The Year I forgot.

Well, that's not quite true, I clearly haven't forgotten an entire year as those who follow me else-where would know.  But I most definitely have forgotten this part of my world for a year & my only excuse is work, family, work & work. So, to make up for that unforgivable forgetfulness, I have condensed the last year into what I hope are interesting snippets. & so, in reverse order, the year has kind of gone like this...

SEPTEMBER:  We went home to the UK for some well earned R&R, where I dressed up for a wedding, not mine.

Went to London & stayed behind this beautiful building, The Michelin Building.

Dropped in to say high to the crew at Bright HQ.

Went down underground...

came up again & hung out with some of these guys.

& ate at Carluccio's.

Collected some stuff.

Cobnuts

...

Blackberries & Mushrooms

...

Wooly Mammoth Bone

...

Throughout this forgotten year I've been lucky enough to work on some really nice jobs.

Peter & The Wolf - CJ Educations

Robbie Ravenbeak - Pearson UK

Best of Friends - Quirky Kids Clinic

Oops Owl! - Harper Collins Children

Signed an awesome new book deal with Running Press for the Picture Book Frank & here is my editor Lisa Cheng receiving signed contracts with a twist.

Way back, around March, I was invited to talk to the students at Balnarring Primary school... for a week. That's a lot of talking. 

We talked about books, of course & how we create stories & the characters that inhabit them. 

The students were ace & more than willing to go along with my crazy thought trains. 

We drew, a lot. & Proved that you don't have to be good at either drawing or writing to come up with great stories.

So there is the year. It has been a long year, a busy year & finally a year that's here.

Take & decorate.

So here is a very brief breakdown of how we (me & my daughter), made our christmas decorations this year...

Take some Champagne corks & Gum nuts. Acorns would be cool too if you live somewhere where Gum trees are few & far between. So, that's pretty much anywhere except Australia.

Undercoat.

 Colour

Detail & Varnish

Go Nuts

Endless Fun

Melbourne Book Week Part II.

One of the big concepts for kids to learn is that stories, all stories, have BME. Not Big Mamma Elephants or Brown Moles Escaping or even Blue Metered Elves. No.

BEGINNING  MIDDLE  END

& over the week we had lots of fun creating quick stories with different characters (B), problems to resolve (M), & outcomes (E).

We talked about THINGS & how THINGS look. & what makes a THING, a THING & not something else. Does a THING need to look realistic for us to believe it's that THING.

There was a lot of THINGING going on!

& had to squeeze in some extra lunchtime sessions to fill all the requests for THINGS we couldn't fit into normal time.

I would like to say a huge thank you to Gail Moore, Librarian General at Mt Eliza primary school for not only hosting this years event but also for the countless giggles she provided to support my lame humour. Libraries are so important in our schools & Libraries without Librarians are like taps without water.

Merilyn Haynes, Principal, for the loan of her lap... TOP! without which the week would have been very analogue.

All the staff who attended sessions during the week.

& lastly the students, from the wee Preps to the not so wee Grade sixes. You made the week the    

FUNNEST THING!

Aargh! Shiver me timbers.

Pirate girls are Da Bomb!

Melbourne Book Week. Part I.

Last week I was lucky enough to spend my days with the Students from Mt Eliza Primary school as part of Melbourne Book Week; & I can say 'lucky' in complete honesty as the students were great ambassadors for the school, I only had to beat one child & she won.

 We had a truck load of fun reading the rough script & dummy for 'Benny & The Rats', which had better sell or there'll be an angry posse of kids brandishing pitchforks & flaming torches outside my studio. 'Benny' was a big hit with the kids, many of them drawing Benny, The Jazz Rats & Sally Stardust. & lots of requests for signed sketches too.

             Made up some crazy stories on the spot with a large dose of stupidness & a dash of fear...

& some not so stupid stories, like The gingerbread Man

OK. Just a bit stupid.