Hello everyone!

I hope you are well and have a cuppa in hand. Yes it's been a long time coming, but here it is, my very first newsletter straight from my drawing board to your inbox. I have been planning to do this for some time now, to share more insights and basically stuff, with everyone who knows me, follows me (thank you by the way!) or simply wants to know a bit more about what I do and what I am up to. So here we go!

This year has been a busy year for me with the release of three new books. Covid held up a lot of things in the publishing industry and some books and contracts even got cancelled because of it. Thankfully none of mine did, it simply caused delays. With each book I create I try to make it better than the last. I look for new challenges (heaven knows why!) but I like to be able to explore techniques to improve my drawing skills and artwork. I'm really proud of this recent collaboration with Susie Betts, thanks to Raising Literacy Australia and Little Book Press, for Warna Manda Baby Earth Walk. In the beginning I was simply meant to mentor Susie on the process of creating a picture book but she made it very clear, very early on that she wanted me equally involved in the creation of the artwork. What an amazing opportunity to learn from such a talented artist! The challenge with this book was that Susie's style was set. So I had to create artwork that was going to work with whatever she came up with. Watercolour was not on the cards for Susie, it was always going to be acrylic. This meant digging out the paints I hadn't used in years and reversing the brain - painting light on top of dark; watercolour layering is the other way round. I let Susie choose the colours in which she wanted to work and this determined the feel for the whole book and the course of which my artwork needed to follow. When I saw the result of all the beautiful jades and turquoises, I thought this truly is going to be something special.

You're probably wondering why I haven't done much promotion for this book yet?

To be honest, I've been itching to but there is something in the pipeline for it's official release so I'm not able to yet, but I will be sure to shout that from the rooftops as soon as I know (honestly, that's all I know at this stage).

With next year's Book Week theme recently announced, Dreaming With Eyes Open, I can't wait to share this in schools next year. It's a perfect fit! If you are a teacher or librarian reading this and you would like me to visit your school, simply get in touch with Becky Lucas, my Booking Agent to secure a date. My Book Week dates book up very fast. Something extra special - Susie has entrusted me with all her original artwork she created for this book so I'll be bringing these to schools with me to share with students :)

This little book has really changed the course of my artwork over the past couple of years. I'm a big believer in creating your own opportunites, recognising when the Universe is presenting them, and grabbing them with both hands. You never know what is going to come of it - what have you got to lose! Take hold and run with it.

For ages I have been wanting to get back to creating textures and working in some kind of printmaking style but I didn't want to go back to Uni to learn more (crikey, I've already done 5 years!) and I didn't have the equipment, the presses, so I needed to find another way. When the National Library asked me to illustrate this book they requested a contemporary art style. Wonderful - I get to explore! But how and where do I go? After my research trip to Canberra University pre-Covid, I discovered how small these dragons were (that was another research opportunity created by travelling the rabbit warren). There were a lot of granite rocks in their habitat that I needed to recreate. Long story short - I jumped on Pinterest, found some textural images that I liked, tracked down the artist, discovered she was in QLD and emailed her. Two months later (thanks to the rabbit warren again) I was in QLD for a two day one-on-one workshop discovering how to make textures without machinery nor highly toxic chemicals. This book is the result, as is the sand texture for Warna Manda Baby Earth Walk and the background textures for the upcoming Bev and Kev, due for release early next year.

All the artwork for this book was created on architectural film because I could move the inks around, they sat on top (mind you it took two days to dry) but it was so exciting to manipulate. It was then scanned and I combined all the artwork digitally. I have a very strong feeling this process is going to come up again in one form or another, perhaps, in the wren book... speaking of wrens...

If you follow my Facebook page you'll notice I've been quite busy gathering research material for a newly contracted book. A sweet story written by the very talented Mike Dumbleton, to be published by Little Book Press. The manuscript is still in final editing stages and I'm not sure of the size nor the number of pages, but it is based on blue wrens and how the female creates a unique song she sings to the chicks whilst in the eggs so they recognise her call before they are born - so I will need to draw lots of wrens, nest building, eggs and chicks.

Now I hear some people and generally school kids say, why not just get photos from the internet? Why waste hours upon hours looking for nests, trying to get photos of these super fast, very small birds, getting rained upon, sunburnt (yep, didn't realise I was standing in front of the nest for so long), hailed upon and frustrated when most of the shots come out blurry? Why not simply Google 'wrens building a nest and feeding baby birds'? Yes, that will give me lots of photos but it won't give me the knowledge that life experience brings. Those hidden gems that diving down the rabbit warren brings. So don't forget to dive!

All these little gems are what make the details of a book so special and through this process I discover the story in images, because really, I have no idea what I'm going to do until I start this journey - this is where the ideas come from.

This year has literally grown wings and taken flight before my very eyes! Where on Earth did it go? Many may not realise but in between pages of books, I just love drawing ponies. Thelwell was a huge influence on me growing up and I can relate to many of his cartoons with kids doing crazy things on their ponies - I was one of them.
Over the past few years I have started developing these cheeky little 'Ponyfoot' characters. I'm often asked about gift ideas featuring my artwork so I've started making some of these available on Redbubble. (I'm not able to use any of my picture book artwork for this). They have a terrific range of products and I just love their cushions! The original artwork for these I often make available on from website such as this little guy, 'Christmas Jumper'. They are created with pen and watercolour and most have a little sparkle to them thanks to the fabulous paint of Daniel Smith.

And yes, there is a story idea swishing around in my brain for these Ponyfoot characters :)

Let me share something that is absolutely crucial for me to be able to paint - my daylight lamps. Sorry for the chopped image but hey, I didn't want to turn it sideways. These are a game changer! I have three actually, all purchased from the Daylight Man and whenever I buy one he sends me a free pair of extremely sharp small scissors... awesome! These two are portable, cordless and charge from a usb cord. The smaller one has a clip for hooking onto your drawing board, great if it's at an angle like mine. Also great for attaching to your sketchbook if like me, you draw late at night (great for reading as well), and the larger one is also a magnifying glass - fabulous for details.

These allow me to see colours for what they truly are, especially at night, when I'm not blessed with large windows facing north and natural light streaming in (actually that's never at the moment, but I'm working on that). Plus, there are so many different options, like paintbrushes, you'll probably need more than one.

Finally (and thank you if you've got this far!) let me introduce you to my two shadows. Arty, my red and white border collie and Rory, my black and white. These guys warm my feet under my drawing board, block my doorway so I can't escape, steal the strawberries from my tubs (thanks Rory) and demand I give up half of my banana... every... single... time (looking at you Arty) but they keep me sane and remind me to get up from the drawing board every now and then to get some sunshine :)

... it's back to the drawing board! Thank you for taking the time to be a part of my crazy world. I promise (fingers crossed), the next newsletter won't be as long :)
Take care and keep creating.