Starlight, starbright...

Making an exhibition of myself

2009-11-24T03:33:00.000-08:00

I do feel that I neglect this blog these days. I had hoped to be able to show the design and printing process but the publishers weren't too forthcoming, and so all fell a little silent. Will try again with another blog.
Meanwhile some for the work from Starlight will be on show for a month in The Cloisters Gallery, St Davids Cathedral Refectory, Pembrokeshire.
I also have work on show at The Imagine Gallery in Long Melford, England: Simply Books in Bramhall near Stockport, England and The True North Gallery in New Hamilton, Massachusetts, USA.

Powerpoint, promotion and travel.

2009-10-07T10:12:00.000-07:00

Time to get my head back into work and when I should be painting I am working on a powerpoint presentation for Starlight. Off to Simply Books in Stockport on Wednesday, Madelaine Lindley's on Thursday of next week. Simply books won Independent Bookshop of the year last week, so this is a good time to be going there. Will be in the store in the afternoon, with paintbrush and pen in hand, for signing.
It takes time to gather images and get my head back into a book, in this case far too much time. I don't really want to leave home at the moment, not just because of all the work going on here, mostly because my cat is sick, but maybe this is a good time to have a break from everything here so that I can come back and paint again. The paintbrush feels so strange in my hands after a few weeks of not painting.

A parcel in brown paper

2009-08-22T01:41:00.000-07:00

They arrived in the post, two copies, one US, one UK. I unpacked them carefully, nervous. The road to producing the book had been a long and not always happy one for me.
And they looked beautiful. And all the effort and strain did not show in the finished book which I hope will become a treasured favorite.
James and I have already had a review which compares his words to those of Robert Louis Stevenson and says that the book is destined to become a children's classic. How lovely.

I still think of the book as Starlight Starbright.
I so look forward to working with James again, soon, on a new book.
Please let us know what you think of the book, and through the paperboat adventures blog, or through Barefoot Books website, let us hear your paper boat adventures.

Waiting

2009-08-20T13:56:00.001-07:00

Two days ago I had an email from Barefoot to say that advances for Starlight were in and they had sent me a copy. Each day I work on my new book. Each morning I wait for the postman, a little scared but quite excited, for the book to arrive.

A short update

2009-07-12T09:21:00.000-07:00

There is little to report on Starlight Sailor at the moment. This is now a time of waiting. The work has all gone to the printers and I am hoping that it comes back looking wonderful. Meanwhile I am getting on with The Ice Bear, James is working on a new Katie book and I am very glad to say that I have finally nagged him into starting a blog. Whether he will ever forgive me remains to be seen.
As soon as a copy of Starlight Sailor arrives and I have a publication date I will post it. I think I am up in Chester or Manchester signing books in October, as well as at Cheltenham Festival, but more details of that later. In the meantime call over at James's blog and say hi. And I will start nagging him for another text.

Still Sailing

2009-06-10T04:11:00.000-07:00

The cats and I went walking in the early evening light, over the hills and far away to sunset.
In winter, when it snowed, we took a boat out to sail on an ocean of white. Yesterday we found the boat, storm tossed in heather and lit by low sun.
It looked beautiful.

A white envelope on a gray day.

2009-05-22T23:32:00.000-07:00

This week I received the small pre-proof print outs of Starlight, with the new cover. Was very nervous about opening them after being so disappointed with the first proofs. But they looked wonderful. And after all that the cover is just right. So pleased with them and even in this tiny version they look really good. In fact it would make a great tiny board book.
So, many thanks to James for his patience with me, and to Barefoot for turning the book around and making it shine.
It is a great shame that publication has been put back a month because of the delays. Hoping it can move forward again. Looking forward now to seeing the finished book and taking it out to children.
I have learned a lot working on this book.

In a small and quiet voice....

2009-05-17T11:18:00.000-07:00

... and on even further reflection I have to say that the new cover does suit the book.

And on hearing the story of the Classic Poems book I would like to take the blog on further. Although the design process still remains a mystery to me, and I think the book has now been sent off for proofing for a second time, though I don't know where, or what paper is used or what finish the cover will have etc.........
I thought that it would be good to carry on the blog after it is published by inviting people who buy it to send in the story of their book, where they bought it, who for, where it was sent or given and to who and why, and if paper boats were made after reading, and adventures of where they were sailed to.
Not sure how to do this yet. By inviting guest bloggers? By having emails sent here and then posting them. Will think about it and would welcome advice from all and anyone up to speed with technology.
The book will have a few launches, one in Bath at the Bath Festival of Children's Books, one at Solva Woollen Mill where they now have signed copies of my books and some limited edition prints for sale.
More news about the book will follow.
Nervously waiting to view the proofs.

James and Katie

2009-05-14T04:20:00.000-07:00

I do so love to see how other people work.
James has been working on another book for Orchard about Katie, and has been painting full colour roughs to size. So beautiful and I love all the pencils in pots too.
Just beautiful.

After the cover

2009-05-13T14:23:00.000-07:00

After all the fuss and bother with the cover things have now gone quiet again. The cover arrived and has been accepted (so far, but still feel quite nervous as the other two were accepted too and later rejected). I have been paid, I think, and have moved on to other work so now wait to see how the type is designed, both throughout the book and on the cover.
After a few days of recovery, during which I hung an exhibition while I should have been resting and did some owl paintings that I have waited a year to do, went for a walk with Joanna Lumley and the cats and painted in the refectory, all of which when I should have been resting, it is now time to move on to the next book, The Ice Bear, with Frances Lincoln.
I have to go to Hay Festival where I am doing a session with children and a masterclass, both of which are sold out ( but will be at Bath Festival in Sept and also Cheltenham in October).
Two roughs have been submitted to the MBF for their Christmas card and I nervously wait for their response.

Meanwhile, today I had a chance encounter with a woman that cheered my soul. She and her husband called from the Refectory because they wanted to buy a print. I invited them up to the house, only then realizing the filth and chaos the house was in! They came and saw my prints and the studio. ( I seldom invite people in as my work place is also my home and the kids home and we like to be private.)
She told me a story about The Barefoot Book of Classic Poems. A story that made me cry but also gladdened my heart.
She had worked in a place for very difficult and troubled children in London. Among the children she knew was a five year old who had been so badly abused and traumatized by his mother that he barely spoke, couldn't read or write and was so difficult. ( People can be cruel but God alone knows what his mother went through also). He would take the Barefoot Book of Classic Poems and sit and look and look and look at the paintings and then he would tell the people caring for him all about the stories behind the pictures.
Who wouldn't cry to hear such a story.
There are many times that I have felt like giving up illustrating and just painting. Stories like this keep me tangled up tight with books.

Last of all.

2009-05-04T14:57:00.000-07:00

....done.
Not sure how I feel about it. I did the best that I could. I feel stupid for listening to them last time and giving them what they had asked for, re something that was designed in photoshop and then painted by me. I should have sat down and thought about what it was that was wanted and designed the image myself. Lesson learned on that one. I do remember saying a few times that it wouldn't work, was weak etc.....
This design is better. I can see why they wanted it as it ticks all the boxes and shows what to expect from the inside pages.
For me it gives it all away in one big shout on the cover, but then that is maybe what a cover should do, and what a cover should be. After all for many people who buy on the net the cover is all and everything that they get to see.
If truth be told I still prefer the first cover but in saying that completely understand why the editor and publisher want this one. So tomorrow when it is a bit drier I will post it off to them and hope that they like it.
I need to move on to other work now. Today I have an exhibition to hang.

But I really enjoyed doing the drawing for this cover, the big rough, and now I would love to have a go at doing a whole book that is drawn rather than painted. It will be a very difficult challenge as it is so so very hard to keep the freshness of sketches and when you think they will be used for publishing so often they become tight and self conscious.

Anyway, for now I hope they like it.

Almost finished

2009-05-03T11:57:00.000-07:00

New back cover

2009-04-29T14:07:00.000-07:00

Whilst the light in my new studio is beautiful in daytime at night it is not conducive to photographing work, but hopefully this will give some idea of what the almost finished back cover looks like. Now only the front to go, again.

New large rough for cover, with details

2009-04-23T11:22:00.000-07:00

When all is said and done...

2009-04-17T22:24:00.000-07:00

.. and the cover is finished and proofed, when the book is printed and bound and in the shops and makes its way to its final destination, a family, a child, quiet moments of peace and sharing, all that has gone before will not be evident anywhere in the pages of the book. With luck it will look like a dream, like the paintings and words came effortlessly together flowing from the creativity of author and illustrator.
With luck it will become a favorite bedtime book, tattered and battered by the turning of pages and reading, reading, reading. It will grow up and feed the imagination of a child who will escape from his or her worries of everyday life on a paper boat of their own making. It will be a key, a portal that guides them into the wonderful wealth of their own creativity and imagination.
It is with this hope that I have returned again to this project and it is to reveal something of the working process behind picture book production that I began this blog.
I hope that by the end of this Starlight Sailor will shine in bookshops all around the world.

Cover cover cover cover cover........

2009-04-17T13:22:00.000-07:00

New cover rough approved.
Or is it really approved?
They like it.
But do they really like it?
I feel that I am entering the territory of The Mighty Boosh here.
Or am I really entering the territory of The Mighty Boosh?

Eating humble pie

2009-04-17T04:34:00.000-07:00

Thanks for all the messages of support. Felt so much better to have walked away from this. Unfortunately I have had to eat my words and try yet again to pull a cover out. Either that or the whole project gets pulled.
Barefoot are a good publisher. They do know what they are talking about and have published many very fine and beautiful books. Somehow, with this one , we all seem to have lost the plot, apart from James who remains very reasonable, calm and steady.
So, new cover rough, yet again.

On further reflection

2009-04-14T11:38:00.000-07:00

I quit.
I have had enough of this.
I have done my best, many times over, and it wasn't good enough.
I have bent over backwards to be accommodating.
And now I feel like a rag that has been rung out one to many times and this is not a good way to feel and not productive to creativity.
So, I quit.

First new rough

2009-04-14T07:41:00.001-07:00

First thoughts, something completely different and elegant, with white background and cloth spine and gold foil.
Much of the design would depend on some very elegant calligraphy.

Covers, proofs, patience.

2009-04-14T02:24:00.000-07:00

There has been silence for a while on Starlight. The proofs turned up and were not met with any degree of delight. That is all I wish to say on that matter.
So now it is time to look again at the book.
I sent back tracings showing where I thought the type should go, and how, and also which type face to use.
Also the cover has been looked at again and the decision seems to be that I should have another go.
Third time lucky?

Bologna Book Fair

2009-03-25T12:27:00.000-07:00

At last, news from Italy, via and email from Tessa. Sounds as if the proofs have been a bit mashed up, but otherwise good, though not sure when she says that opening and closing need refining what it is that is meant.
Below, extract of an email from Tessa in Bologna.....

Proofs reached stand yesterday afternoon and are attracting lots of compliments from our publishing partners. The little boy from the title page has been accidentally proofed into the first front endpaper, which looks a bit odd, and the background wash for the opening and closing spread needs a bit of refining, I think, also the title page, but overall the proofs look good I think - though hard to comment without the art to hand and in the hustle n bustle of the fair. Anyway, I have to say that your paper boat idea was pure genius because it makes the whole book very easy to present and people get it straight away!

So, I am feeling quietly optimistic...."

Moving on

2009-03-25T00:40:00.000-07:00

I deleted the last post as I felt it was too negative. Sorry. Would like to say thanks to everyone though for support and positive comments.
Starlight is fading into the background of my working life now and I suppose will stay that way until it is published.
In the meantime I am off to Milan to work in the International School there, working on The Ice Bear for Frances Lincoln and also beginning to collate a book of nursery rhymes for them, putting rough images with the text for Little Evie in the Darkwoods, painting the piece for next years Terry Pratchett calender, the cover for the new Robin Hobb, trying to finish a couple of owls with gold leaf, and also preparing to move the Tenby exhibition to St Davids Cathedral Cloisters Gallery.
Oh, and making coffee for the builders.
Should be enough to be getting along with.

Covers again and again and ..........

2009-03-13T11:37:00.000-07:00

I have been wanting to blog about the cover for a while and have not been quite sure what to say. There has been much coming and going via email about the cover. Some good and some bad. I think the lowest point for me was when the painting I had done was chopped up and reassembled in photoshop, and the type put with it. I work with words all the time but can't find the right ones to say how that made me feel. The most polite I think would be despondent, but that is nowhere near the mark.
Anyway, the cover seems to have been settled now.
It is so difficult to get the right cover as so much depends on it.
James and I both wanted the book to be called Starlight, Starbright.
James and I both wanted the cover to be the original with the whale, with the other whale on the back cover.
This below is the new cover.

New cover

2009-02-28T08:08:00.000-08:00

After a panicked phone call from the USA where there was some thought that I had done the art for the cover the wrong size ( during which I pulled out all my hair and many words that should not be uttered aloud flashed through my mind) all was well. It would seem that the new cover is fine, both front and back.
So, fingers crossed that the designer can make it all look beautiful and soon there will be proofs and then the finished book.

My studio is now no more. I have moved some of it into my bedroom and the rest is a scattered rag tag mess as I ineffectually try and clear the room so the builders can use it as a store room and build a staircase up to what will be my new studio. Meanwhile I am going to have to learn to work with all kinds of chaos and builders around.
I have worked in this room for seven years now and in all that time it has never been cleaned properly. I am finding much rubbish and the occasional thing of interest. Ruthless things are happening as I throw away things and recycle others and vowe not to let this happen to the new space.
Oh dear.

Harmony

2009-02-26T21:38:00.000-08:00

I hadn't known until the other day that there had been some talk in one of the meetings of putting the star maps on the cover.
So glad they didn't.
When you work on illustrating a book you work from page to page but also to design the book as a whole thing, and with this book I wanted it to be like a treasure chest, one that hopefully surprises and delights when opened.
It is like working on a painting where you work on a piece at a time then towards the end pull the whole thing together. But sometimes when other people get their hands on it they don't see the harmony that you have tried to create, and so it begins to jangle, as things carefully placed are moved or changed.
Although the author's and the illustrator's names are on the cover a book is a great team effort, with editors and designers and product managers. I know that all of these people need to have their imput into a job, but at the end of the day I think that sometimes they forget that we have been working in the business now for 50 years (cheating here as I add up mine and James's experience) and maybe we should have more say in the final meetings. And at the end of the day it is our names that go on the covers.

Does that make sense.

Deja vu

2009-02-26T13:26:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I feel that I should do my paintings using fuzzy felt then the publishers could move each item about as they wanted to.
Now they have two front covers and two back covers so if they wish they can play mix and match.
I think this time I have really finished but am getting a strange feeling of deja vu.
Now I wait for examples to be sent of the use of the gold as a fifth colour so that I can see what it looks like.
I still like the old cover, and the old back cover, but being the illustrator have only a small voice in decisions. At least that is how it feels sometimes when publishers have meetings about my work.

If you can keep your head when all about are telling you what goes where.........

2009-02-25T00:08:00.000-08:00

So. How to explain. I have started painting the cover again and so far, fingers crossed, but not too tightly as it is difficult to paint with crossed fingers, all is ok. The picture was hard to draw out, to catch the child's face, to make it the same child over the distance of time. But what is hardest still and most difficult to explain to publishers is how to find the heart to do it. When all around are saying, do this, do that, move this move that, and yes, I can see that the design is now better an will work as a cover and hopefully at the end of the day will look as if it always belonged and nothing else could possibly be there, although I have to do the painting as a full bleed but with the possibility that they will still use the red band across the top and bottom if needs be, and it may be straight or it may curve so leave space for both and all, it is difficult to paint it from the heart.
And it is only when you can find that space in both heart and head that it can work.
Is it any wonder that I like painting hares.

In amongst all the emails yesterday going backwards and forwards between myself and the project manager was this,
"We received some test proofs yesterday to see how the artwork will harmonies with the 5th gold for the cover and endpapers. It looks lovely. Lovely, lovely, lovely."
Will be good to see that.

Revise, rework, recycle.

2009-02-24T06:38:00.000-08:00

The power of the putty rubber! Rough amended with child now looking at the edge of the book.
Back cover rough to go with new front cover rough.

Front cover sketch again

2009-02-23T04:32:00.001-08:00

Waiting to hear from publisher again.
Band across top and bottom would be red. Stars picked out in gold or silver foil. Sea serpent would be red.

Blue sky boat with ripples

2009-02-21T11:48:00.000-08:00

In a pool above the sea by golden reeds

2009-02-18T14:50:00.000-08:00

On Valentine's Day we walked from the beach to home, past Porth Melgan and the pool where soon there will be tadpoles. The reeds are golden and sing in the wind. I placed a boat in the water. We walked on, sopped for a while at The Gessail and watched porpoise rise through the ceiling of the sea to arc in shining dark arcs out of the calm waters. So beautiful, so peaceful.
Two days later I walked again to see if there would still be porpoises at the headland. Sure enough they were still there. So was the boat.

Poetry and paper boats

2009-02-18T14:44:00.000-08:00

Written around this boat, lines from If You Forget Me by Paulo Neruda,

as if everything that exits,
aromas, light, metals,
were little boats that sail
towards those isles of yours that wait for me.

Covers and covers and covers.

2009-02-18T13:25:00.000-08:00

Oh dear.
It seems there was a production meeting this afternoon and it was decided that a new version needs to be created for the front cover, with most of the look of the first but with some of the characters from inside also on the cover, like the dragon, and maybe the unicorn.
So this means I have to paint it, as a full bleed version.
This is difficult. Hard as it is to work your way into a book, it is also hard to find your way out. And I have tidied my studio (after a fashion) and swept away the Starlight pictures and sketches and reference material and moved my head away and on to other things.
I do understand that the cover needs to be just right. So often it is what sells the book. But it is hard to retrace your steps back to a character when you have waved goodbye to them.
So, in two weeks I have builders coming to try and stop the house from falling to pieces around my ears, stop the windows falling out and the end wall breaking up, to re-wire, replace the fire and do a myriad of other jobs including making a studio space in my attic. Lets hope I finish the artwork before then and nothing else needs reworking. Once I have done the front cover again will they want the back cover doing?
Calm. Drink more lavender tea. Take deep breaths.

Covers and cloth spines and paperboats and sea serpents

2009-02-18T06:20:00.000-08:00

Over the past couple of weeks I have been pretending to tidy up the house, doing the odd bit of painting, getting a text together and dusting the digital cobwebs off the bookcase on my website.
In conversation with Tessa from Barefoot yesterday she was very positive about the text for Little Evie, so I am going to try and put some rough images together with it. She also talked about the cover for Starlight Sailor. It seems that with all the artwork in now the cover has been looked at again and a different approach has been taken. The idea of a cloth spine has now been dropped as it made the book look too old. It is strange how all these small decisions can so change the look and the feel of the book. Of the two sent through to me I so much prefer the first image, which I think looks great, very strong. If you click on the images you can see larger versions.
Still waiting to see the type design on the inside.

Waiting and meanwhile making ecards

2009-02-13T12:01:00.000-08:00

Have been waiting to see what is going on with the design. Something is, but haven't seen anything yet.
Meanwhile have put some new images onto my ecards
They include more valentines as well as images from Starlight, so, if you have forgotten, pretend you haven't!

Butterfly words and timeflies

2009-02-06T23:27:00.000-08:00

40 years ago I went to the park to play with my sister. My uncle paid for us to take a boat out on the old pond that was next to he swings and slides. I found the photograph when I was trying to tidy up. I am the one at the front, my sister doing all the work with the paddles. Time flies.

Still waiting to hear from the designer though I believe ideas fly back and forth between Tessa and her as they try to fix the look and the line of the text.
Meanwhile I could not get to work because of the snow and was very gratified to hear the writer, Andy Hamilton, say the same thing, even though like me he works at home. The lure of playing in the snow was just too much.

Still trying to work out which way to go forward with blogs. I have spoken to another publisher about nursery rhymes and she is sending me a contract. Things don't usually happen that quickly in publishing. This is a publisher I have had a long, sometimes rocky but fine at the moment, relationship with, and we had talked about rhymes a few years back, before dragons, so the contract has been sitting on hold. Because it is a different publisher I would start a new blog with this.
And I have finally managed to capture the words for Little Evie in the Darkwoods. Words are like butterflies sometimes, but they have flown together and for now the text is with Tessa at Barefoot, though I am not sure that it will go with their list. I hope so. So for now, and because people asked, I have blogged the start and progress of the book over at my journal on my website. And for now I have to wait, for Tessa to read and then get back to me, and if she does not like it, or feel that it is right, then it has to go off into the world to try and find the right home. It is such a very difficult time for books at the moment and so very hard to get work viewed by publishers. I do not have an agent, although that is one road people take. I am a member of The Society of Authors and they are very good and will check contracts and offer advice. (It took me such a long time to be able to say, when people ask me what I do, that I am a painter and a writer.) I have been in publishing offices and seen manuscripts just taken from one envelope and put into another and returned with a standard letter. Piles of them, mountains, wait to be read.
All publishers try to get as many foreign editions as they can for a book. If the print run is large then the unit cost per book is reduced so the profit is maximized. Almost all of my books are published in Danish, all in the USA and I have a particularly good publisher in France who did wonderful things with The Snow Leopard. Now I also have a Spanish publisher.
I feel fairly sure that the French and Spanish publishers will like Little Evie. Anyway, she has taken her first steps out into the world now.

Where two blogs meet

2009-02-05T04:10:00.000-08:00

No work today, I can't get to my studio because of the snow!

2009-02-05T00:03:00.000-08:00

Thanks for all the comments below. Still thinking about what to do. I have a story in my head called "Little Evie in the Dark Woods". It has been there for some time. It came to me when I was delivering some art to Tessa and walking her dog in the woods. I need to catch the words and have some trapped in a notebook. The Ice Bear is well on the way, the words written and the roughs all done in a dummy book in black and white pencil and two spreads completed. It is very much in keeping with The Snow Leopard and is with Frances Lincoln.
Nursery Rhymes have been lurking since before the Barefoot Book of Classic Poems, which started life as a 32 page book of nursery rhymes but soon became Classic Poems which was very much Tessa's idea and love. Although I am credited as compiling the work I had so so so much help from Tessa and I have to credited her for introducing me to such a love of poetry. Working on that book was a trial at times but the knowledge I gained led very much by the hand by Tessa has enriched my life so much.
Yesterday I tidied up the studio and room next to it which has become a store room for paintings. I realised it had also become a dumping ground, so ruthlessly went through things until the car was full of rubbish and drove it to what used to be called 'The Dump' and is now called 'The Recycling Centre'. Dan and Alison the delivered 40 paintings from the exhibition in Milford, which fitted well into the space I had made. But....
I became distracted by the poems of Paulo Neruda and also by a string of prayer flags.
And now, well, I woke up to a world shining with light and am off to play in the snow and chase some words to try and gather them onto a page to tell a story and reclaim the wild wolf and the dark woods.

What would you like?

2009-02-03T23:31:00.000-08:00

The Starlight blog will continue. Although I have finished the artwork in many ways the book's journey has only just begun as it needs to be designed and proofed and then off to Bologna and hopefully it will pick up some publishers from around the world. Then it has to find its way through the massive avalanche of books that are published into bookshops and libraries both in the UK and USA, and to reviewers who are swept on a tide of books, where it will hopefully stand out enough to be noticed. All this will be followed here.
But now I need to ask advice. The Ice Bear artwork and progress will return to my journal on my website here.
I have a book that I am hoping to write very soon, the words and pictures clamour to get from my head to a page. Also I am hoping to work on a book of Nursery Rhymes with Frances Lincoln. Would you like me to do one or other of these books on a blog as I have with Starlight? Would it be useful? It would be different as the one would be written and illustrated by me and taken right from the time of pitching to a publisher, and the other would be collated by me, so there would be the process of choosing the rhymes and deciding the format. Frances Lincoln already have said that they want the nursery rhyme book and that would be my preferred one to blog. The start of Starlight was slow and so would a new blog be as most of my time will be spent in the world of the Ice Bear.
So if there is a demand for this I will work on on and blog at the same time, otherwise will just continue with the website journal. Look forward to hearing from you.

Making the words and the pictures speak

2009-02-02T13:40:00.000-08:00

Home and the house is in much need of care, but can't seem to organize my mind. London is paralysed by a snowfall. Here snow moves across the landscape swiftly but doesn't stay and comes in flurries between blue sky moments.
I have walked the dogs, made soup, looked at the chaos , gone back to sleep. Can't get the house warm, but curled in front of computer and watched 'Waterworld'.
Meanwhile an email from Zoe, the designer of Starlight Sailor came. Usually at this stage of a book I loose interest until the proofs show up, but have asked to keep contact and hopefully learn more and have some input into the design.
She must be feeling a little like I felt at the start of the book as the possibilities are almost infinite and only when it slots into place will it look right. This is what she said...

'All I can say is we've been going backwards and forwards trying various typefaces - serifs, italics, quirky kid's fonts, dreamy poetic scripts. I've submitted 10 different ideas so far for insides and jackets.... and I'm going to be looking at a few more. The insides have changed too, from having the type neatly set on straight lines to straight and wavy lines, to varied wavy lines and now to uniform wavy lines... I think (hope!) we are getting there... !!'

Would love to see how the words fit on the page.

Finished and the book now has its title

2009-01-31T11:50:00.000-08:00

In St Davids it continued to rain until the garden was running with streams. I loaded the car with paintings for The White Hart in Bath and for Mr B's bookshop in Bath, not many for now but I hope that at the end of February I will have more for The White Hart. Also the artwork for Barefoot. The wind was howling and the rain coming down in spears but as we drove towards England the sky cleared.
On Saturday I took the last of the paintings in to the office at Barefoot and met some of the wonderful Barefoot Stallholders who sell books. We talked about the new book and Classic Poems and it was lovely to meet them. They have such enthusiasm for all the books.
And now I feel light of head and light of heart and light of head and as if most of my work for the book is done. Now I have to wait and see what design and production do with the work have given them.

I have the text for another book in my head, a book that I hope to do with Barefoot as the idea came to me a while ago when I was staying at Tessa's and walking her dog. The title, which this time came first, is Little Evie and the Dark Wood.

And the title of this book is now officially Starlight Sailor.

Thank you

2009-01-30T00:37:00.000-08:00

Today the wind is rattling at the door. It is cold, dark gray and the night is holding on to time forbidding the daylight entry to the world. Stormy outside and I have to drive to Bath to deliver the last of the artwork and talk about the book.
Yesterday I had an email from Bob, who has ordered the book from his local bookshop in America. It seems the publication date is September in the USA. This is very quick as usually it takes a year from finishing a book to publication as the publishers try to bring in as many co-editions as they can get as well as interesting book clubs and the like.
This is not the end of the blog, just because I have finished painting. Now the art goes out of my hands and on to its own journey, and I will try and follow it as the book is designed and printed and then hopefully makes its way into shops and finds a harbour in the hearts and mind of children.
But before it does that I would like to thank all the readers of the blog for your help and support over the months. As you know it has not been easy at times. I am so pleased that I did not let this book slip through my fingers, so glad to have had that four in the morning memory of making paper boats as a child that was the key to unlocking the images. Your enthusiasm and encouragement has kept me painting and kept me posting. And I would like to say thanks to all my family as well, to the kids who let me paint all through Christmas, to Robin, who drives to visit me and then cooks me lovely meals while I shut myself away in my studio painting, and to my friends who continue to invite me to supper even though much of the time I say I am too busy and who understand when I don't pick up the phone or answer the door because I am painting. And last but not least, to the cats and dogs for just being.

Household hints for lazy busy people

2009-01-29T06:42:00.001-08:00

To celebrate finishing the artwork for the book currently known as Starlight Sailor I hoovered the lounge. When you live in a house with three dogs, six cats, two teenagers, surrounded by mud, there is a certain satisfaction in hoovering the carpet for the first time in a week.

The cloth of heaven

2009-01-28T14:12:00.000-08:00

We are living in a waterworld, where the land reflects the sky and boats are suspended between the two.

All day I have concentrated again on painting the star patterns of north and south and summer and winter skies. Now it is time to sleep, but before I do I walk around the small hamlet that I call home. Outside it is still, but for the running of streams like water-music boxes. Across the moor of Treleddyd a fox argues with an owl. Above the sky has been washed clean and clear by so much rain and a bowl of stars shine down.
When I was a child I remember the disappointment in not being able to see the lions and bears and dragons and winged horses, the great dog and the small and Orion the hunter. There were no pictures in the sky, just random patterns that could add up to anything. But tonight, having traced the patterns in gold paint on blue all day, there they are, waiting for me, and so rich and beautiful. The stars of the constellations are clearer for the first time and I see the lines of the dragon, the swan, other patterns whose names escape me, but it is as if I can see the lines that join them, bind them in the ancient stories of man. And between each more stars, a dense carpet, tapestry, thrown over my head and oh so very beautiful. Just then a bright light streaks across the sky. A shooting star. A wish. I realise that I am so so very much a lucky woman to live in a dark place.
Learning to read the sky is like learning a language, like learning music, like learning to draw. It takes time and patience.
Do I see the stars any different for knowing the names of a mere handful? Maybe not, but there is a powerful old magic in the naming of things.
Now I see not just Orion's belt, but his very cloak of stars and great bow, so many stars even in just this one space. Now I see more of the depth of the sky and it makes me feel so wonderfully small and insignificant. Joy.

At the National Gallery in Scotland

2009-01-28T14:06:00.000-08:00

I have always thought that picture gallery red would compliment James and here is the evidence! Over the last few days while I have been painting he has been in Edinburgh at the National Gallery of Scotland doing workshops and pulling children into the world of art. What an incredible setting!

Copyright page, doodling background

2009-01-28T00:11:00.000-08:00

Small details from the last painting

2009-01-28T00:00:00.000-08:00

Rain soaked and star struck

2009-01-27T08:26:00.001-08:00

All day steady rain has fallen until the earth, already saturated with water, has sent rivulets and streams dancing in all directions. The air is pearl grey and coloured by birds’ wings outside the window. In a tangle of brambles a starling shakes drops of water into the sky. A kestrel hunches hungry on a wire that draws a dark line across the pearl.
All day I have painted until my head is saturated with stars. Constellations and the naming of stars dance through my mind turning it to dizziness. Beetlejuice and Rigel, Delphinus, Capella, Alpheratz and Alcor. In the sky there is a dragon, bears great and small, lions made of light and a winged horse all spread across the heavens. And the milky way is a river of stars, a ribbon of light.

Four paintings and feeding the birds

2009-01-26T14:30:00.000-08:00

A wild sea raged down at the beach when I walked the dogs this morning. Sunshine and surf. I floated a boat in a dark rock pool with the rising waves as a backdrop.
Sometimes it takes a while to get to work and even with a deadline of Thursday evening looming large I had to fill the bird feeders with seeds before I could start. The fluttering of wings outside my window and wonderful radio 4 kept me painting through the day. Then when tiredness set in I decided that I would paint on and listen to the wonderful Vespertine by Bjork with its magical music boxes, and when the last notes played I would stop for the day.
Working on the endpapers and struggling with space as I work on all four pieces at once and try and juggle the drawing boards around my studio. Now the first is finished I think, and its partner almost, though I have to paint the star patterns. One and two show the northern and southern hemisphere stars on 21st December at midnight. Three and four will be north and south on 21st June at midnight. ( If you click on them they get bigger and you can see the small things within)

Have also been listening to The Hare's Corner and The Frames. When I get the scans back from Barefoot Books I want to try and make a film using the artwork and story and the soundtrack will be from The Hare's Corner. I wrote to Colm via his wife Sheila to ask permission to use it and he said yes. The Swell Season are touring in Australia at the moment. I first heard of them when I watch a film called Once. The most amazing film, I felt that I was eavesdropping on the lives of others while watching it. It is extraordinary. Through it I found The Frames and The Swell Season and then while looking for hares found, by coincidence, The Hare's Corner.
If you look in the top left corner of the Hare's Corner website there is a small drop down menu for those who speak English rather than Gaelic.

Beautiful distraction

2009-01-24T13:18:00.000-08:00

In the post today a small and beautiful paper boat from Tessa. Carefully designed, the boat came from Holland and you can see more if you click on this link.
Also here.
I wonder if Tessa thought to herself before she sent this! Now I want to work out how to draw and doodle on paper to get the best decoration showing on a paperboat of my own. How to distract your artist from finishing her work!

Work in progress

2009-01-22T13:10:00.000-08:00

And somehow it seems to be slow slow progress. Something is stealing my time and I am not sure what. I have stopped answering the phone, the dogs are getting short walks, cats are neglected, or so they tell me, children asked me the other day who I was and what I was doing in their house (made that bit up).
The front and back endpapers are four separate pieces of work like the above, that could join together in a frieze, with star charts of north and southern hemispheres, as accurate as I can be although I wouldn't advise navigating by them unless on a paperboat and dreaming. I am learning about the stars and the pathways and patterns, the moon's orbit and moonrise and moonset.

I love having illustrated endpapers. I love to do different ones for the front and the back. I feel that hardback books are so expensive that it is good to give value by painting right to the outermost edges of a book. But also I feel that this is the bit that is mine to play with, no words (sorry James) just space.

Titles

2009-01-22T07:56:00.000-08:00

Always difficult.
James and I like 'Starlight, Starbright'

Other suggestions are
First Star I See Tonight
Starlight Story
Starlight Journey
Starlight Wish
Starlight Dream
I wish tonight

The first page of the book reads:
'Starlight, starbright
First star I see tonight
I wish I may, I wish I might
Have the wish I wish tonight.'

Any comments gratefully received and thrown into the title melting pot.

Phone call this afternoon to say that the artwork arrived in the office. Wasn't worrying as my head was full of stars and I had forgotten that I had sent it.

In the post

2009-01-21T23:52:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I packed up and posted of the remaining interior spreads. They should arrive in the Barefoot office in Bath today and I wait, trying not to be nervous, to hear first that they have made it through the vagaries of the British postal system, second that they are all fine and nothing needs reworking.
A few days ago Tessa and James discussed the title. When James originally wrote the story it was called 'Starlight, Starbright', but it seems there is already a book called this. Two books with the same title can lead to confusion. Tessa suggested 'Starlight Sailor', but neither James nor I were happy with this. The current title is 'First Star'.
In the meantime I am working away on the endpapers and somehow my hours in the day seem to be getting stolen and I get little work done. So today I will unplug the phone and settle to a few hours undisturbed until Hannah comes home from school. Tomorrow I have to be on the phone as I am doing an interview for a podcast with From Rim to Hub.
Also a Facebook group has been set up, about my work. I have never really understood Facebook, and with my website and two blogs the computer eats time when I should be painting, so it is very lovely that Michelle has taken the time to set this up about my books. She recently received a copy of Can You See a Little Bear from Bookstart and loved it, which is wonderful and very encouraging as i move towards finishing Starlight, or First Star.

Round pools and starlight

2009-01-21T12:39:00.000-08:00

At the end of Whitesands Beach, when the tide is out, there are pools worn in the rocks by swirling water and pebbles. Deep circles cupping salt water, the rock green like jade when wet.

Working on the endpapers, four circle star maps of north and southern hemisphere, winter and summer stars. So few children see the star patterns these days as city lights wash away the universe in a glow of orange lights. Centuries ago our ancestors could travel by starlight, told stories of the stars to fix their dance in the minds of people. So much is lost to us that once we knew by heart.

Almost finished

2009-01-19T13:58:00.000-08:00

Zeitgeist

2009-01-19T13:43:00.000-08:00

There must be something in the water!
Today I had an email from Joanne Kaar about paperboats. Browsing through her blog and website I find someone else obsessed with paper boats. Her handmade paper and books are beautiful and I love the way she places them on the beach and among the rocks. They are so organic.
Have a look.
http://www.joannebkaar.blogspot.com/
and
http://www.joannebkaarpaperboats.blogspot.com/

Nine Wells, near Solva

2009-01-18T11:07:00.000-08:00

As the fragile boat sailed away from the bank winter branches reached out to catch her. A gentle breeze pushed on the sail. Beneath the water curious fish came to investigate the new gift from the heaven above. Each fish kissed the hull of the boat as she glided over the ripples. She felt their welcome to this new world.

The mermaid's blessing

2009-01-18T11:01:00.000-08:00

If you can touch the fingers of a mermaid, even if only in dreams, then your life will always be blessed.

Starfish swimming in the sea

2009-01-16T14:21:00.000-08:00

Mermaids singing, just for me,
Sing a gentle lullaby
While flying fish dance in the sky.

Other paper boat

2009-01-16T09:18:00.000-08:00

Day by day I float my paper boats one by one down the running stream.

In big black letters I write my name on them and the name of the village where I live.

I hope that someone in some strange land will find them and know who I am.

I load my little boats with shiuli flowers from our garden, and hope that these blooms of the dawn will be carried safely to land in the night.

I launch my paper boats and look up into the sky and see the little clouds setting their white bulging sails.

I know not what playmate of mine in the sky sends them down the air to race with my boats!

When night comes I bury my face in my arms and dream that my paper boats float on and on under the midnight stars.

The fairies of sleep are sailing in them, and the lading is their baskets full of dreams.

Rabindranath Tagore

Benevolent Dragons

2009-01-15T05:23:00.000-08:00

Almost finished. Sometimes I have to photograph a piece and look at it in the computer to see if things need changing.

Teaching

2009-01-15T04:26:00.000-08:00

When James is not writing, painting, eating cake, or trying to cope with me ringing him every five minutes telling him why I can't illustrate any more, he teaches one day a week at Cambridge School of Art.
I asked him to write a few words about teaching there, and about just a few of his students.

"One of the most fulfilling parts of my work is teaching at Cambridge Art School, part of Anglia Ruskin University. My colleagues there are Martin Salisbury and the rather magnificent John Lawrence, who is the kindest gentleman you could hope to meet, and we teach on the MA in Children's Book Illustration - the first course of its kind in the UK.

The Art school has a long tradition of nurturing talent in the world of children's books, and I am very proud to have taught the likes of Jane Simmons, Paula Metcalf, dear Alice Wood, the wonderful, soulful Kazuno Kahara(there's a bit of her work that reminds me of Tove Jansson) and the extraordinary Faye Durston. Stars Bright indeed!

I only teach one day a week, but I get very attached to the students, so this is always and sad time of the year as I bid them farewell, for teaching ended at Christmas. They will have a show of their work at The Illustration Cupboard in February, which will be attended by all the big publishers. I wish this year's students every success!"

The image above is from The Ruby Princess by Faye Durston, winner of last years RhapsOde Prize for the most promising new writer for children.

Click on this link to preview New Moon's animation of James Mayhew's 'Katie's Picture Show'

Production meetings.

2009-01-14T08:04:00.000-08:00

Things are moving faster at the Barefoot office as I get closer to finishing the artwork. The book will be proofed in time for Bologna Book Fair. Today there was a production meeting to talk about the design and production side of the book, something I get more involved with now, if I can, though sometimes as an artist I feel that my voice is very small in these meetings. That is with some publishers, not with Barefoot.
Email from Tessa about the meeting today reads as follows:

Had a production session this am and reviewed STARLIGHT alongside CLASSIC POEMS, SINGING TO THE SUN and LEONARDO (which prints with silver as a fifth colour). My take, having looked at STARLIGHT scans next to CLASSIC POEMS, is that to get the midnighty dreamy look and to have this book be a natural Barefoot successor to CLASSIC POEMS, it makes sense to print on the same Arctic Matt stock that we used for CLASSIC POEMS. It will give us consistency in the Jackie Morris books we bring to market and we know for sure that this paper holds your blue-y colours very well. The paper comes from a supplier who replants two trees for every one felled for paper. We are costing on printing both four colour and five colour in the interior, and on a five-colour matt cover with spot lamination and a gold cloth spine.

All of this will depend a little on costings. I haven't yet seen the Leonardo book, but it sounds amazing. Looking forward to seeing what the fifth colour printing effect is. Now I am waiting to see what the designer does with the type and layout. On some of the spreads I have left little room to fit type so hope there is enough.

Red and gold and a lost boat.

2009-01-13T23:46:00.000-08:00

Painting the dragon, red and gold and hoping to finish all the inside spreads for the book by the end of the week, with a fair wind and late nights into the evening. On the paper in the studio a benevolent dragon grows. The paint on her ear was still wet when I took the photograph.

The morning I left for Somerset to visit my mum in hospital after Christmas I walked the dogs on the beach, early, just as light was breaking, and took with me a paper boat. Yesterday a friend came round for supper.
"I want to show you something ," she said, "something I found on the beach. It was early, and i had just walked my dogs around St Davids Head and came down onto the beach to find this. And I knew you had been there."
She took a photo with her mobile phone. Beautiful.

My studio chaos.....

2009-01-13T02:10:00.000-08:00

.....and the title page.

What James has been doing while I have been painting

2009-01-12T02:45:00.000-08:00

While I have been working on Starlight, and also before I settled to work on it with any degree of concentration, James was busy too. I asked him to write a little of what he was up to.

WHAT I HAVE BEEN DOING:

The photo shows me rehearsing with the de Haviland Philharmonic Orchestra in November last year for a concert called "Pictures at an Exhibition", in which I narrated and simultaneously illustrated Mussorgsky's music. I'm practising the final painting: The Great Gate of Kiev. Some of the pieces of music are very short though - not easy to paint Limoge Market...in 60 seconds! It's quite a thrill to be up on the stage surrounded by that music - but VERY scary! The concert went well - it was completely sold out - and there are plans for more...but it takes a hell of a lot of preparation, so I don't think a major career change is likely!

The conductor, Robin Browning, is a fantastic colleague. Previously we've collaborated on both Peter and the Wolf and The Firebird, both with live illustration. We feel passionately about presenting classics intact and in a true context. I think children just need a way in: some words, an image...it's enough to make a huge difference. It's such a shame so many people grow up assuming classical music is too highbrow. I enjoy all sorts of music, but I love the storytelling potential of music like "Pictures".

Following on from this is a new book, which, like Starlight, will be for Barefoot Books. The working title is Stories From The Orchestra. I hope to include around 8 stories made famous through music, mostly music children will recognise, but perhaps not know the story of. When I was a kid I'd hear bits of music, but the record sleeve only ever had the smallest hint of what the story was. This book will tell the complete stories and illustrate them thoroughly, so I hope it will become a good reference book when introducing kids to certain pieces. So I have been incredibly busy reading, reading, reading...researching. I love doing this, opening doors, discovering stories, music, composers...and developing new passions and obsessions. I'm currently in love with the Finnish Kalevala, which inspired Sibelius' tone poems, like The Swan of Tuonela. Fabulous stuff!

Meanwhile I have a NEW STUDIO in the garage, rather more practical (and certainly warmer) than "the hut" I've used for the last seven years. Now I have running water, a phone, computer connection...a bit more space for STUFF (which is my downfall). Of course I can't find a thing at the moment, and nothing is organised yet. But it's starting to feel like I might be able to work here.

Apart from orchestras, the latest Ella Bella book (Cinderella) has gone off for proofing and I'm now working on a new "Katie" book ("Katie & The Waterlily Pond"), focusing on just Monet. Meanwhile the projected Katie TV series with New Moon Television, is still "In Development" (Chickens definitely not counted there). Beyond that I have "Ella Bella and Swan Lake" to write. Lovely projects, all of them.

It's easy to see why people think I'm a bit "highbrow" with all these cultural subjects, but of course I'm not - just ask Jackie! It's such a joy to work with her on a book like Starlight, which is very genuinely child-centric, and allows me to express another side of me as a writer. Above all it is such an honour to be bound together with Jackie's wonderful illustrations. I always try to write texts that allow scope for an illustrator to take wing. Not all illustrators seize the opportunity but Jackie - in "Can You See A Little Bear?" and now in "Starlight" does this brilliantly, making the words her own and creating a world that we can step into and be deliciously lost in. It's been a tough process for her (and just a bit nerve-wracking for me!!!) but I really admire her will-power and think it will pay of handsomely. This will be a glorious book.

Back to Jackie:
It would seem odd to comment on my own blog, so will do it here. Wow! Studio looks amazing and cosy and TIDY!
I can vouch for James not being highbrow. Well educated, inquisitive, talented and a great lover of cake, yes, as well as possessing a great and generous spirit and blessed with a lovely wife and a wonderful son, Gabriel ( who likes sausage dogs and is perhaps our best critic).
James has also worked on many books before with Barefoot.
And is a link to my other book there.
Not sure why it has been nerve wracking for James, me working on his text. Maybe it was the time I phoned up and said I couldn't do it? Maybe he has felt uncomfortable trapped between Tessa and myself when we disagree about images and words?

Red and gold

2009-01-11T00:18:00.000-08:00

Waiting to hear now, from James and from Tessa, as to which they prefer for this spread, the one in the previous posting, or this. Either way the dragon is red and gold, and the words have changed to echo the images.
I do love working with James. He has such a generous heart.

We meet a dragon, red and gold

2009-01-10T07:57:00.000-08:00

'til morning light

2009-01-10T05:22:00.000-08:00

Trying to match up the last page with the first page, and the child has sailed through dreams on his paper boat " 'til morning light".
His mother is the light in his life and he is the light of her life and have tried to capture this in the final painting. He wakes full of stories to share with her about his dreams and adventure.

Procrastinating

2009-01-09T05:55:00.001-08:00

There comes a time in every book where the book is almost finished and somehow or other progress seems to halt. Yesterday emails flew back and forth between Tessa, who is the editor and publisher, James and myself concerning the text and small changes to words. Some I felt passionately about, like the boat being called a 'paper boat' rather than a 'little boat'. Such small things, but they mean a great deal sometimes. Now the text is almost fixed.
And still I cannot sit down in my studio and paint. Is it that I don't want to let go? I am keen to move on to the next book which is one I wrote myself, to spend time tidying my house and my website, and to write a new text, but today I have walked dogs, washed up and made stock from pheasant carcasses ( I seem to me moving towards the slow food movement here, but the house smell glorious and the birds, that in life were so beautiful on the table were so tasty). I have learned how to pluck and draw pheasants and now want to draw and paint them. And I have let time slip through my fingers and days go by.
So, off to the studio and hoping to work late tonight.

First page again, second thoughts

2009-01-08T02:47:00.000-08:00

Something about the first page didn't seem right and after conversations with Tessa went back to look at earlier sketches.

The beach was cold with ice and at the end the sea had carved out a deep curved pool. Beautiful in the early morning light.

Blue sky, cold earth, frozen water.

2009-01-06T13:37:00.000-08:00

When two blogs meet ginger cats come walking with paper boats. On top of the hill the small pools of water trapped in the rocks are frozen hard as stone, but still I put the paper boat there to float while ravens swoop overhead.

Later in the studio I continue working and another page takes shape.

Rescue dog

2009-01-05T12:16:00.000-08:00

The children's first day back at school and at last I can sit down and work for a few hours undisturbed. In England it has snowed in places but here the weather is turning mild and the frost thawing. The pond by the house still rings like a bell when stones are thrown on to it as thick ice still covers it.
In the afternoon I fall asleep in my studio, head bowed over my drawing board.
Later Hannah and Rosie and Floss and Bella come down the beach where the sun sets fire to the sand and I float paper boats out to sea. Honey, Sarah's dog helps out by "rescuing" a boat from a pool for me.

Nicolleta Ceccoli

2009-01-04T23:14:00.000-08:00

When James originally took the text of Starlight Sailor to Barefoot the publisher wanted to commission a different artist to illustrate the words, Nicoletta Ceccoli, the illustrator of their beautiful book The Tear Thief by Carol Ann Dufy. Nicoletta was busy, working on other texts and animations and tied up with work until 2010 so James recommended me.
I love Nicoletta's work, such magic. Would have been great to have seen the book illustrated by her.
Meanwhile I inch closer to finishing and wait to hear what Tessa thinks of the work I did over Christmas.

Starlight starbright,

2009-01-03T08:00:00.000-08:00

First star I see tonight
I wish I may, I wish I might
Have the wish I wish tonight.

First spread, reading books at bedtime.

In between walking.....

2009-01-03T01:37:00.000-08:00

....in the hills and making bread and keeping the fire fed I squeeze in time to paint.

Sketches and stone water

2009-01-01T14:26:00.000-08:00

A day or two of working around cooking and watering horses and walking dogs. Only one more page to find an image for, and it looks at times very possible that I might get the work done on time.

Meanwhile when out walking I find pools frozen with thick ice across which paper boats sail in the wind. Rosie has never met ice before and being thirsty tries to lick the stone water, her tongue bright pink against he dark ice.

Paper boats, sunrise

2008-12-30T23:30:00.000-08:00

Early morning beach walking with paper boat and rising sun. Bliss.

Christmas, cold, hospitals.

2008-12-30T23:10:00.000-08:00

Over Christmas I managed to get into the studio for an hour here or there if I got up at six in the morning, but dogs would demand to go out at first light, creatures of habit. Mum was taken ill while visiting my sister, so we drove to Somerset to visit her in hospital. Back home Robin took care of dogs and cats but the fire and its care eluded him so when I came home it was cold, cold, cold in the studio. Painted anyway, with cold hands, and the children walked into the cave to search for dragons.

Outside the ground was hard with frost. Inside I worry about getting the work done on time and about my mum, but hear from my sister and then my mum that she is much better, out of hospital and can manage quite well on her own thank you very much!

Not quite right, too fierce and just right......

2008-12-23T07:31:00.000-08:00

Two years ago in February I began working on Starlight by doing a spread of the dragon flight and although at first the publishers were pleased with it they felt it was not quite right. The book had then to be put on hold while I finished working on two other books, so when I came back to it in November of this year it looked very different.
So the image above is the first dragon, the image below is the one deemed to fierce and scary, and the final red one, I am told, is just fine. I do feel a little like Goldilocks and the Three Dragons, but sadly, at the end of the day, I have to agree.

If you click on the images you can see much bigger versions. I think the sky needs to be darker and so will work into it a little which will also give it layers of starlight. The two images below are details, of giant dog and flying fish.

My Favorite Barefoot Book

2008-12-22T13:51:00.000-08:00

When I was in Bath Tessa gave me a copy of the beautiful Arthur of Albion, a stunning book by John Matthews and Pavel Tatarnikov. I remember seeing drawings for the book, roughs, when I was visiting the offices working on Classic Poems and being bowled over by the exquisite draftsmanship in the pencil work. His roughs were like other people's finished artwork.
The book has a map at the end, of Britain, or Albion.
Everything about the look of this book is good, the weight of it, the proportions, the mat cover and the cloth binding.
I haven't read the book yet, am saving it until after Disappearing Act, but I love the legends of King Arthur. The Once and Future King was spellbinding to my younger self with its medieval pageantry.

Red Dragon

2008-12-22T13:42:00.000-08:00

Snatching hours in between Christmas and other things to paint again the dragon, for the third time, trying not to make her scary.

And still finding time to walk on the beach and sail paper boats.

Artist's cave, dragon's cave

2008-12-20T11:43:00.000-08:00

Outside the studio, looking in on a winter's night, paintings glow with lights and gold. Inside the book to be, lanterns hang in a dragon's cave and small eyes watch as children search for the dragon.

Dragons in a starfilled sky

2008-12-19T04:09:00.000-08:00

Consensus in the office at Barefoot has deemed that the dragon is to scary. The result of this decision is that I have to paint it again and go back and revise all the roughs and change the painting that I am half way through or scrap it and start again. As a result I no longer think they are angels, rather demons.
I think the phrase "back to the drawing board" has been used more than once in this blog.
Ah well.
New dragon sketches, hopefully less frightening.
(This posting has been typed through gritted fingers, the written equivalent of gritted teeth.)

Gifts, mermaids and conversations with the editor.

2008-12-18T13:12:00.000-08:00

Outside the day is pearl gray. Inside questions about the art travel to and fro between myself and the editor.

Jackie: " Do you think she should be giving him something or just touching fingers?
Will keep her hair twining."

Tessa: " I think just touching fingers is lovely – her manifesting to the little boy is the gift."

Through my head a mantra, the voice of the child in the painting, when he is grown.
Child: " Once, in my dreams, I touched the hand of a mermaid. And that has made all the difference."

Have I been in the studio for too long that I imagine the characters from the book have a life outside its pages?

Blue sky and the studio blues

2008-12-17T05:55:00.000-08:00

Only one more rough to go after this I think, but although the sun is shining on a blue sky day outside in the studio all is chaos. Lots to do, writing another book, tidying up the text for the Ice Bear, getting prints sorted out for people, finishing off two big gold leaf paintings, delivering signed books to local bookshops as their stock is all sold out and painting Starlight. But first I think it might be time to make some space and tidy up.

More sketches

2008-12-17T04:36:00.000-08:00

Starfish swimming in the sea,
Mermaids singing just for me,
Sing a gentle lullaby,
While flying fish dance in the sky.

White paper waiting

2008-12-17T02:16:00.001-08:00

Just had a lovely email from Tessa who is the editor at Barefoot and the wonderful woman I stayed with in Bath. Very encouraging. Walked dogs on beach where the sea glowed like opals, so now it is time to inch back towards the blank page.

The red carpet, artwork and bookshops

2008-12-16T10:08:00.000-08:00

Drove to Tessa's house on Sunday and showed her the artwork almost straight away to get the moment over. She was either a) very diplomatic, hated it but thought, oh no, I have to spend a few days with Jackie and if I tell her what I really think things will be a bit frosty, or b) really liked the way things are going and is coming up with wonderful creative ways to strengthen the book and get it out into the shops.

It looked good in her kitchen. Always strange seeing the art out of the studio for the first time.
So the next thing was to take it in to the office and get it scanned while I met up with another publisher and went through the text of The Ice Bear with them.
Only when we were driving down Lyncomb Hill did we realize that we had both left the artwork in the kitchen, though I blamed Tessa. I had delivered it to her door, so now it was her responsibility!
Anyway, next day we both remembered and Barefoot rolled out the red carpet for me, at least the red one with swirling patterns.

In the office Vic scanned the art and did printouts for me so that I can keep the continuity of characters right. Already some spreads are going to be shown around to people in the book trade.

Nancy was over from the USA and after Christmas shopping for a while in Bath I came back to interrupt a meeting and head off back for home having been looked after wonderful well by Tessa.

So, tomorrow, back to the drawing board and with a fair wind I hope to finish the art by mid to end of Jan and then learn a great deal about what happens next. Usually I would just hand over art and wait for the finished book, but for the purpose of this blog I want to follow the production side of things, design, printing, not so much marketing as I don't want to give away Barefoot secrets to other publishers.
And the good news for me seems to be that Starlight is on track, Classic Poems is selling very well, and I signed books at both Mr B's and Waterstones in Bath, and with the other publisher, Frances Lincoln, sales of The Snow Leopard are building nicely. It was good to see The Snow Leopard in bookshops in Bath, and Waterstones were very apologetic about only having four copies of Classic Poems for me to sign. Seems they had sold the others.
And I have had enough of shops now and want only peace to paint.

Echoes

2008-12-13T01:48:00.001-08:00

On the beach the colour of the sky and the setting full moon echo the colours of the painting I worked on yesterday.
Bright moon, beautiful, in blue sky with clouds.

Leaping whales and hot air pirate ships

2008-12-09T12:25:00.000-08:00

Painting, painting and painting. Next, the dragon's cave.

Into the Dragon's Cave

2008-12-09T03:14:00.000-08:00

Seduced by sunshine we walked to the beach. Clouds of lapwings in the air. Thinking of Oliver Postgate and his wonderful imagination. Sailed a paper boat in a pool on the beach and then found a dragon's cave with footprints leading in.

There were no footprints leading out, which seemed very fitting. Outside the sun still shone and the cold wind blew strong from the Northlands.

Back home in the warm we discovered the Dragon's Friendly Society. A very good place to find!

Bagpuss

2008-12-08T23:59:00.000-08:00

Sad news today as I heard on the radio of the death of Oliver Postgate, creator of Bagpuss, a gentle voice from my childhood, a star.
Just hearing his voice takes me right back to being young. How I loved the saggy old cloth cat and the mice on the mouse organ.
His partnership with Peter Firmin was genius and they did more working in a cowshed than most animators do with digital.
To read more about Oliver Postgate have a look at the BBC obituary.

Dragons and kingfishers and bears drinking tea

2008-12-08T14:18:00.000-08:00

A couple of days away from the drawing board, at an exhibition preview and then a lovely day at Druidstone Hotel selling books. The day was calm and sunny but cold and icy outside. Back to the drawing board now though, which is where I would rather be at the moment and finally the dragon demanded to be green. With red hair.

Looking around my studio there are paper boats everywhere.

Started the day by doodling in the margins of the text. Only about 3 more spreads to find roughs for. Hoping the text can wriggle though the paintings, unless it is in white space beneath them as on some spreads. Seeing Tessa, the editor, this time next week and want at least another two, maybe three spreads done by then. I hate seeing people face to face. Much prefer the agony of sending things by post and hoping it doesn't get lost than the fear of disappointing people in the flesh.

Thinking aloud again

2008-12-05T05:38:00.000-08:00

Inside the dragon's cave.

Build a castle high as high

2008-12-05T04:32:00.000-08:00

It is not that I paint that fast! This was almost finished last week and has lurked around waiting to be finished off, which I think it is now, almost.
Yesterday I spent much of the day wondering what colour to paint the dragon, and I think I have settled on red, but still not certain sure. What a thing to be worrying over.
Click on the image to see it larger.

Front Cover

2008-12-04T04:33:00.000-08:00

Painting has been so much slower this week as I have snatched time to paint around transporting paintings, to The Pebbles Gallery in St Davids, where they now have paintings, prints, signed books and cards for sale, and also to Milford Haven to The Joanna Field Gallery where some 38 paintings are on show.
Not enough hours in the day, and this morning when I was walking my head was full of a new dragon for Starlight.
When I have been painting I have been listening to The Hare's Corner by Colm Mac Con Iomaire, wonderful instrumental music. Could only find the Irish Language site to link to but you can order the cd which has beautiful artwork from there.

Meanwhile in America The Snow Leopard Trust has an auction to raise money for the trust.

Back cover

2008-11-28T07:27:00.000-08:00

Walking and walking and thinking, then painting. A day of rain and rainbows.

Lost in a world of book.

2008-11-27T23:11:00.000-08:00

All week I have painted. Tom and Hannah have been at their dad's house. I have walked the dogs and while I have painted chaos has built up in the house, chaos and mess. Washing piles itself up in corners of the house. The room next to my studio has filled with boxes, mostly empty. I have cooked and washed up but somehow it would seem that the house trolls have snuck into the night time kitchen and made a mess. I have sat and painted and while I have birds have made a nest in my hair. This I only noticed when I had to go into St Davids as there was no more milk, or cat food, or dog food or bread. Dragons fly through my head and giant dogs walk, pirate ships and whales sail in my dreams. In the sky cloud hares chase cloud dogs in a furious hunt.
Later today I have to fit paintings into the back room, only for a couple of days, and boxes of books. I have two exhibitions coming up, one in The Pebbles Yard Gallery in St Davids and one in The Joanna Field Gallery in Milford Haven.
All I want to do is paint. It looks as if there is not enough space for a matchstick in there.
Maybe they are bats hibernating in my hair?

Days go by.

2008-11-27T13:41:00.000-08:00

Days slot into a pattern of walking dogs, sailing paper boats, painting.

Only the light changes.