There are two lovely markets this weekend. I’ll have my prints, cards, books and of course I’ll be painting… not sure what yet… Perhaps I’ll finish off the dog-city picture. Come and say hi!
Sister’s Market
10-4pm
Brunswick Town Hall on Sydney Rd
(Don’t be put off by the scaffolding outside!)
Sunday Market at the Convent
10-4pm
Abbotsford Convent
(In the Refectory)
How brilliant are these artists? I taught a cat-drawing workshop at the East Melbourne Library yesterday – we had so much fun. Here are some of the wonderful creations by the kids, a great group of 12, playing with watercolour and pencils. Have a look at these beauties!
Hey kids – If I’ve missed putting something of yours here or if I didn’t put your name with your picture – tell me and I’ll fix it! Thanks for coming along 
I really envy people their good memories. I don’t have one. I have a terrible one really. And I think I’ve lost so much of my childhood which, being a children’s writer, it would be really good to access! We were talking about memories on the weekend during the session on Grand Final day. One of the things I like to do with writers, especially new writers, is to try to help them step back into their past. I don’t have kids so I can’t watch them encounter the world and use that for inspiration. So when I write, I’m writing for me. The me I remember and the things I liked, 
remembering the frustrations I had, the adventures I expected to have and hoping to come up with things I would have liked to read then. And every now and then I do this exercise and it’s amazing what resurfaces.
Suddenly…
You can smell and feel the sheets on your bed.
Feel how tightly they’re tucked in so your toes are all scrunched over.
Smell the dusty carpet under the bed.
Hear parents murmuring in the other room as you fall asleep.
Try it now… stand in your bedroom as a kid.
Take off your shoes and socks. What does the floor feel like? Sit on the bed. What is the texture? How does it smell? Are your feet dangling? What can you hear? What season is it?
It’s amazing how things come back. Walk around your house, or run around it… The textures under your toes, the sound of the rooms and halls, dodging around pets you haven’t seen in years.
The smell of freshly washed pyjamas at bed time!
What came back to you?
Three things:
1. Just had a great meeting with Allen & Unwin to talk about a new project. It’s been a long time in the wings and is finally getting ready to start (after the epic is finished). A little archaeology, a little mayhem and a lot of film noir!
2. I’m off to Traralgon this weekend to lead a session about picture books at their local library. My favourite topic
3. There’s a new word jumble on the Schools Page.
Jumble is a good word for this week. Skipping from one thing to the next to the next. I think I have to accept that I like to work this way! It’s messy but there’s always a lot happening and it sure keeps me on my toes.
x
elise
Hello teachers, parents and kids.
There’s a new page here (top right) called SCHOOL THINGS. It has colouring-in sheets, a word jumble, the sheet of images of “Strange” the cat from The Night Garden, and a rogue’s gallery of some of the pictures I’ve created when visiting schools – as directed by the kids in the class.
They’re free to use but subject to copyright (so do let CAL know you’re using them and ask me if you want to reproduce them in a publication).
I’d love to know what you think and if you have any suggestions. And I’ll be gradually adding more things so keep coming back to check.
Also if your kids have used the material and come up with something special – send it in and we’ll make a gallery of their artwork. Then they’ll be famous!
The downloads page on my website is updated now. So, all the links should be working for you to get the colouring-in sheets and The Night Garden word jumble (there’s an answer sheet too).
And there’s a new thing…
I know how hard it is to draw a character over and over again in the same story, so I’ve put together a sheet of images of Strange, the cat from The Night Garden. So kids, how about you make your own stories about Strange? What adventures will you give him? What backgrounds will you come up with? Simply save the page to your computer, print it out, then cut and paste him into your own book. Maybe you’ll make your own front cover for the book? Don’t forget your teacher may be able to use a photocopier to make the pictures bigger or smaller.
And if you do use them I’d love to see your books! Maybe we can make a gallery of some of your favourite pages. Keep in touch
Oh I’ve had the best week. My wonderful friend Anne Spudvilas has let me borrow her studio for a few weeks. As many of you would know I’ve been slowly accumulating work for my first solo exhibition, mainly painting at the markets and whenever I can grab a spare hour. Which isn’t very often. Some of you may also know that my studio ceiling isn’t very high and I’d love to do some BIG work for the show. Hence, borrowing the studio which is in a divided-up warehouse with generous windows and even more generous ceilings.
So, on Thursday I had two massive canvasses delivered to Anne’s studio and on Friday I tinted them ready for some major painting. They are so big! It’s a very very exciting prospect to imagine painting these soon. For now I’m doing designs and sketching out various ideas.
And today? Today was the Maker’s Market at the Abbotsford Convent where I worked on (and almost finished) the tiger painting I began at the CBC Book Week event. It was really fun painting today – I worked out the best background colour to push out the tiger’s oranges and yellows. It’s fantastic when the right cool colour sits behind the right warm colour and suddenly, Pop! Things just leap out of the canvas.
Well that was fun
I just finished chatting to schools in the online festival. It’s wonderful to get to talk to the kids directly like that. I wish it had been longer! One of the cool questions was if I had made Sally a boy, would that have changed the design? Very good question. I’d like to think the style wouldn’t change. Hmm. It’s got me thinking actually. I purposefully pulled the story back from getting too scary because I wanted it to be exciting but not frightening. I don’t think that would have been different if it was a boy. I’m conscious of not having all adventurous stories being about boys which is partly why I chose a female character. Also because the story is the adventure I always wanted to have… so Sally is me, really.
One of the schools said that they were about to make their own books. There’s nothing better and I’ve seen some fantastic books made by students…
In fact…
Just last Wednesday night I went to about sixty launches! I was revisiting my Grade 3 friends at St Michael’s Grammar in St Kilda for the launch of all their own books. I was so impressed. There was a huge sense of occasion, excited parents, very excited young authors, a red carpet video, teasing blurbs, hardcovers and dust-jackets, beautiful endpapers, great stories and illustrations. Brilliant! Some of my favourite titles were “Attack of the Soap” and “The Unexpected Monster”. I am so proud of all their hard work and what they achieved. And of all the hard work of the teachers too! People underestimate what kids can do.
My head’s still in Ipswich…
I realise that I didn’t explain anything about the festival It is a huge event. It runs for a full week with programs for primary school kids during the week days and some further sessions for adults on the weekend. The most startling fact about the festival is that it is free for the children. The schools simply have to book in. I would have loved to have a chance to meet and learn from authors and illustrators when I was a kid! And with no fee attached the experience can be shared by all children, not just the privileged schools. Some still find the bus hard to afford, showing just how little money there is to spare in some schools… but it was a fantastic turnout.
And check out this list of presenters! Anita Bell, Janeen Brian, Mark Carthew, Anna Ciddor, Lindsay Cripps, Justin D’Ath, Tony Davis, Brian Falkner, Sandy Fussell, Pat Flynn, Simon French, Matt Dray, Ann Haddon, Simon Higgins, Scott Monk, Josie Montano, Boori Pryor, Frances Watts, Terry “bindi” Denton, Brian Doyle, Elise Hurst, Ann “Iceberg” James, Marc “Spooky” McBride, David Miller, Jan Ormerod, Andrew Plant, Donna Rawlins, Kim Toft, Liz Flynn, Michael Bauer, Lachlan Creagh, Lee FullARTon (PANI), Belinda Jeffrey, Lucia Masciullo, Charlotte McConaghy, Kristina Schulz, Robyn Sheahan-Bright, Leonie Tyle, Michelle Witheyman-Crump.
And here’s my favourite picture of the week… Count Congo.
A motorcross-riding blood-sucking gorilla.
Mondoodle #1
A Mondoodle is a Doodle done on Monday, of course.
I’ve decided to do a weekly picture – and only let myself spend 10 minutes on it. So here’s the first one. It would have been here on Monday but my blog stopped me posting images this week!
Monday 5th October at 5.10pm
Tre Bicchieri on Rathdowne Street, Carlton