Happy Holidays!

*Happy Christmas to all!*

2010 has been a fantastically busy year and I'm not stopping...

There will be some lovely new Hannah Shaw picture and chapter books out in 2011, I'll be informing you of publication dates soon.

Thanks to everyone who enjoys my books, stories and drawings- Here is a 'deer little picture' just for you!

School Visits booked for November 2010

Tuesday 2nd November

Eastcombe Primary School - Stroud.

Book signing after school.

Friday 12th November

Cranbrook Primary School - Ilford, Essex

Book signing after school with the Children's Bookshop Muswell Hill providing books for sale.

www.childrensbookshoplondon.com

Fox vs Hare

Some Aesopian inspired characters...

The Evelina Children's Hospital (Guy's and St Thomas' Charity) Dog Project

Here is my canvas for the Guy's & St Thomas' Charity, Evelina Dog Project which will be auctioned to save money for the Evalina Children's Hospital.

The canvas came printed with the child's drawing of the central dog which I decided would look funny if it was being painted by dogs.

Click here to watch a video of the hospital

Find out more at

http://www.dogproject.co.uk/

Yoga wolf

From a new Sean Taylor picture book I'm illustrating.

Rabbit Rescue - out now!

The sequel to The Great Hamster Massacre - The Great Rabbit Rescue, is out in shops now.

It is as funny as the first one, hence I spent lots of time laughing at the story whilst doing the illustrations. I enjoyed drawing the big scary rabbit best of all. As someone who only owned (rather stupid) guinea-pigs as a child, the story convinced me that I was probably quite lucky to miss out on the perils of caring for a rabbit!

Blurb:

Joe has gone to live with his dad, leaving behind his beloved pet rabbit. Anna and Suzanne try to look after it for him, but when the rabbit becomes ill, they're convinced it's because it's missing Joe. Now Joe is sick too. The girls are certain that Joe and the rabbit will die unless they are reunited soon...But can Anna and Tom and Suzanne pull off The Great Rabbit Rescue in time?

Ratina and Pip

A cheeky pair of ship's rats.

FESTIVAL EVENTS coming up soon! Don't miss out!

Monday 27th September

Come see me at BATH KID'S LITERARY FESTIVAL

Artists At Work: Michael Foreman, Charlotte Voake & Hannah Shaw

EVENT NOW CANCELLED SORRY.

Saturday 10th October

Meet me at CHELTENHAM LITERARY FESTIVAL

SLEEP SHEEP!

11:30am – 12:15pm Age 4-6 St Andrews Church

Join author and illustrator Hannah Shaw for an event of a very sheepish kind. She will read from her new illustrated book, 'The Sleep Sheep' and do live drawing too! Best of all, you get to make your very own sheep to take home!

http://cheltenhamfestivals.com/literature/

The letter C

A cheesy C for an Alphabet Wall!

This will be displayed at a new story centre in Essex.

More info to follow soon at www.writeaway.org.uk

Shifty looking cat

Watch out for future drawings of this cat!

Exciting new book under way.

New promotional postcard

FrontBack

New Event in Cheltenham coming up!

The event is at By Local Regent St, Cheltenham GL50 1JZ.

By Local is a shop which sells lovely ethical local products handmade by local people.

They will be celebrating their 1st birthday and I will be at the promotional event doing story-telling and helping you make a sheep!

Sunday 18th July 12:00 and then again at 2:00.

See you there!

Ship's Rat

I've always wanted to write a nautical themed picture book. A ship's rat called Ratina is a new character idea of mine. Here's a sketch of her:

The Spoon of Doom

This funny, sticky porridge adventure with my illustrations will be soon available to buy from June 2010.

Click here to Preorder

EVENTS Coming Up...

Thursday 20th May: Rhodes Avenue Primary School. I will be signing books from The Children's Bookshop Muswell Hill (http://www.childrensbookshoplondon.com/) at the school after 3:30pm.

Saturday 29th May: Waterstone's Bath special Sleep Sheep Event- tickets / info available from the store. 3:00-4:00pm http://www.waterstones.com/waterstonesweb

Wednesday 16th June 2pm: Event at Eagle House School Children's literary festival http://www.eaglehouseschool.com/childrens-literature-festival-marquee.htm

Wednesday 7th July at the Millennium Hall in Buckden, I'll be presenting the next winner of the Cambridgeshire Picture book Award "Read it Again", I'll also be signing books.

September 27th September: Bath Festival event, more details to follow.

Wayhey! New fun 'Design a Sheep' worksheet

This will be uploaded on my website soon... but in the meantime you can print it off it here for maximum baa-tastic sheepy fun.

The Sleep Sheep - Publishers Weekly review

This winning bedtime book celebrates a child's imagination. When her frustrated mother suggests that she count sheep to fall asleep, Sylvie quickly imagines "hundreds and hundreds of sheep," but they are a wily flock. Shaw's (Evil Weasel) witty pen and ink drawings are chockablock with charismatic sheep "rumbaaa-ing," skateboarding, and otherwise milling about, none of which helps Sylvie count them ("Hey, sheep," she says, "you're really exasperating"). Sylvie follows the sheep to the beach where they play cards, read storybooks, arrange flowers, play board games, and finally fall asleep, at which point Sylvie is able to count them and fall asleep herself. The sheep--who, it turns out, clearly know what they're doing--tiptoe away and sail off aboard "The Dream Boat" ("I thought she'd never nod off!"). McQuinn's (Lola at the Library) clever conceit is expanded considerably by the comic details that fill every spread (the sheep's apparel is wonderfully diverse, especially at the beach, where they don "trunks and bikinis, suntan lotion and snorkeling goggles"). The gentle adventure blends seamlessly into the calming bedtime-ready ending. Ages 3–6. (May)

Link: http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/reviews/childrens.html

Mr Lion is finished! Ta Da!

It took me 5 days non stop but finally it's finished and I'm shipping it off to Bath Waterstone's tomorrow! The other side will be painted by Tessa Farlow this week.

Do look out for it in Waterstone's from mid May onwards.

and now for the little animals...

I've started painting the characters now.

and continues...

The text on the banner is hand lettered and filled with gold leaf.

Mr Lion Continues

Today I've been working on the text banner for the lion.

First I printed out all the text and stuck it on the lion with masking tape to work out positioning.

Next I sketched out the banners, then I took all the text off and painted the banners. I hand lettered all the text in pencil, this took forever!

I'm currently applying gold leaf to some of the lettering and going over the text in black permanent pen.

Watch this space for more pictures tomorrow...

Mr Lion comes to stay!

I'm taking part in a fantastic project for Bath.

www.lionsofbath.com

In May 100 Lions will adorn the streets of Bath, each one individually painted by artists from the area. Although I'm not strictly 'local', Bath Waterstone's who are generously sponsoring a Lion, have asked me to decorate one for them!

I'm actually painting one side of the lion and I'm going to be doing an 'extreme reading circus' theme. Another illustrator- Tess Farlow, is painting the other side. Our designs will meet along the centre.

The Mr Lion's home from Mid MAY- SEPTEMBER will be in Bath Waterstone's window.

Do go and meet him!

I am photographing the Lion as he transforms so watch this space for new photos as I go...

Roar!

I'm still here!

These last few weeks I've been unable to post new events on my blog because a bear ate my computer.

I've had 4 wonderful days of events thanks to Sheepscombe School in Painswick, St Michael's C.E Primary school in Wandsworth, Newent Library in the Forest of Dean and last but my no means least, Leicester Reading week!

It was great to meet so many budding young artists and readers.

My next event is MAY 4th at Nailsworth and Chalford Primary schools in Gloucestershire.

The YELLOW LIGHTED BOOKSHOP in Nailsworth will be organising the event as part of their festival http://web.me.com/bookfestival/Site/Hello%21.html

If you wish to buy a copy of my book locally, Yellow Lighted is a a wonderful shop to visit.

Introducing the Raccoon family...

Article for READING ZONE website- Create a Picture Book Competition!

I recently wrote a piece with Caroline Horn for the Reading Zone website and the new 'Create a Picture Book Competition' for schools. If you are interested in reading the article or getting involved in the competition, follow this link...
http://www.readingzone.com/index.php?zone=sz&page=picture_book

It's a WINNER!

http://www.waterstones.com/waterstonesweb/navigate.do?pPageID=1185



I'm so pleased to be a part of this magical book and I was delighted to have a special mention from Anthony Browne in his speech. WELL DONE Katie!

If you haven't read it yet, what are you waiting for?
I'm currently working on the illustrations for next book in the series- The Great Rabbit Rescue... watch this space.

A peek at an example colour page from my new book...

Character Sketches

These are some new characters i'm working on for a series...

2010!

It's finally here, a new year and the start of the teenies!
The (very icy!) first day of the new school term I was at Swindon Village Primary School kicking off their book week.

If you want to book me for a school visit this year it's best to contact me at least a month in advance to be sure of availability. I don't mind receiving last minute panic email requests but I can't guarantee I'll be able to make it. Remember spring / summer is usually my busiest time of year.

For more details go to www.contactanauthor.com

There's lots of writing and illustration work for me to be getting on with too, I really am a busy bee.
I've got some exciting new book projects involving vicious white rabbits, raccoon bandits, crime fighting kids and a mysterious spoon of doom!

I've got a new picture book I've illustrated coming out in Spring- That's THE SLEEP SHEEP
I've also got a new fiction book I've illustrated out this month THE GREAT HAMSTER MASSACRE

Watch out for the yummy (more affordable) ERROLL paperback and CROCODILES ARE THE BEST ANIMALS OF ALL! which is also out in paperback this year.

Onwards and upwards!

Here's a scary pic...

H