megamouth

Ah... blowing my own trumpet (and simultaneously gobbledegooking through a megaphone... Talking nonsense loudly is sooooo not like me!). But anyway, my Blossoming illustration is currently appearing in the Picture This... exhibition at Riverside Gallery in Richmond. It runs in tandem with the Richmond Literature festival and you can see it there, alongside other far more fabulous illustrators' work, until 20 January 2013.

word in pictures

The Word Festival Marquee and the Crown Tower of King's College Chapel

Elphinstone Hall

I spent Saturday strolling around Old Aberdeen - visiting the Word festival, browsing bookshops, nosying at the Alasdair Gray exhibition in the Old Town House and being inspired by the very shy but super funny Tim Dowling. Strolling round Old Aberdeen feels a bit like stepping back in time; it's a small university town surrounded on all sides by an oil obsessed city and has a vibe all its own. Totally separate and the better for it. Perhaps I'm biased because King's College Chapel also the place where my parents got married.

The Old Town House

And at the end of the day (and quickly donning my day job hat), I hijacked the members of all girl ceilidh band Danse McCabre after their performance in the festival cafe and forced them to pose in our organisation's tshirts for the front cover of the newsletter I'm currently working on! So all in all a very productive day.

word

I spent yesterday at Aberdeen's Word festival. There's way more to come on this, as soon as I get around to downloading pics, but one thing I came away with (apart from far too many books) was a new enthusiasm for my own little book. Combine this with my earlier revelations, and I think it's safe to say the focus will be switching away from here for a while and over to here instead...

designing (not illustrating)... boo

Lots of design work is keeping me from working on my book... (but is paying the bills)

Not too bad, at least they're all music or arts related - nice people to work with and interesting to do (plus I get to find out what's on first!).

magnifiscience

Echo the Bat (above) for the Fife Science Festival. There are eight panels telling the Scottish story of the evolution of ultrasound.

lantern walk

The 'lantern walk' illustration for the winter issue of Juno.

I'll be attending the 2008 Royal Mail Awards for Scottish Children's Books on Tuesday 18 November (not as a nominee unfortunately!!)