• I had an email from Before and After Magazine this morning, pointing up an online article called Why we design by John McWade.

    The article is a reprint of an old editorial. It was kind of interesting and then, towards the end of the article, I thought, what did that paragraph say? I had to read it again:

    “As a designer you have a privilege, one that others do not. It is the privilege of making visible that which others can only imagine, feel or think. When you do this, you open a window through which your audience can see, know and understand.”

    How clearly put… how succinct. This doesn’t just apply to a designer but to writers, poets, film makers and artists too – as well as many others I suspect.

  • Me and Mount Fuji - A lifetime achievement.
    Me and Mount Fuji – A lifetime achievement.

    I hardly know where to begin, so I’ll start with the picture above, me and Mount Fuji. I never really thought that I would get there but I did and it was all thanks to the wonderful people at the Guam Council of the International Reading Association, who invited me to go all the way out to the Pacific Tropical Paradise that is the tiny island of Guam, which allowed me to add a couple of days in Japan on the way home. I’m still jet-lagged and very tired, so more will appear here later as my head clears, but the abiding memory will be of an island full of the friendliest, most welcoming people I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting.

    I visited 17 elementary schools. Each gave me the most amazing reception. I was treated like a rock star! More to follow…

  • This week I’ve been up to Glasgow for the Aye Write Book festival. On Monday I managed to remember to photograph my co-conspirators: Andy Stanton, Damien Harvey, David Bedford, John Fardell and Anne Havant.
    mitchellAs ever it was a meticulously well organised event. I was in the main hall with about 200 children at each of four events. I had a microphone on my lapel. This made my voice boom around the enormous room. I had to slow down my delivery to give the echoes time to catch up. It was like the room could only cope with one speed of performance! We did lots of fabulous drawing and had a really great time. In the afternoon I managed to get to the Burrell Collection – something I’ve wanted to do for some time. It was wonderful. I made a lot of sketches and got lots of ideas.

    my audience arrives at the Mitchell Library, Glasgow
    my audience arrives at the Mitchell Library, Glasgow

    After my session on Tuesday, I flew down to Birmingham where I picked up my car and drove on to Monks Risborough for my day with the Primary School on Wednesday (It can be a busy life being a children’s author!)

    I had a great day but forgot to take pictures. I was amazed at how the Red Kites have taken over the area. Everywhere I looked pairs of Kites were dancing around in the sky. There are almost too many of them! It’s an un-naturally large population, but the locals seem very fond of them all the same. They must be feeding them!

    Each year are trying to do illustrations in the style of different Illustrators. Year Six are trying to be me. I tried to explain how I do my computer drawings, but it was a bit difficult without my laptop. It will be interesting to see how they get on – Good luck Year Six!