August 12th, 2013

I have just been in the beautiful Blue Mountains on an illustrator’s residency at Margaret Hamilton’s Children’s Picture Book Cottage, ‘Pinerolo’.

What a wonderful experience, so peaceful and quiet, ideal for thinking about ideas and drawing. I had lots of lovely time to work on a new text and storyboard ideas. Margaret was very generous in sharing her experience and it was great to bounce ideas around.

The cottage has an extensive collection of children’s picture books and artwork. And after stoking up the log burner each night, I had great fun delving into books such as ‘Around the world in 80 days’ and ‘Avocado baby’ by John Burningham and looking at illustrations by artists such as Ardizzonne and E. H. Shepherd.

Thank you Margaret and Max for making me so welcome!

Thank you also to the Copyright Agency who provide funding for illustrator residencies.

A little character from the story I was working on...