Publishing

I had illustrated and contributed to several children’s books but ‘The Little Penguin’ was the first one I both wrote and illustrated. It was published by Harper Collins in 1988 and they described it as: ‘a mix of magic and nostalgia’.

I was clearly influenced by ‘Little Nemo’ and ‘Rupert Bear’. Still am….

One of several stories I illustrated for ‘World Tales’, (a collection of folk tales from around the world, published by Allen Lane/Kestrel), was ‘Cecino the Tiny’, the Tuscan version of ‘Tom Thumb’.

A love of costume and my time teaching in the fashion department at Kingston University will always serve as inspiration.

Given the opportunity by Collins, I chose to illustrate ‘Pinocchio’, continuing the Italian theme. That went on to win a prize at Bologna and led to Mondadori commissioning me to illustrate the unabridged version of the story - (published 1990). With my love of Italian design, (I owned an Alfa Romeo at that time!) it was a dream project.

Constant themes emerge throughout ‘Eye See, Do You See?’- (Thumbprint Books & Duncan Baird 1995) - architecture, costume, surreal landscapes and magical wonder!

‘Jack Frost’ is a project in development - ‘A Story of Ice and Snow, of Sun and Sea and Daring Deeds…’