No Doug but an exhibition!
Posted on: April 23, 2012First the bad news – Doug MacLeod is unfortunately now unable to come along to the Canberra launch of The Night Before Mother’s Day, the lovely little book of the poem he wrote, published by Allen and Unwin, and with pictures by me. We will miss him!
But the good news, which is very exciting for me: in conjunction with the Electric Shadows Launch of The Night Before Mother’s Day, I’m also going to have a small exhibition in the bookshop. This exhibition is the inaugural one in the new initiative ‘Electric Wall’, which will be ongoing exhibitions at Electric Shadows Bookshop, curated by Helen Maxwell. Sounds like a brilliant idea. One could almost say electrifying.
Go here to get the info on the book launch which is on May 3 at 6.30, and also on the Canberra launch for These are My Hands/These are My Feet, at the National Library, this Saturday, 28 April at 2pm. And before either of these launches, this Thursday 26 April sees the the Melbourne launch of the Mother’s Day book, at 6.30 pm at Carlton Readings, which Doug will be at.
Okay, now you have your heads around all that detail (don’t you?), I can proceed to tell you that my Bookshop Exhibition is being put on by Helen Maxwell (my erstwhile gallery director who has moved on to brighter things but keeps her toe in the water), in conjunction with Beaver Galleries, (my current gallery in the ACT), and Electric Shadows Bookshop. It will feature a selection of prints I have made across the years, some of the work will be very familiar, some of it less so. It will run from Thursday May 3 (the day of book launch) through to Sunday June 3, 2012.
Good Night Sleep Tight At Last
Posted on: April 23, 2012Finally I have finished the work on Good Night Sleep Tight, a new book by Mem Fox and Judy Horacek. That is the new book ‘from the team that brought you Where is the Green Sheep?’ – hey, no pressure! The files are now winging their way off to the printers, and in a few months, there will be an actual book – a 3D version of what Mem wrote, what I drew and painted, and what the editor, the designer and I have been staring at on screens and in printouts for the last few months, trying to get everything right. And I think we did a pretty good job in our quest for perfection – thank you Clare and Deb! Easy enough for Mem (don’t tell her I said that) – this book is actually a re-release of a book she first published in 1988, so she didn’t have all that much to do, but all the pictures, layout and design are brand-new, full colour, from scratch. The book is about a babysitter who tells nursery rhymes at bedtime to the two children he is babysitting, starting with ‘Good Night, Sleep Tight, Don’t let the fleas bite’. (Wonder if I can use the word ‘eponymous’ here? I’ve always wanted to). There are lots of cameo characters from the various nursery rhymes – including the infamous snoring old man, a teddy bear running around the garden, ladies and gentlemen and farmers riding. Horses, I had to draw horses! Lots of them! I don’t think anyone anywhere likes drawing horses! Sheep – easy-peasy (any colour you like), no trouble with the little piggies, even cows are okay at a pinch, but horses, urghh. I have heard that ‘Where the Wild Things Are’ was originally ‘Where the Wild Horses Are’ until Maurice Sendak remembered that he couldn’t draw horses, so he changed the characters from ‘wild horses’ to ‘wild things’. It is a brave artist who goes where the amazingly talented Mr Sendak refused to tread, but I had little choice. Needless to say that was one of the last pages I drew – day after day I would head off to the studio announcing ‘Today I AM going to draw those horses’, and would manage to avoid it yet again. Lucky in a 32 page picture book there is plenty to be going on with.
Good Night Sleep Tight is being published by Scholastic, and it’s out in October this year. Expect fanfare! You’ll all get to check out the horses for yourself, along with the other familiar yet new characters.)
In the meantime I’ll press on with the current fanfare for my two new books that have just been released, the back-to-back double edition These are My Hands/These are My Feet, published by the National Library of Australia, and The Night Before Mother’s Day, written by Doug MacLeod and illustrated by me, published by Allen and Unwin. You can get all the details of the various Melbourne and Canberra launches on my calendar.
Show us your Hands (and Feet)
Posted on: April 15, 2012Less than a week to go till the Melbourne celebration of the wonderful back-to-back edition of These are My Hands/These are My Feet (or vice versa), at Sun Bookshop in Yarraville, Saturday 21 April at 2pm. It’s published by the Australian National Library, and written and illustrated by me. Download the invitation here. Everyone is welcome, just RSVP to the bookshop, 03 9689 0661
By the way, the technical term for such a book is ‘tete-beche’ (it has accents above the ‘e’s but I can’t find how to put them in, so you’ll have to imagine them).
Bologna Children’s Book Fair
Posted on: April 8, 2012I’ve just come back from Italy – a trip to the Bologna Children’s Book Fair, which was amazing. I’d never been to a book fair before – imagine huge exhibition hall after huge exhibition hall all full of stands of different publishers from all over the world, the stands jammed with amazing children’s books of all types, and the whole place packed with people. It’s very much the business end of publishing – a place where publishers and agents do deals with other publishers and agents – selling overseas rights to books, having meeting after meeting, being very busy and very important. But I spent most of my time at stand of the Australian Publishing Association which is a bit different – APA isn’t a business so much, but an organisation aiming to support Australian publishers and to raise awareness of Australian work. For the past few years its stand at Bologna has included a display of work by Australian illustrators, and has organised different illustrators do demonstrations of their work for a few hours at a time. One of my illustrations was included in this year’s exhibition, a picture from The Night Before Mother’s Day, written by Doug MacLeod and illustrated by me. And I did three demonstrations of my drawing – in a kind of fumbly, rub out and start again way.
Ann James and Ann Haddon, those great stalwarts of Australian Children’s Picture Books, are the organisers of the exhibition, and were there looking after it every day and talking to fairgoers about Australian work. As well, there was a number of other Australian writers and illustrators including Nick Bland, Lucia Masciullo, Isobelle Carmody and Jeanette Rowe and others. Quite a few Australian ‘creatives’ in fact, and it was great fun hanging out with them, talking about our work and about picture books. Most of us work alone in a room all day so there’s lots to say when we suddenly have ‘colleagues’.
There was a point near the beginning of the four days of the Fair where I was so overwhelmed with the sheer number and quality of children’s books from all over the world, I began to think that there was no point in me adding to this pile – there were far too many wonderful books already. So many that perhaps making more was even a bit irresponsible. But eventually this feeling did wear off, more or less, and was replaced by a feeling of some pride in being part of an industry/activity that is so big and rich and varied. Which is lucky, as I’ve come home full of ideas for new picture books to create, and it’s a dreadful shame to throw ideas away.
(A huge thanks to CAL for the grant from the Creative Industries Cultural Fund that got me there.)
The First Launch in A Series of 4
Posted on: March 31, 2012April/May is going to be a busy time, with two new books out and 4 launch/celebrations – two each in two cities. The first one doesn’t feel that far away – it’s for the new back-to-back version of the much-loved These are My Hands/These are My Feet, published by the National Library. It will be at the Sun Bookshop, 10 Ballarat Street, Yarraville, on Saturday April 21 at 2pm. Cordial and fairy bread included and everyone is welcome! Please RSVP at info@sunbookshop.com or ring on 9689 0661. You can download the proper invitation here.
The Night Before Mother’s Day Launches
Posted on: March 21, 2012At last, it’s here. The book of The Night Before Mother’s Day by Doug MacLeod and Judy Horacek. Need we say ‘ideal Mother’s Day gift’? There are two launches, both on a Thursday, both at 6.30 pm. The first is the Melbourne launch, at Readings Carlton, on Thursday April 26 at 6.30 pm, where it will be launched by Tracy Harvey, no RSVPs necessary. That will be followed a week later by the Canberra launch at Electric Shadows Bookshop, Thursday May 3, 6.30 pm, to be launched by Alex Sloan, RSVP to the bookshop for catering purposes. Hope to see lots of you there!. 
Download a pdf of the Melbourne invitation here, and the Canberra invitation here.
Hands and Feet Review
Posted on: March 9, 2012Great review from Boomerang for the new Hands and Feet back-to-back book. (And they know kids’ books!). I’m very pleased! http://content.boomerangbooks.com.au/kids-book-capers-blog/review-these-are-my-handsthese-are-my-feet/2012/03
And another advance
Posted on: January 31, 2012Also received last week, an advance copy of the very lovely The Night Before Mother’s Day, which is a poem by Doug MacLeod illustrated by me. As the title suggests, it’s about a woman lying in bed dreading the onslaught of Mother’s Day. It’s a beautiful little book, and it’s only going to cost $9.95 or thereabouts, so it’s almost as cheap as buying a card, and way better value. Out in April, published by Allen and Unwin. 
Viva the flip book!
Posted on: January 31, 2012
I received an advance copy of this wonderful book this week – it’s These are My Hands back to back with These are My Feet (or vice versa), previously published as separate volumes by Penguin. This version is published by the National Library of Australia. It’s completely gorgeous – the most tactile book I’ve ever done. It’ll be in the shops in April, and stay tuned for details of a launch event at the Library.
Face in a bucket
Posted on: November 23, 2011Here is a face of suds I found in a bucket. It was just floating there, I didn’t manipulate it at all. It made me laugh.
Think of the penguins
Posted on: September 27, 2011Just launched – a greeting card of my Hysterical Penguins cartoon. One of those cartoons that is funny but also not funny. It should be in bookshops and other places that sell my cards very soon – ask your local! (n.b. I’m always happy to send catalogues to new shops that might want to stock my cards, just let me know the details)
How diverse is your biblio?
Posted on: September 21, 2011
Today – 21 September – is International Day of Bibliodiversity, a time to celebrate independent publishing and books of all ilk (and I’m always up for celebrating books!). The day is an initiative of the International Alliance of Independent Publishers, those wonderful and special people who keep us diverse and heteroknowledgeable. Here’s their website for more information, http://www.alliance-editeurs.org/?lang=en I was asked to do a picture in honour of the day, and this is it.
Growl goes to China!
Posted on: August 18, 2011The gorgeous little monster Growl now speaks Chinese! I’m terribly impressed at her cleverness, and it’s nice to see that she’s just as cute in Chinese. 
For those of you who don’t know the story, Growl is a little monster who loves to growl. And gets into trouble for growling too much and so has to keep quiet. Until she saves the day of course!
This Story of Growl is published in China by New Buds Publishing House.
This page says words to the effect of: ‘And most of all she loves to…GROWL!’ Those beautiful shapes coming out of her mouth form the Chinese word for ‘growl’. (No idea how you’d pronounce it)
Carbon tax cartoon
Posted on: July 18, 2011My cartoon from my fill-in gig on the Age last Friday, 15 July 2011 (click on the orange ‘Carbon tax cartoon’ heading above)
Locum Cartoonist!
Posted on: July 8, 2011What a lark – I’ve had two days work being an Editorial Cartoonist in The Age, filling in for someone on holidays. (The Age is Melbourne’s daily broadsheet newspaper, for those of you elsewhere). Next week I’m filling in for another holidaying cartoonist, so I’ll be in the paper on Wednesday and Friday. Doing the daily editorial cartoon is like a puzzle you have to nut out, with really high stakes. Intense, but fun too.
Here are the links to the pages of The Age with yesterday’s cartoon and last week’s cartoon. (Yesterday’s cartoon won’t make much sense to people outside Australia, but last week’s is relevant to a number of places in the world, unfortunately)
