Picturehooks Playing with Watercolours Workshop

This was fab – only an hour, but so relaxing, creative and playful…

David Melling is one of the wittiest, most accomplished British illustrators around, and he works a lot in watercolour – so I immediately signed up when this workshop was announced by Picture Hooks, an organisation specialising in promoting children’s book illustration.

The doggy image was made with water, burnt sienna watercolour and Indian Ink. The way the ink combines with water when you drop it in off your brush is spectacular, and I loved the effects you could create. The bird image is a bit overworked but it is really cool to just paint your subject in water then drop colours in and see what happens… Magical

This could be a future kids’ workshop, I think!

Collaged Birthday Card

It seems to be birthday season in my family!

I’m a huge fan of Manon Gauthier, a Canadian illustrator who makes the most exquisite, but kind of rough and wonky illustrations in painted card collage, so this image is inspired by her work.

Lilo & Stitch Animation Workshop – Surf’s Up!

A busy, fun session at Teignmouth Pavilions last Wednesday with a group of super-creative and focused children making their own spin on the Lilo and Stitch film as a stop-motion animation.

Here’s what they produced – in two hours!

Virtual Recipe Book for Gaza

I’m taking part in an online project called “Virtual Hug for Gaza”. It’s organised by a wonderful illustrator called Yulia Gwylim, and seeks to raise funds for locally-based, Palestinian-run charities providing food and healthcare in Gaza. Each contributor offers an illustrated favourite recipe to the online zine – I’m really looking forward to see what people “serve up”. You can download a copy of this lovely recipe zine here!

At this time, the situation in Gaza is dire, and we are presented daily with horrific scenes of starved children, bulletridden bodies and destroyed homes and lives. To not do something to try and help, however small, seems unthinkable.

If you are feeling helpless in the face of the suffering in Gaza maybe you can do one of the following?

Donate to Gazan mutual aid charities, such as thesameerproject

Organise or take part in a fundraiser for Gazan charities including Medical Aid for Palestinians

In the UK you can email your local MP, also the Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary ( fcdo.correspondence@fcdo.gov.uk)

Join a demonstration in your area

Here’s the illustration, plus a couple of process pictures, I made to go with my recipe – it’s a Greek type of frittata called Sfougato Me Lahanika, and the recipe is from Mediterranean Vegetable Cookery by Rena Salaman. It’s delicious, as are many of the other recipes in the book.

“Sea Crowns”

The guys became sea goddesses for the day at our last session! We made painted and printed papers then used templates to cut and stick our beautiful crowns with coloured fish, shells, mermaids and seaweed.

The original idea came from a similar workshop activity by Zanna Hubbard, whose illustration and art I LOVE!

“How to Train Your Dragon” Stop Motion Workshop

Come and join me at the Pavilions Theatre Teignmouth on July 30 to make your very own “How to Train Your Dragon” 2D stop motion animation.

Make and animate your own Toothless and Hiccup, or invent your own dragon and flying Viking riding across the sea and through the sky! See all the details below – call the Pavilions box office on 01626 249049 or go online here to book

Dress for (a little bit of) mess, aprons provided.

Wednesday 30 July 10.30am-12.30pm

£15.00 per child

Ages 7-12

12 places available

Parents must stay for session with children under 8

Snow White Diorama Workshop!

Hello! I’ll be running a children’s craft workshop at the Pavilions Theatre in Teignmouth next Wednesday 28th May!

We’ll be making a folding diorama of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves House – it’s a simple make, all you have to do is draw and colour your house and the characters 🙂

Go to the Pavilions Website for details and to book, or call them on 01626 249049.

Hope to see you there!

“Shoe People”

I’ve joined Orange Beak Studio’s Picture Book Club 🙂 There are different options that you can subscribe to (it’s a Patreon-thing) so for about £5 per month I get these great prompts for making illustrations. Last month we were given lots of different types of shoes and asked to develop characters from their footwear.

There used to be a nutty kids’ animation series called “Shoe People” It made me think of that… There’s a clip at the end of this post.

In the meantime, here are the characters I created: