Little Pink Dog Books has released its beautiful 2020 Catalogue, filled with gorgeous, fun and entertaining picture books to savour. Lola and Grandpa is one of the 8 new picture books on offer, along with already published favourites.
Lola and Grandpa Fun Activity Sheets
With the upcoming release on 5 May 2020, of my new debut picture book Lola and Grandpa (written by Ashling Kwok, illustrations by me, Little Pink Dog Books), I’m excited to be able to offer fun and free downloadable Activity Sheets for kids, along with Teacher Notes. Visit my Resources page now, (or Little Pink Dog Books and United Publishers of Armidale for these resources, as they become available).
A maze, join-the-dots, colouring-in and more fun activities to keep your kids busy and entertained!
Students Need School Libraries
Students need School Libraries, just as much as they need English, maths, science, history, geography, music, drama, LOTE, visual art, technology, sport… Libraries bring it ALL together! And Teacher/Librarians are the other vital ingredient.
Lola and Grandpa
We have a revised publication date for this beautiful new picture book, due to delays with book stock coming from China. Look out for Lola and Grandpa from 4 May 2020! And more news to follow of our Book Launch!
Visit to National Centre for Australian Children's Literature
I had the most wonderful visit to the National Centre for Australian Children’s Literature https://www.ncacl.org.au last week in Canberra ACT (University of Canberra). Visiting the Centre was such an eye-opener. I encourage everyone who’s interested in children’s books, art and literature to organise a tour with the amazing Director Dr Belle Alderman and her wonderful committed team of volunteers.
This small team are working tirelessly behind the scenes to preserve our valuable Australian children’s literature and artwork for posterity. The value to our Aussie heritage, education, children, writers, artists, illustrators, researchers, academics and the general public is immeasurable and deserves our attention and support. Unbelievably, the Centre receives no government funding! The Australian Government, organisations interested in supporting the arts and general public all need to be made more aware of the NCACL’s important work. Spread the word!
The NCACL collects and preserves everything to do with published children’s literature - manuscripts, storyboards, roughs, dummy books, original artwork, original books, magazines, rare books, translations of Aussie children’s books… the list goes on. There are files on every Australian children’s author and illustrator - they’ve even started a file now, on my work! Every now and again, the general public can enjoy the fruits of their labours, when an exhibition is mounted, such as the current free National Library of Australia and NCACL Exhibition ‘Story Time’ at the NLA in Canberra, showcasing a lot of NCACL’s own collection https://www.nla.gov.au/storytime
You can linger and reminisce over Australian children’s books from your childhood, marvel at the gorgeous original artwork, learn about how a picture book is created by seeing illustrator’s roughs, dummies and initial sketches, read early draft manuscripts… So much treasure revealed!
This current exhibition ends on 16 February 2020 - try and catch it!
Dr Belle Alderman AM and her wonderful team of volunteers at NCACL, University of Canberra.
‘Where Is the Green Sheep?’ Judy Horacek’s cover artwork for Mem Fox’s story.
Sketches from Alison Lester’s Sophie Scott Goes South’ picture book.
Bob Graham’s early mock-up of ‘Max’ (detail).
Lola and Grandpa
Here’s my very own copy of the beautiful picture book ‘Lola and Grandpa’, written by Ashling Kwok and published by Little Pink Dog Books, with my illustrations! Wonderful to see it finally in print. More books will be on their way, in time for 1st April 2020 publication date. Book Launch details to follow soon!
Pre-orders are available now at Little Pink Dog Books https://littlepinkdogbooks.com/2020-books-2/lola-and-grandpa/
Aspire and Celebrate! 2019 Aspiring Writers Mentorship Program
I was excited to learn that I had been long listed for the 2019 Aspiring Writers Mentorship Program, with my picture book entry, ‘Lucy’s Menagerie’. On 28 November, along with other long listed writers, I attended the celebration and announcement of the winner of this wonderful mentoring program, which this year was supported by Scholastic Books.
It was a great opportunity to catch up with friends from the children’s book industry, meet new ones and to discover the winner. Lucky Trudi Sommers was presented with the 2019 Charlotte Waring Award and the Mentorship - congratulations to Trudi!
We also had the pleasure of listening to three speakers from the children’s book world, Rebecca McRitchie writer and Senior Editor of Scholastic, writer Yvette Poshoglian and writer/illustrator Aura Parker.
A great evening!
Here I am with the happy group of long listed writers, including the winner Trudi Sommers (seated front centre), with our CBCA certificates.
Short Story published in time for Christmas
Thrilled to see my short story Something from Nothing, has now been published in the latest issue of The School Magazine (Blast Off Issue no.10 November 2019). It’s a retelling of a Ukrainian folktale, just in time for Christmas. Filled with little creatures, magical Christmas decorations and of course Christmas cheer. Beautifully illustrated by Anna Bron.
Illustration by Anna Bron, from my short story Something from Nothing.
Lola and Grandpa
Exciting news to announce: my very first published picture book Lola and Grandpa, written by Ashling Kwok, with my illustrations! This beautifully written and illustrated story is to be published 1st April 2020 and is now available for pre-order from the publisher Little Pink Dog Books.
https://littlepinkdogbooks.com/2020-books-2/lola-and-grandpa/
Front Cover of Lola and Grandpa
Support Orangutan conservation through a new picture book
Here’s a great opportunity to support the endangered beautiful orangutans! Kathy Creamer, writer, illustrator and co-publisher at Little Pink Dog Books, has created a new picture book (The Big Old Rambutan Tree) and all net proceeds will be donated to support the conservation work of Orangutan Outreach based in the USA.
This is Kathy’s third book aimed at conserving orangutans and follows previous books entitled My Cousin, Ah Meng (Singapore, 1998) and The Old Man of The Forest (UK, 2002). Both these books raised considerable funds in their host country for orangutan conservation.
As with the earlier books, Kathy has donated all her time and the funds raised via the following crowd funding initiative will support the printing of the book.
Indigogo Crowd Funding Site: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/the-big-old-rambutan-tree-conserving-orangutans/x/17241973#/
'Bushman's Clock' Poem published
Thrilled that my poem ‘Bushman’s Clock’ has been published in The School Magazine’s latest issue of Countdown (July 2019 Issue No.6).
Kookaburras are one of my favourite Aussie birds, even if they do sometimes wake me too early in the morning!
Here’s my drawing, ‘The Bush Telegraph’ - Kookaburra, Sulphur Crested White Cockatoo and Magpie sharing some news…
Little Pink Dog Books Catalogue 2019
Very excited to receive the Little Pink Dog Books Catalogue for upcoming releases in 2019 and beyond. So many wonderful and diverse stories being told with gorgeous illustrations. I’m really looking forward to the publication of Lola and Grandpa, a beautiful story written by Ashling Kwok accompanied by my illustrations, scheduled for 2020! Take a look at the great collection of picture books to be published this year.
Visit https://littlepinkdogbooks.com for details of the wonderful picture books soon to be published.
Blessings at Christmas and into the New Year
My little bear sends Christmas greetings and wishes for a very Happy New Year, with blessings of good health and wonderful experiences in 2019.
Take time to look up and out...
Beautiful natural gothic window to the sky - you can see why medieval craftsman and stained glass artists were inspired by nature. Here some leaves from a tree in Sydney, Australia and here the gorgeous stained glass of Sainte-Chapelle in Paris. Tous les deux, lumineux!
Who's watching?
You have to wonder, do trees watch over their branches and leaves?
Heavenly hydrangeas
More of God’s beautiful creativity quietly on show - hydrangeas glowing silently in the shade.
Christmas Greetings from the High Country
I’ve just had a lovely time celebrating with my publishers, Little Pink Dog Books and Christmas Press, both wonderful Armidale publishers who are doing great things in the Australian publishing world.
Beautiful books were celebrated at The Children’s Bookshop Beecroft, including See Monkey written by Sophie Masson and illustrated by Kathy Creamer, Trish Donald’s Tissywoo and the Worry Monsters, Rebecca Fung’s Princess Hayley’s Comet (illustrated by Kathy Creamer) and Christmas Press’ latest enchanting Christmas offering, A Miniature Christmas.
All good books for Christmas gifts!
My wonderful, talented and extremely busy publishers Peter and Kathy Creamer (Little Pink Dog Books) and Sophie Masson (Christmas Press).
Jacaranda Blue!
It’s that time of year again, when the beautiful, luscious jacaranda flowers bloom… Oh to be a bee, and immerse oneself in the petals and clouds of purple, pink and blue.
Oh, to be a Bee…
Remembrance Day 11/11/18
The 100th Anniversary of the Armistice of WWI, reminded me of a beautiful poem by Christina Rossetti, titled ‘Remember’. I referenced this poem in a ballet of the same name, which I choreographed many years ago on the themes of war, love and loss.
May all those who died, rest in peace in God’s loving arms.
And here is the poem:
Remember
By Christina Rossetti
Remember me when I am gone away,
Gone far away into the silent land;
When you can no more hold me by the hand,
Nor I half turn to go yet turning stay.
Remember me when no more day by day
You tell me of our future that you plann’d:
Only remember me; you understand
It will be late to counsel then or pray.
Yet if you should forget me for a while
And afterwards remember, do not grieve:
For if the darkness and corruption leave
A vestige of the thoughts that once I had,
Better by far you should forget and smile
Than that you should remember and be sad.
Travel Sketchbook Workshop
I’ve just taken part in a wonderful travel sketch class with artist Sheila Posner at Gallery 307 in Sydney and picked up some great tips. Of course, there was no ‘teleporting’, so we worked today from some of Sheila’s many trip photos, imagining (longing..) being there.
I’ve wanted to loosen up my work a bit and have more confidence when drawing en plein air, and especially with adding loose washes.
Sketching/painting ‘on the run’ is a no-holds barred way of creating art - really anything goes, but it’s good to know what works well.
Remember, what you’re creating is not a photograph so you don’t need to include every detail - feel free to edit as you go! Sheila prefers a non-waterproof ink pen as she enjoys the spontaneity of ink runs and it’s really quite liberating. She also recommends jotting written notes on the image - whether it’s the location, the country, the time of day, what you had for lunch… Any other thought bubble at the time of creating the image. All of these things will help to ‘bring back the moment’ later.
What a great way to document a trip, with a visual travel diary. Am definitely inspired to do more!
Here are some of my sketches today - this one’s Venice.
This one’s from Spain.
This one’s from Italy.
Teacher Artist Sheila Posner demonstrating with initial line work.