Book Illustration – Decor Art

BIOGRAPHY

Original picture book and greetings card artwork by Catherine Anholt is available for purchase from Images of Delight.

Catherine Anholt comes from an Irish background but was raised near Stroud in Gloucestershire. Her father was a potter and she is one of eight siblings.

Catherine achieved a First Class Honour’s Degree in Fine Art at Falmouth School of Art where she met her husband, Laurence. This was followed by a Master’s Degree in Printmaking at the Royal College of Art. She continues to produce colourful large-scale oil paintings alongside her illustration work for children’s books.

From their studios in Lyme Regis, Dorset, Catherine & Laurence Anholt have created more than 150 children’s books, which are published all over the world in more than 50 languages. Their books have won numerous prizes, including the Newstle Smarties Gold Award on two occasions.

Around half of the Anholts’ titles are illustrated by Catherine, including the much-loved Chimp and Zee series and numerous picture books published by Walker Books and Orchard Books.

Catherine has been closely involved with a number of national and international literacy charities and produced some of the original material for the highly successful government funded BookStart scheme., which encourages parents to share books with babies from the earliest possible age. Her work has taken her inside Downing Street and Buckingham Palace on several occasions.

The Anholts have three grown-up children – an anthropologist, a drama student and a fine art student.

Find out more at the Anholt website at www.anholt.co.uk…

BIOGRAPHY

Original picture book artwork by Alison Bartlett is available for purchase from Images of Delight.

Alison Bartlett lives in Bath where she was born 30 odd years ago.

She studied illustration at Anglia College of Art in Cambridge under Martin Salisbury. She then went onto Kingston College of Art, starting an MA course in illustration, but was to begin work sooner than expected with the publication of her first children’s book, Oliver’s Vegetables. Whilst at college, she was asked what her worst nightmare assignment would be. Having replied “a children’s book”, she was then promptly given the task of producing one. It was exhibited at the 1993 Macmillan Prize Exhibition, seen by an agent and published by Hodder the following year. It was then Highly Commended in the V&A; illustration Awards 1994. Hodder immediately went on to commission Alison to work on four further titles and she hasn’t looked back since.

She lives with her partner Nick and young son, Joel. They have two cheeky Jack Russell dogs that are black and white and look like tiny cows!

Further information about Alison and her books can be found on her own website, www.alisonbartlett.com…

BIOGRAPHY

Original picture book artwork by Jill Barton is available for purchase from Images of Delight.

Jill Barton was born in 1940. She had always loved drawing and when she left school at sixteen she applied to the Manchester School of Art. Way back then there were no courses specialising in illustration, so she did not pursue her dream. She was 44 when, after her three children were safely off her hands, she decided to try again. She did a year’s foundation course achieving a distinction and went on to do a degree in illustration. She graduated, aged 48 “having loved every minute of being a mature student.” Jill says, “So you see, it’s never too late”. She later taught at MMU for five years combining both careers until it became too much and she had to choose between them. She obviously had to choose her first love.

She was shortlisted for the Macmillan Prize for Students in 1988 and was offered her first story, Grape Zoo, just before her degree show. The Pig in the Pond was highly commended for the 1993 Kate Greenaway Medal and was also shortlisted for the 1993 Sheffield Children’s Book Award. She won the Boston Globe Horn Book Award in 1997 for In the Rain with Baby Duck and Rattletrap Car was highly commended for the 2002 Sheffield Children’s Book Award. The Baby Duck series of books are hugely popular in the USA and The Pig in the Pond has been one of the most successful books for Walker Books and is also in the 100 best books list.

Jill is now a grandmother and lives in Devon.…

BIOGRAPHY

Original picture book artwork by Anthony Browne is available for purchase from Images of Delight.

Anthony Browne is an internationally recognized author and illustrator of children’s books, with more than forty titles to his name. In 2009 he was appointed the sixth Children’s Laureate, replacing Michael Rosen and only the second illustrator to hold the post since Quentin Blake. He creates strongly narrative watercolours that blend near-photographic realism with fantastical, surreal touches and ingenious visual puns. His skilful use of colour, pattern and background detail subtly conveys an exquisite empathy for his lonely and sensitive child protagonists (both human and ape). Gorillas feature in many of Anthony’s books. He says, “I am fascinated by them and the contrast they represent – their huge strength and gentleness. They’re thought of as being very fierce creatures and they’re not.”

He attended Leeds Art College, where he graduated with a graphic arts degree in 1967. Before focusing full-time on children’s books, he worked as a medical illustrator for three years and illustrated greeting cards for Gordon Fraser in the UK for fifteen years.

His books have received many distinctions, including the Kate Greenaway Medal in 1983 for Gorilla and again in 1992 for Zoo. Gorilla (1983), Alice’s Adventure in Wonderland (1988) and Voices in the Park (1998) all won the Kurt Maschler Emil Award. In 2000 he received the highest international honour for illustration, the Hans Christian Andersen Award, for his services to children’s literature – the first British illustrator ever to win the prize. More recently he was Illustrator in Residence at The Tate, from which he produced The Shape Game.

His work is exhibited widely in exhibitions from London and Paris, the far East, the US and Mexico.…

BIOGRAPHY

Original picture book artwork by Eileen Browne is available for purchase from Images of Delight.

Eileen was born and brought up in Birmingham but lived in London for over 20 years before moving to Wiltshire where she now lives. She worked as a school teacher and a youth worker before becoming an author and illustrator. Her first book was published in 1977.

Eileen believes “Certain groups of people are not well represented in books. For example, females only feature as main characters in around 30% of children’s books. Because of this, I give them a priority. Where’s That Bus? (1994) was one of the first animal picture books with all female characters.”

Eileen is the author of the picture book classic, Handa’s Surprise, which was shortlisted for the 1995 Sheffield Children’s Book Award. The Little Angel Theatre puppet-theatre production of Handa’s Surprise toured London theatres in 2004 and was performed at the Unicorn Theatre, London in 2007-8. Handa’s Surprise and the sequel, Handa’s Hen, 2002, are now available in more than 20 dual-language editions. She has written and illustrated books with amongst others, Kit Wright and Floella Benjamin. Through my Window, written in collaboration with Tony Bradman, was shortlisted for the 1986 Smarties Book Prize. No Problem was shortlisted for the 1994 Nottinghamshire Children’s Book Award.…