Tuesday 8 June 2010

Poo-poo, Ample Behinds and Rambling Halfwits




Well, things are all pretty good up here on Elliott mountain. Summer is on it's way, little Clemmie's hips have been safely cajoled back into their sockets with the help of a few knife-wielding surgeons and an assorted collection of nuts and bolts, my brother has fearlessly beaten off his dengue fever, Toby's vocabulary may still be tiny but in the last week whenever my husband farts he has started to say 'poo-poo'- whilst pointing squarely at my husband's face.The boy's a genius.


Oh and I can now officially call myself a published author. Yes indeedy my first book 'Cub's First Winter' is officially released into the world this week. And it even had it's first little review (more of a 'comment' really) today from Julia Eccleshare - children's editor of the Guardian, no less - check it out here.

In other worky news the following points may be of interest to someone out there so here you go:

Exhibition - Me and fellow local illustrator Celia Bisoe have decided to hold an exhibition entitled 'Show and Tell' this October 22nd-27th at Gallery 47 in Sudbury. We'll be selling a collection of our published book illustrations and the aim is to make it very child-friendly including book readings, free colouring sheets, comfy reading corner with our books and what-not. Come along! We'll be terribly lonely if you don't.

Stock - I've started selling stock illustrations on a few sites to make a few quid between book jobs and have managed to make over $100 in my first month which is great - and the beautiful thing is even if I now sit back on my ample behind and do nothing those images will still make me money for evermore. Marvellous!

PR stuff - Practical Parenting Magazine are doing a 'feature' on me in their August issue (on sale in July) which involved a scary phone interview this week during which all my vocabulary, personality, clarity of thought and charm left the room and were replaced by a banal, rambling half-wit. Luckily the woman then let me answer a lot of questions by email though so I think all is not entirely lost. I hope.

Other exciting, although totally unconfirmed stuff, is that Cub's First Winter just might be read out on the Bookaboo TV show, and I'm hopefully doing a workshoppy thing at Greenbelt Arts Festival this year - which is marvelous if for no other reason than we go every year anyway and this will mean a free ticket - yay! We'll have to wait and see on these though...

Oh, and if you're looking for some funky unique childrens-wear meander along to my new shop.

And in the mean-time I'm just coming to the end of the artwork for The Tale of Fragoline - here's a sneak preview.


Phew! Yowser. That's it for now then. Don't be a stranger. Come back soon. And all that.