Pencils on holiday, a happy little otter and a banner-making binge

Story Street #6

It’s time for the hardest-working coloured pencils in South West London to have a rest… March was a VERY busy month. I’ve taken these trusty pencils into lots of schools and met literally hundreds of children – it’s been so much fun but I’m looking forward to a quieter April. It’s fascinating to see inside so many different schools – I went to one where they sang ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’ at the start of the day, and it was certainly uplifting. I also enjoyed two days at Evelina Hospital School, working 1-1 with children on the wards making collages – it was a luxury to be able to spend so much time with each child.

On World Book Day itself something happened that I have dreamed of ever since I made my first book – a child dressed as one of my characters!

Look at this very happy and very splendid King Otter – sadly I didn’t get to meet him as he was in a different part of the country, but many thanks to his Dad for sharing the photo. It really made my year.

Most of my school visits were with 5-7 year olds, making up and drawing out collaborative stories using my Story Island map. But one visit was very different, and it was inspiring in a whole new way.

Early in March I spent a morning at the school my daughter teaches at in Croydon – making Zines with Y7 and Y6. The theme was Inspirational Women (it was the week of International Women’s Day) and I was wondering who to make my demonstration book about. I’d been reading Candy Gourlay’s brilliant new children’s novel, ‘Wild Song’ (published by David Fickling Books) and suddenly realised the answer was in my hands! So, I made a ‘Candyzine’ to show everyone what to do.

And Candy very kindly supplied me with a quote especially for all the students taking part, about an inspirational woman in her own life – here it is:

“When I was a beginning adult, my heroine was a woman photographer named Mandy Navasero, who took me under her wing and showed me how to survive in a man’s world with sharp elbows, generosity, and a lot of humour! May you find your own Mandy Navasero someday!” – Candy Gourlay

The Zines everyone made were excellent, and they also included advice (from Y7) and questions (from Y6) about the big transfer to secondary school. The plan is to swap the Zines between the year groups so the younger ones will have a mentor figure when they reach Y7 themselves in September. It was lovely going to work with Freya and meeting her colleagues and students.

And I can thoroughly recommend Wild Song, which was Sunday Times Book of the Week the day before the workshop. A very good read and not just for children…

Wandle Mural Project

March also saw the start of a HUGE community art project – I’m going to be working with five local schools to make a mural inspired by the river Wandle. The project is sponsored by Higgins Homes, who will be printing the finished artwork onto hoardings around a development site on Garratt Lane in Wandsworth. What makes the project extra special for me is that I get to work with the South East Rivers Trust (formerly the Wandle Trust) through their Project Kingfisher education programme (I’ve been volunteering with them for around 20 years at river clean-ups and even designed their logo).

Amazingly for mid-March, our first session was snowed off, but we were able to get started the following week with an inspiring river walk led by Robyn, followed by a collage workshop back in the classroom.

I showed the children my Wandle A-Z and asked them to guess how long it took to find all the letters in the water during river clean-ups – correct answer: five years! They had fun working out what all the letters were made from (can you spot the false teeth?).

The children made some really beautiful wildlife-inspired collages in the workshop – I’ll share more about this next time.

The project also prompted me to do something I haven’t done for too long – get out my sketchbook and draw my favourite river! I’m planning to do a painting of this stretch of the Wandle, at Bell Lane Creek. I specially love it there at low tide. And for any fans of The Ghost Carp reading this, I hereby solemnly pledge and promise to make progress with Part 3 in April.

The last mouse

I finally made the very last mouse for the very last page of the collage picture book I’ve been working on these last few months – and was able to Blutack the last page to the wall. It’s very satisfying to see the whole book laid out like this, albeit with the papers curling from the heat of the radiator below…

The final spread ended up with 16 mice on it! I’m going to miss this project, but there’s still the cover to make – almost always the very last piece of the picture book process, and often made many months after the interior artwork. This is the work that will sell the book, so many more people get involved – sales and marketing teams as well as design and editorial have a say, and sometimes it takes many versions to get the right artwork in place. Watch this space!

Banner making binge

Sometimes I find myself spending an afternoon making a mouse filling her handbag with blackberries, listening to the radio and thinking about the state of the world, feeling powerless. But when I heard there was to be a short-notice demonstration against the Asylum Bill in Parliament Square, I decided spontaneously to join in and made myself a ‘Welcome Refugees’ banner to take. The truth is, I LOVE making banners! And in 24 hours I made three – one for Junior Doctor Meg, and one for teacher Freya, both striking the same week. Here they are, all with a hot pink theme…

I’m going to end with a recommendation – if you have a chance to get to the Barbican Centre in London before 21^st May, go and see the Alice Neel exhibition, Hot Off the Griddle. I was so inspired by her work, and her life – I’d love to have met her. Cosy on the outside, radical on the inside! I couldn’t resist buying the exhibition catalogue, and what swung it was that it was designed to be small for reading in bed.  

That’s it for now - but I have lots of plans in the pipeline, including a brand new Friday morning course at Putney School of Art next term with Sophie Ambrose - find out more about Drawing for Illustrators with the button below: our course starts 28th April.

If you have enjoyed this newsletter, please share with any friends who might be interested…

And if you’d like to buy a book, here’s the link:

See you on 1st May! (I went a day early with this one because I won’t have time tomorrow).