Oftentimes, my sketches are simply pencil sketches and I can be a bit messy, as I am more involved in the process than the outcome. During this process I will often do a loose pencil sketch that I later return to and redraw and paint if I want to further develop it. This was the case for the ‘Childhood Illustrated’ Sketches. Some of these led to memories that I illustrated as entries for the Bologna illustrator’s exhibition.

Doing the ‘memory mining’ sketches from my childhood, for the Good Ship Picture Book Course led me on a journey of drawing other memories. I have a particularly vivid memory of walking in the Forest of Bere with my dad and feeling the thrill from us discovering an abandoned Gypsy caravan. My dad told me all about the lifestyle and traditions of the Romany community. I was enthralled and a few years later when I read ‘Danny Champion of the World’ (by Roald Dahl), this further fuelled my fascination and in my mind the caravan became a sort of time portal to the past.

My years as a teacher constantly inform my sketches too. Often my illustrations will combine images of children interacting with the natural world, or with animals. I use sketches from children at my forest school play as they are so absorbed in their environment or crafts that it allows me an excellent opportunity to observe them playing and is a much less formal, more natural environment than school can be (although I also illustrate nursery and school scenes too).