Fine tuning the Nutcracker....

As November 4th races towards me, I'm still fine tuning exactly what will take place at the Nutcracker and the Mouse King concert... decisions to make, pastels and paints to try, brushes to experiment with...


I've been living with The Nutcracker story now for over a year; Ella Bella Ballerina came first, then the wonderful opportunity to illustrate it all over again, live on stage, with the de Havilland Philharmonic!

Over the last few months, wherever I've been, I've taken a sketch book and my ipod with me, deciding which pieces from the Nutcracker ballet should be performed, planning what to say and what to paint or draw.

These are early sketches... one or two done whilst at the rehearsals with the orchestra. Others mostly done on trains!



But with all tickets sold,  I really must make the big decisions and finally crack it! (did you see what I did there?). What I do know is that there will be 9 pictures raffled off for the London Music Masters - a really worthwhile cause, so if you are coming, don't forget to buy your raffle tickets before the concert...

Oh and if you didn't get tickets... don't worry! There will be ANOTHER Nutcracker concert in London on November 30th... more on that soon.

But for now... wish me luck on Sunday!

National Gallery storytellings.

Many thanks to all who came to the Sainsbury Wing gift shop at the National Gallery for illustrated storytellings yesterday. There was a great turn out and it was lovely, as always, to be reminded that children really do love discovering art through Katie. One family got up at dawn to catch an early ferry from the Isle of Wight. I'm so touched that people went to great lengths to be there. I hope they enjoyed the stories of St George and - especially for Hallowe'en - Baba Yaga!

Here I am in full flow...

My thanks to the National Gallery for their warm welcome.

Allegro ma non troppo...

Not too fast! That's what I'm hoping from conductor Robin Browning, when I join the de Havilland Philharmonic Orchestra on November 4th for The Nutcracker and the Mouse King. Because some of the music is so swift, there is barely time to paint! Here's a picture of some practice versions of my toy soldiers for the March. It lasts around two and half minutes! Not long at all.

I am using emulsion paints and some pastels on black boards, and the paintings need to be large and bold to project well. Anything full of fine detail or too small the simply won't be picked by by the camera that will be capturing the image for the real-time projection.

The trickiest piece will be the Chinese Dance, representing tea. It last 59 seconds!

The last few tickets are going quickly. Really only a handful left for 2pm, a few more for 4.30. This is great news. Unless you are trying to get tickets! If you are - you need to telephone the box office, Monday to Friday between 10am and 4pm: 01707 281127.

Everyone is working really hard and falling in love with Tchaikovsky all over again. Such melodies!!! We all think this is going to be an unforgetable afternoon...

Wonderful Woolenwick!

Every once in a while I find a school that sets the bar high when it comes to author visits. Recently I found one almost on my doorstep: Woolenwick in Stevenage. Under the guidance of the headteacher Usha Dhorajiwala (who was inspired by the Reggio Emilia theory of teaching), the school provided an absolute model school visit.

Everything was perfectly organised and the welcome was warm; but more importantly, the children had been really well prepared by the brilliant teaching team at the school. Each class used a different Katie story for inspiration and created fabulous displays and in depth records of the children's work in both art and literacy. So one class created a Jungle; another examined pointillism; others enjoyed dinosaurs; impressionism in another... and so on. Books were offered as prizes for themed competitions, and a book sale was organised at the end of the day as well. No detail was overlooked...

How heartening to see that the school maintains a good library and even has a designated art area. Creativity is thoroughly celebrated in the school, and the extent to which the teachers engage is obvious from the photos - the head is dressed as Rousseau's tiger, another teacher as Katie herself!

Since my visit, I've been sent lovely comments from the children; it's great to know a day has been followed up in this way; it's where the real value in an author visit lies.

I should point out this is only an infant school - up to year 2. Amazing work for such young children. What a wonderful foundation is being offered to them. How fortunate they are!

During my visit I worked with painting to music as my theme - Katie had been so thoroughly explored there was no need for me to focus on her! Interestingly, it was The Swan of Tuonela which proved most popular - a dark story set to brooding music by Sibelius, which I usually reserve for older children. It is a clear indication that here is a school full of children receptive to complicated stories and sophisticated themes.

I was bowled over by this school - and I am extremely grateful for such an unforgettable day! Thank you Woolenwick!

Carnival of Animals!

It's been such a busy week, I'm afraid it's taken me a while to get around to writing about last Sunday. What a magical day. The school hall at the Friends' School in Saffron Walden was sold out weeks in advance and crammed to bursting point with the happiest and warmest audience one could hope for.  The Uttlesforde Orchestra, and conductor Richard Hull, were full of good humour. And my table was laid out with emulsion paints and rollers. It was time to unleash our animals!

We began with the Thieving Magpie overture by Rossini, and continued with selections from Saint-Saens' Carnival of the Animals (A dinosaur for fossils was especially popular!), and then Arnold's own Carnival of Animals was given complete. Next were a few extracts from Elgar's Wand of Youth suite (Moths and Butterflies; Tame Bear; Wild bears). Lastly came Strauss' Die Fledermaus overture. Oh and an encore: Rimsky-Korsakov's Bumble Bee!

Altogether, there were 14 paintings to be created, some in only one minute! A crazy, funny and unforgettable afternoon, and I've already been invited back next year...

Huge thanks to all the Harts Bookshop and Words in Walden team. Their book festival is brilliantly put together, superbly organised by the loveliest people in the world. And of course my thanks to the orchestra and Richard for throwing caution to the wind and wholeheartedly joining in the fun!

There is the rumour that the hall could have been filled twice oveer... so we are considering TWO performances next year. Crikey! I wonder what we'll choose to present next year... any ideas?

Here are a few snaps from the rehearsal and of the finished paintings (sketches, really...!). Enjoy, and thanks to all who came!

AND NOW??? Onwards to The Nutcracker concerts!!!

Back to Bath with Vincent

Vincent was up to his old tricks in Bath this weekend, when he popped out of his picture to say hello to kids at the Holburne Museum, as part of the Bath Kids Lit Festival. Vincent produced a few upside down illustrations to go with some Dutch folk tales and Legend and told a few stories of his colourful life as an artist.

The children helped him recreate a huge collaborative Starry Night, and even obliged with a portrait of the artist...

A postcard from Spain

Two weeks is a long time to be away from home. But I had such a warm welcome in Spain that I couldn't fail to have a great experience. I was lucky enough to be invited by Bookbox International, who run high quality, independent book fairs in schools across the south of England and on the Continent - in International schools. Last year it was a week in Brussels, this year two weeks split between Valencia and Barcelona schools.

It all sounds very idyllic. In reality, visiting 9 schools in succession is pretty hard work, especially with around 90% of the children being Spanish speakers learning English; with tiny tots, the English is inevitably limited. But these children can still enjoy seeing pictures grow before their eyes... so they got lots of pictures and fewer words!

Many thanks to the schools who made me so welcome. Here's the list: 

Tuesday September 18th: British School La Canada

Wednesday September 19th: Caxton College

Thursday September 20th: British School Of Villareal

Friday September 21st: Benjamin Franklin International School, Barcelona

Monday September 24th: British School Of Barcelona

Tuesday September 25th: Oak House British School, Barcelona

Wednesday September 26th: St Peter's School, Barcelona

Thursday September 27th: ESCAAN school in Sitges

Friday September 28th: St Paul's School Barcelona

Phew! It was quite a busy few days.

Valencia I saw very little of, as the schools were in the suburbs. The landscape was blackened in places by forest fires, and my visit coincided with the first rain since March. The weather was humid, oppressive and a dramatic drive under a bruised sky, mountains punching the clouds, gave way to the sparkling sea and sunshine of Sitges.

This idyllic seaside town, an artists haven just south of Barcelona, enchanted me.  This is where I stayed for most of my visit and it was a great base. I had intended to visit Barcelona properly from there but I simply fell in love with Sitges, and spent my spare weekend there.

This coincided with a spectacular Festival, in honour of Santa Tecla, who gives her name to the church there. This annual event, honouring the holy relic of Tarragona, was filled with Catholic ceremony, tradition and folk-lore.

Saturday night was filled with Moorish giants, enormous kings and queens, grotesque dwarfs, castanets, tambourines and human pyramids. A child (representing Christ perhaps?) only 3 years old was held aloft. Candles were carried through the streets.  The streets swirled with costumes and music and the smell of cigars as everyone spilled out of their houses to celebrate. And lastly the Dracs (dragons), filled with ear bursting, ferocious firecrackers, spun around to screams of delight (and terror!). They reminded everyone of how Santa Tecla was sentenced to be eaten by beasts after defending herself against a persistent lover. She had sworn an oath of chastity and refused this man's advances. But the female beasts chased off the male beasts and so Santa Tecla (Thecla in the original Greek) was freed by a miracle.

The whole thing was repeated Sunday morning, by children... in minature! (but with just as many dangerous fire crackers; no health and safety nonsense there!). Then a final procession from the church of the full scale version.

Drummers drummed; cornets rasped. Music and explosions and dancing...

The shops covered their windows for protection. Firework displays filled the night sky and the church service itself was filled with bells and singing and harmonies and I ended the weekend feeling as if I had lived through a magnificent, elaborate and unforgettable opera!

I did visit the Gaudi cathedral in Barcelona, and many schools had spectacular views across the city. But I would love to see more of Barcelona... and revisit Sitges.

The school visits themselves went well, I even ended up in the local paper (Sitges Echo), and on Catalan TV!

Now it's back to work and I have left behind many new friends in Spain, and cherish many new memories. My thanks to everyone in Spain and Bookbox for arranging the tour!

Here are some pictures in no particular order... I hope you like them!