weekend vibes

I did this at the weekend.
Forgot to post.
It's not the weekend any more.
It's Tuesday.
So it doesn't apply.
SPEED UP!

world penguin day

Every day is a day these days. Who even decides these things?

april showers

British summer time resumes today with some good old downpours.

We can't moan though, Easter weekend was the hottest and sunniest weekend EVER. It involved boat rides on a river, tennis with the kids, drinks in the pub, a family day of fun at my favourite sister's and a trip to the bike park.

Followed of course by a trip to A&E with a broken wrist for the youngest who didn't manage to remain in one piece on his actual bike.

easter dog

And THIS is not the Easter bunny...

easter tiger

This is not the Easter Bunny. Do not be fooled. It is an imposter.

partied out

Is it bedtime yet? I was out till 2am TWICE this weekend. Partying with the young peoples and everything. I have officially peaked for the year. And I need some sleep.

who ate all the eggs

Easter eggs are in the shops so early that I have a tendency to just ignore them. Then when I finally go to make my purchase, at actual Easter, there's only the crap ones left.
If I bought them in February, though, I'd just eat them all and still end up with the same problem. Only I'd be 3 stone heavier.

easter elephant

E is for Elephant with an Easter Egg.
The Easter bunny has been sacked.

careers day 1

I was talked into talking yesterday. To nearly 40 kids - aged from 6 to 11 - about being an illustrator.
The kids had to choose which "careers talk" they wanted to attend. I was up against 5 other people, including a pilot wearing his actual uniform, so I considered myself a winner for having a full classroom.
I had to stand at the front with all these little eyes staring at me, waiting for me to say something profound. 
I didn't say anything profound. But I did give them all a ladybird sticker and I raffled off a load of my books and cards so I think it went ok.

Most notable moment...
Me: Does anyone know what 'freelance' means?
Girl with hand up: Is it when you work for free?
Er no love. It isn't.

It all got a little confusing at one point because they thought I actually physically drew the pictures onto the products. I had to give them a brief rundown on the mechanics of mass production in the far east.
But all in all I think it went ok.
I'm somewhat terrified now though because I had already agreed to do a similar talk at the eldest's school for a year 7 careers day. I am seriously gonna have to up my game for that one. It's the sort of school where the kids only want to be surgeons and rocket scientists so I'll probably only have to talk to 2 kids anyway...but I seriously need to do a crash course in PowerPointing before May just in case...

march 19

Blimey it's April already! Happy days! We finally have adequate daylight hours and it's not so cold anymore. Woohoo!
I'm a bit sad that I'm not at Bologna Children's Book Fair though. I didn't feel the need to go this year seeing how I didn't really speak to anyone last year. And my super action plan to do some work suitable for picture books kind of fell by the wayside due to actual-real-life work getting in the way. But now I'm kind of wishing I was there.
So new plan of action....do some work that would make awesome picture books and get my arse over there next year....watch this space...

Meanwhile this was March. In pattern form.
If you want to license it give me a shout.