Four New Novelty Picture Books Published! Book one - 'Africa's Great Surprise'

Hello! I am happy to say that my novelty picture books which I worked on back in 2020 are now published and I am delighted with them! Published by Little Asus. You can take a look at the website and online shop here! They are beautiful board books printed in Chinese for young children. All have novelty elements like lift the flap, gate fold pages, sliding features and even a magnifying glass! All of the covers have glossing on the front and back which looks beautiful. 

The books are part of the 'Steam' series. Twenty books were published in this series and each artist had four books. Please see below for my four books in all of their glory! 

I worked with watercolours throughout the four books.

This book is entitled 'Africa's Great Surprise'

This tells the story of three children discovering the sights of Africa and all of its animals. The moral here is to cultivate self confidence and self identity. To teach children not to feel inferior or arrogant, and to explore your own strengths and uniqueness. 

The two above pages are one continuous page with a half gate fold to the right.

The red door opens to reveal a beautiful garden.

These two pages are one long continuous page with left and right gate folds.

The above page opens to a top gate fold to reveal the huge tree.

The above page opens to a top gate fold to reveal the elephant.

The mobile phone here, has a sliding mechanism with a tab which can be pulled to make the pictures move. (See photo of interior view above)

Below are the small illustrations I made to go inside the phone!

New Greeting Card Designs!

Hi! I have been working on some illustrations for greetings cards recently. My agents at the Bright Agency set a really cool brief to create new pieces inspired by the works of famous artists. Below are my new designs!

'Dancing with the North Winds'
Christmas Card
Inspired by the work of Vincent Van Gogh
Gouache

'Along for the Ride'
Christmas Card
Inspired by the work of E H Shepard
Watercolour

'The Decorated Tree'
Christmas Card
Inspired by the work of Antoni Gaudi
Gouache and Brusho

'The Sun will Dance upon your Wings'
Wedding Card
Watercolour and Brusho

'The Bread is Baked'
Christmas Card
Inspired by the work of Wes Andersen
Watercolour

'Homeward Bound'
Christmas Card
Inspired by the work of Wes Andersen
Watercolour

The Sea Monster Jigsaw Puzzle

Hello! My illustration 'The Sea Monster' has been made into a jigsaw puzzle by the wonderful Renske Bot at Puzzle Roots who makes beautiful handcrafted, traditional jigsaw puzzles for young children and adults. The jigsaws are presented in their own cotton bag, printed with the illustration on the front and back. I am delighted to have a jigsaw featuring one of my own illustrations, and it was so much fun putting it together! :) Please take a look at Renske's beautiful jigsaw puzzles here: https://www.puzzleroots.com/

Greenlee is Growing Published!

Greenlee is Growing is now published! Here are all of the pages from the book. 

I used acrylic paint throughout the book. It was the perfect medium to show the changes in seasons from Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter. Lots of fresh greens and light colours for Spring, beautiful, fresh colours for Summer, rich and jewel-like colours for Autumn and crisp blues, greys and whites for Winter. I love the contrast of adding white snow to a dark coloured background. I also used small amounts of collage in the book which can be seen on the pretty ribbons on the kite on the title page and the bunting on the 'First Love' page. 

Greenlee is Growing - Front and Back Cover Art - Acrylic

Title Page - Acrylic and Collage

Spring is Here! - Acrylic

New Life - Acrylic

The Spring winds are Blowing - Acrylic

Summer is Here! - Acrylic

Fireworks at Night! - Acrylic

Sun - Soaked Adventures - Acrylic

First Love - Acrylic

Autumn is Here! - Acrylic

The Most Beautiful Season of All - Acrylic

Collecting Apples - Acrylic

Jump in the Leaves! - Acrylic

Winter is Here! - Acrylic

Santa and Snow Angels - Acrylic

Dressing the Christmas Tree - Acrylic

Happy New Year! - Acrylic

Knitting Beside the Fire - Acrylic

Greenlee is Growing

My latest book 'Greenlee is Growing' is due to be published on February 28th 2023 and is available for pre-order here!

Written by Anthony DeStefano and published by Penguin Random House. 

I had so much fun working on this beautiful book.

The book follows Greenlee through the spring of her youth and the summer of her adulthood. By the end of the book, she is a lovely old woman knitting by the fire in the cold days of winter. 

I will publish more details as soon as the book is published. 

New Embroideries

Here are three of my latest embroideries. 

'Rosie Wren' this was my first go at embroidering 'cast on roses'. 

'Coral and Pearl' two caticorn sisters named Coral and Pearl embellished with beads and sequins. 

'Iris and the Crow' an embroidery inspired by the Autumnal month of October.

'Rosie Wren'

'Rosie Wren' close up

'Coral and Pearl'

'Iris and the Crow'

Novelty Picture Books!

Hi! Since the end of 2020 and up to spring 2021, I have been as busy as a bee working on four novelty picture books for Long Ken publishers in China. The books are yet to be published, so please watch this space where I can post more as soon as they are! But for now, here is a little preview of one of the pages from the books. This page is from 'Land of Giants'. 

All four books will have novelty features such as lift the flap, a magnifying glass attached to the book, gate fold pages, a miniature book which can be taken out of a tray in the side of the book, sliding features and glitter!
 

Land of Giants

Miniature Canvases

Here are a set of six miniature canvases of cute little cats and dogs I have illustrated. Each one measures 10 x 10 cms and are painted with Acrylic. 

Brigitte

Buddy

Cherie

Daisy

Dawn

Dorothy

Leonard