• It’s Father’s Day and my children have totally surprised me! I pretty well gave up eating chocolate after Christmas (maybe it was a reaction to too much chocolate!) I’ve replaced sweeties with fruit (and have lost quite a bit of weight too). And it appears my children have noticed this as they bought me this wonderful hamper full of fruit for Father’s Day.

    I gorged myself on cherries that, only yesterday, I thought still a bit expensive in the shop. I didn’t mind at all. I ate cherries with my morning cup of tea before I’d even got dressed. Ah! what joy – what a privilege! Thanks Kids.

  • I’m well into book two of Axel Storm artwork now. The book is called Storm Rider. Axel gets caught up in the ropes of a helium balloon and dragged up into the sky where a violent storm is brewing. Is he going to make it? You’ll have to wait until the books come out later this year to find out, but here is a sneak preview of some of the artwork I did today – the very moment that axel is hauled up into the air.

    Actually, this is all great fun for me as I’ve not drawn artwork for about four years now, I’ve done my last four series entirely on the computer. It was a bit strange at first, but I’m getting into the swing of it now. The lady at the post office is pleased to see me with my bundles of artwork. It’s not quite the same, just pressing a button and emailing a whole books worth of artwork in seconds.

  • I had a wonderful time this morning. St James’ Junior School, Gloucester asked me to come and open their new Eco Classroom – a beautiful, circular den, made from reclaimed materials in which they can give outside lessons, even if it’s raining. The next phase is to develop the green area around it with vegetable and wild-flower gardens and trees. This is fab idea in the middle of Gloucester. It will give the children a connection to the Earth and I hope they will come back to see how their class trees are doing long after they’ve left the school.

    I then read the children some stories and had a grand old time, so thank you for having me! I’ve not got any photos. Send me some and I’ll post them or link to them.