Yuletide best wishes to all my friends and followers!

Don't you know how stars are made?

I've not posted any sketches for a while, largely because I've been grappling with a mountain of things from very involved deadlines to house moving. I have been drawing though in brief moments of solace,  so it's about time I posted something! Here's a couple of meandering doodles....

I’ve been fascinated by fairy tales and fairy lore for as long as I can remember. Far more than contemporary fiction, as a child it was the tales of Grimm, Arabian Nights and Hans Andersen that really gripped my imagination. My mother had several old collected editions of these tales dating from her own childhood which she only produced at bedtime to read to us.
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Want to know how I brewed up the creepy artwork for Halloween Forest? The dark secrets of the forest are about to be revealed! It's a long post so lock your doors, settle down with a cup of of your favourite brew, and read on, muwahahaha.....

As every book is different,  I always strive to approach each project with a clean slate, as if it's the first I've ever illustrated.
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At last it's out! Scheduled for July, but postponed until the Autumn. Now, finally, today,  the picture book Halloween Forest is on sale in bookshops across the US and online!

Author Marion Dane Bauer has blogged about the book here.

Publishers Weekly and Kirkus Reviews have also given the book a thumbs up. Starred review no less!

Here's a few images from the book (artwork scans before text)

I'll talk about some of the processes involved in creating the illustrations in my next post.
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Alas! Cold winds are blowing, the golden leaves will fall.

Here it is, my latest book!

Published by Fukuinkan Shoten on 10th September in Japan, ジャックと豆の木 (Jack to Mame no Ki) is a 44 page picture book, re-told and illustrated by yours truly from the traditional tale, translated by Yuko Obika.

The book can be ordered online from overseas via Amazon Japan.
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I'm finally back home after a successful show at Space Yui in Tokyo.

Japan was wonderful for both daughter and myself, though it was very much a 'working holiday' for me. For the first month I was largely focused on meeting deadlines, producing work for the show and other such business, so not so many opportunities for socialising and enjoying the summer break. However the hard work was all worthwhile in the end, the exhibition at Space Yui was a tremendous success.
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Today's the first day of my show in Tokyo, this promises to be an interesting week!

Half the show is focused on my forthcoming picture book "Jack to Mame no Ki" (Jack and the Beanstalk), showing original artwork from the book such as this:

and this:

The Gallery has produced some fabulous limited edition prints, these two images from the book, each with a print run of 20, will be available through the Space Yui online shop even after the close of the show.
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