Who inspired your story? What inspires your artwork?
My inspiration for my book comes from Raffy my assistance dog. In this first book I used the experience of training him over a couple of years under the guidance of a trainer. In my second book which I have written and almost finished illustrating, I again take inspiration from Raffy. My second book is about the mischief Raffy gets into when he’s left home alone.
My inspiration for the illustrations comes from my own artistic style, but also children. Having worked with children for 45 years, I’ve read thousands of books. This experience gives me a solid basis for appreciating what children enjoy and engage in.
As an artist I also use children’s artwork for inspiration for my own art and illustrations, sometimes including their work unedited. For me it is about thinking like a child, and using my imagination and creativity to best engage them, in both the story and the pictures.
So I primarily draw inspiration for my book from my life with Raffy, but the artworks themselves, they almost seem to take on a life of their own. I often tell friends that my artwork almost always unfolds before my eyes, revealing itself in quite unexpected ways.
I’m a visual person, I see my story in images, yet these images merely provide a basic structure on which to build a visual narrative of the story itself. I’m never quite sure how the layering and mixing of each and every element in the montage process will come together, but I’ve learnt to trust this process.
There’s a sense of magic and dreaminess in the completed illustrations when I start with an idea and then let it unfold in its own organic manner. That seems to be the nature of my artwork. In allowing the creative process to guide my work, a sense of whimsy emerges from the pages, as the childish, carefree images depict impossible situations like swimming by a school of mermaids, or bathing in a teacup (Book 2) as perfectly natural scenes.