danced and hundreds of paper-cut snowflakes temporarily stole the limelite from the real thing.

This is the first White Christmas I've ever had. And it is firmly preserved in my own Winter Day dreams...

A New Beginning

2009-12-20T05:19:00.000-08:00

As I work away in my studio, minding my own business, everyone tells me I must have a "Web profile". Blowing my own trumpet or fishing for compliments isn't my way. So there will be no faux-poetic ramblings or even the slightest rinsing of dirty laundry. Instead you will discover a little about how I work and where my ideas come from, together with an exploration of some of my books. I'll post sketches and roughs new and old and hopefully make it as useful and interesting as I possibly can by sharing ideas and passions with anyone who finds themselves here...