I’ve been loving having two spooky books published recently! The Shadow Lantern, the final story in The Blackhope Enigma trilogy, is out in the USA and Canada, and my stand-alone teen book, Jet Black Heart, is out in […]
A few months ago I joined forces with four fellow artists to explore the idea of making new artwork in response to historic locations around Yorkshire. This was a bold experiment for me but I couldn’t resist because Lorna Barrowclough, Hondartza Fraga, […]
Last week I had a busy and fabulous week touring around Scotland, culminating in the launch of my new teen book, Jet Black Heart, from Barrington Stoke.
I started the week in the Inverclyde area, leading book-making workshops for children aged 5-12 […]
My talented friend and former art school classmate, Maryann Cocca-Leffler, invited me to share a bit about my writing and illustrating process as part of the ‘Welcome to the Writing Process: An Author/Illustrator Blog Tour’ (thanks, Maryann!). We are also part of a vibrant online community of children’s book illustrators and I’ve been in awe […]
If you know my stories in the Blackhope Enigma trilogy, you know that I have a thing about mazes and labyrinths.
Because I live in England, there are plenty of ancient and new ones to visit. I like to hunt them down, walk them, figure them […]
Happy Second Half of January! By now we’ve all had plenty of time to assess 2013 and make wishes for 2014. Here are a few things I’ve been thinking about.
Top creative experiences in 2013:
Launching two new books for children and young people. In May […]
I had all my creative hats on during a variety of ESA Open Studios events over the past four days: artist, illustrator, writer, workshop leader and even ‘advisor’. It all kicked off on Thursday night with the launch party for ‘Cache’, a small exhibition […]
I spent yesterday introducing three groups of Edinburgh schoolchildren to the wonderful role model, Bessie Coleman, whose story I illustrated years ago. Since I began writing and illustrating my own books, I have spoken less about the picture books I illustrated, so I was really pleased […]
Jill Maden (Photo by Teresa Flavin)
A rollicking ride around Australia with motorcyclist Jill Maden.
I’ll remember the summer of 2013 as one of the more hectic in my adult life. Not only have I been busy talking about my new book, […]
I’m writing this from my new studio in Leeds, West Yorkshire. Yes, Leeds! After many happy years in Scotland, we took the plunge and moved the whole kit and caboodle to lovely Yorkshire, including all these fabulous stones and shells I’ve collected in my travels. It […]