5 things to do before...

I have been busy and it's getting busier and I have 5 things to do before the New Zealand Post Children and Young Adults BookAwards on the 23rd June:

One:

Walk the St Clair Half Marathon in Blenheim this weekend with gal friends and take some important hand sewing with me to do in the evenings whilst the others are playing 500 and drinking Marlborough Sav, because...

Two:

I have to finish my World of WearableArt  garment- I'm putting two in this year so one is done and the other is occupying my studio, the lounge, the kitchen and the basement in various stages of construction. One place for sewing (the kitchen), one place for painting (the studio) one place for sawing, sanding and bolting (the basement)  and one place for evening stitching in front of the telly (the lounge). It's the madness that overtakes me at this time of year and I have to pack it up and send it off for judging early because...

Three:

I'm touring Southland for a week for the Book Award Festival. This excites me hugely because I have not been to that part of NZ for such a long time and I get to go to Invercargill, Gore, Ta Anau, Milton and Dunedin. The Catlins are an area I have not explored at all and it is a particularly beautiful part of the country so I will be taking my sketchbook as well as my camera. Meeting the students and teachers, librarians and public on tour and showing them handy tips from Wearable Wonders will be right up my creative alley! I'm doing some other school visits too (thank you Creative New Zealand for your support to The Book Council) Then I fly home for one day to unpack my touring things and pack up the WOW garments and deliver them to Mainfreight (WOW's wonderful sponsors), then pack again because...

Four:

I fly out to New York the next day! Such is the life of the rich and  (moderately) famous. This is an indulgent detour along the way to Boston; well Amherst University actually for The Illustration MasterClass. A week long residential where I will be in a focus group learning model making and creating fantastical characters with Brian and Wendy Froud. You may remember The Dark Crystal and The Labyrinth? Froud created the art, sets and costume design for those films. He's an English genius from the world of Faerie (and an illustration hero of mine) and I just can't wait to immerse myself in the studio environment and learn everything I can because...

Five:

When I get back I have three days until the book awards evening and by that time my next book 'Ghoulish Get-Ups' (Scholastic) will be at the printers and an advance copy not too far from my hands. And I will be on fire from the course (or utterly broke from New York) and will be ready to create new things for the second half of the year in my work. At this stage I have no idea what they are, but I can assure you, something will brew, because... if you feed the mind, nourish the soul, and look after your health both physically and intellectually, then the rest follows xxx

Back to the Drawing Board- in a good way!

My old and beloved copy

I was going to burble on about inspiration and education and my heros of the art world. Instead I'm going to just give you two links to two things. 

One is David Jones' Sketching The Portrait in Oils class that I started last week and I have already learned a whole new way of drawing. I thought I was pretty good at it but David is a master, and he's really young. He's teaching this old dog some much needed new tricks (I have got lazy in my drawing approach). I have fallen in love with drawing again after one class. My pencil and sketch diary are my constant companions!

The other is this- and I am VERY excited. The IllustrationMaster Class in Amherst, near Boston. Children's book writer and illustrator and long time buddy, Ruth Paul went this year and I was inordinately jealous. But it's her turn for green eyes now, because I have signed up for 2014 and she's too snowed under with book deadlines to go ( a nice problem to have!). But even more exciting is that the Brian Froud will be there- the illustrator of the first book I bought when I was a design student that impressed me more than anything I'd seen since I was 6 and received RieCramer's 'The Silver Thimble Story Book'. Brian and Wendy are running a special focus on illustration and I'm doing it! I'll be taking my battered and loved old copy of The Land of Froud, my paints and brushes and a sponge; my grey matter.

I love learning and most particularly when it concerns what I love most- creativity. And when I come back from it, I'll share. To 2014- a year of magic :)