Petr Horáček's Blog, page 16

The Mouse Who Ate the Moon

My new book “The Mouse Who Ate the Moon” is  officially out on Thursday!

Last Sunday I was at the Hay Festival doing a talk and workshop.  So I had a chance to read my new book to a bigger audience. Judging by the reaction of the children it went pretty well.

When I got home my neighbour showed me Saturday’s newspaper – The Times. ”The Mouse Who Ate the Moon” is book of the week!

Now that is exciting!

More reviews followed on blogs. Here is a nice one from Moontrug and one from Bookbabblers.

Some of my pictures have also appeared on the Hard Trials, Happy Life‘s web site.  If you would like to now more about the Foundation for Prader-Willi Research and perhaps wish to help, click here.

Here is picture of Peanut promoting my books!

I also had a nice email from Karlie Story, whose daughter just had a birthday. The little girl asked for a cake based on my book Butterfly, Butterfly. 

This is the cake Karlie made.

Now, that is impressive!

I also went to Wychwood Festival. Wychwood is always good fun. There is so much going on. Here I’m having fun, attending  Tony de Saulles’ (Horrible Science) workshop.

Tony’s events are always fun. I learnt how to draw a fish who eats another fish, who is eaten by…a fish. Anyway, you get the picture.

 

And here is Alys who came to see me in my talk. I’m trying very hard to fit in to the picture.

 

Board book parcel

This week I received a parcel. When I opened it I found a book “Strawberries are Red” in Spanish. It was quite exiting to see this board book again. “Strawberries are Red” and “What is Black and White” were my very first published books. They were published in 2001.

The next day I got another parcel. This time it was advance copies of my latest board books “Where Do You Live Snail?” and “A Surprise For Tiny Mouse”. These two board books will be out in August.In the parcel were also copies of the same books in Catalan and also in Castilian.

Oh yes, another parcel arrived. Inside was a poster promoting my latest picture book “The Mouse Who Ate the Moon”.

This book is coming out very, very soon.

I’m getting ready for the Hay Festival. On the 25th at 1pm I’m doing a talk and it will be the first time I will show and publicly read “The Mouse Who Ate the Moon”. I’m looking forward to it.

I’m also thinking about how I’ll transport a big board with a picture of the Little Mouse. Yes, I can put it on the roof of my car, but it’s still raining…. The picture is for the workshop I’m doing in the same afternoon.

It seems as a busy day tomorrow, but I’m looking forward to it. Hay Festival is good fun. They also have the great Shepherds ice-cream in Hay.

 

 

 

Messing around and a missed exhibition

This week was great. I didn’t need to travel anywhere and with the sun shinning outside the window it was a real treat. I had time to do things I like to do. I took out the bike and played tennis too.

I was also working on some ideas for the cover of my book which will be out next year.

It will have a cut out in the cover. Same as the other two books about Little Mouse.

 

This could be the end paper.

Apart from working on the cover I had time to finish off some paintings and start some new ones too.

Here is one of them. It could be called “Fishing Tiger” and no, the picture is not upside down.

Elephant and banana. This picture is not very big.

One more elephant.

A goat and shadows.

One more tiger.

There is one regret I have this week. I don’t have enough time to travel to Czech Republic to see exhibition of my friend Vladimir Hanus.  The exhibitions are in Cheb and also in Pardubice in Czech Republic. 

I used to study with Vladimir at the Academy of Fine Art in Prague. Apart from him being a really good friend he is also a great painter.

His pictures are full of light, colours and …more.  Seeing his paintings will make you smile and be happy for a very long time.

The photos from the exhibition look great.

Next week is Hay Festival. I’ll be there! Please come to see me. I will read from some of my books, do drawings and talk about my work. The event is at 1pm on 25th May. Later on at 3pm I will also do a workshop. We will make a big picture.

Hay Festival is always great. Plenty to hear and see!

I’ll see you there.

Making books and drawing hedgehogs

What a week it was. I did some filming about how to draw Puffin, Little Mouse, Elephant and Suzy Goose. It was great, because we did the filming in The Tea House Theatre next to my publisher Walker Books. They make great tea and delicious cakes. I squeezed in some meetings and as I was about to go home I was reminded that I had to sign some of my new books,  well  - some, it was exactly 270. I do a little drawing in to each of them, so it took some time.Here I am still smiling. The next day I visited the lovely  ST THOMAS MORE SCHOOL in Chatham, attended a Walker Books party (it was great) and the next day I went to ASHMEAD PRIMARY SCHOOL in St John’s.

I was in Ashmead School before, so I Knew it would be nice and it was. This time we were making books. Stories in two pictures. I was working with children from  Year 5. I did similar workshops before and I know that children can come out with great ideas, but I was quite surprised with their artwork. Here are some of the pictures.

If I remember rightly this is a boy talking to a rather special animal -a meerkat/elephant.A picture of an elephant going for a bath.

We had a few cheetahs.

One of them washed his spots under the shower.

Another Elephant.

Breakfast table.

And a boy riding a whale. It was a great day full of inspiration for me and hopefully for the children too!

On Friday I was at home painting a hedgehog.

Saturday. I went to Ross on Wye Library and with children and adults we made this picture.

It was fun and some the pictures we collaged in were fabulous. Look for example at this beautiful dragonfly.

On Sunday I took part at Hoo’s Kids Book Festival. It was great and there was so much to see! I had a chance to introduce my new book. It’s coming out soon!

Now looking in to my diary and I’m panicking. I’m at home the whole week. I don’t have to travel anywhere. I can draw the whole week and look forward to Sunday when I go to see Nine Inch Nails. Yippie!

A Mouse and Elephants

 

I was offered the opportunity of decorating a shop window in the beautiful bookshop “Tales On Moon Lane”. It’s exciting. The theme will be my new book ” The Mouse Who Ate The Moon” which comes out in June. So I was busy sketching. I was also asked to make a series of drawings about “How to draw The Little Mouse”. I did that and then I got carried away and did a series of drawings of The Little Mouse drawing and painting backgrounds for herself.

It was fun. I wanted to use these drawings as well.But in the evening when I was editing the photographs I realised that the resolution of the pictures is too small.

So I had to start next day again.

Same pictures once again. At the end I had a series of 18 pictures. Oh well, I enjoyed it.

I also fitted in one school visit. I went to ROWAN PREP SCHOOL in Claygate in Surrey. It was a nice school and the school invited a few children from the neighbouring schools too. We made books together. 

Oh, I love the drawings!

I met nice teachers and also parents who came to help. Kate, the deputy head at the school used to work at Walker Books, so it was really nice to meet again.

I had a lovely day in Rowan Prep School.

Now I’m getting ready for the next week. It will be a busy one. I’m having a meeting at Walker Books and we have to make a cover for my next book. I’m also going to do some filming about how to draw some of the characters from my book. Then I’m visiting two schools  ST THOMAS MORE SCHOOL in Chatham on Wednesday and ASHMEAD PRIMARY SCHOOL in St John’s on Thursday. I was at Ashmead School once before and it is a nice school, so I’m looking forward to going there again.

And then the weekend. On Saturday you can see me in the library in Ross-on-Wye. We are going to paint a hedgehog and a big, big garden. I’m looking forward to it. All the information about it are here.

On Sunday I’m taking part at Hoo’s Kids Book Fest in Luton. That’s going to be great and there will be so much to do and see. I’m looking forward to it, so I better to get ready.

 

Making up stories in Seven Stories

This week I visited Portway Infant School in Andover. It was a lovely school and I met nice teachers. I felt very welcome and had a great day.

For the next couple of days I tried to catch up with my illustrations and work.

At the weekend I went to Seven Stories in Newcastle. If you’ve never been before you must go. It’s a great place to visit with children or without. Plenty to see and do for everybody who loves books for children.

I was supposed to do a talk for children on Saturday at 3pm, but my four and half hour journey by train took nine hours.  We were involved in a bad accident on the way and so my event had to be cancelled. It was the first time ever I’ve had to cancel an event. I felt bad letting down the children who came to see me, but there was nothing I could do. I will do my best to come to Seven Stories again soon.

So I was late, but I was welcomed by lovely Lorna from Seven Stories, who took me out for dinner and showed me a bit of Newcastle.

The next day I did a master class. The room was full of adults who were keen to make illustrations with me.

I’m used to working with children and students, but knowing that all these people are actually mostly artists themselves was a bit nerve-racking. I did some talking, showing sketches and books, demonstrating how I print and draw. The people who came were very nice and the whole day had a great atmosphere. It was so nice to see everybody being so creative.

We did some mono prints in the morning and then used the prints for collaging the pictures.

A rather tidy room changed into a proper studio in no time.  I had a feeling that everybody enjoyed themselves. Well nobody walked out, that’s for sure.

I liked how we all used similar materials, but the results were very different.

Have a look at some of the great books and pictures we created.

As I said I had a great time and it was very inspiring for me to see the variety of different approaches in dealing with a similar subject.

I would like to say THANK YOU to Seven Stories for inviting me and for organising my event so well. Thank you Lorna and thank you Sue for all your help and support during the day!

Visits and Wedding

Last week was a week of visits and also one wedding. On Sunday I travelled to Holland and visited friends in Breda. I had a great afternoon with Achille and his little sister Aube, who I met for the very first time, and their parents Christophe and Mathilde.Mathilde Stein is a writer of children’s books and an artist. Dear Daisy Dunnington is my favourite.

It was a nice day spent with such a lovely family.

From Breda I travelled to The Hague. My hotel was right by the beach. Nice. The next two days I visited the  International School Of The Hague.

The school was big and modern. The children clever and friendly an so were the teachers. I was looked after very well. I did some talks and we made pictures of course. I also met some Czech children and their parents. We did lots of drawings.

I like this one. It’s a fish on a bicycle.

I also had a great evening with Marieke and Melanie from Gottmer, one of my Dutch publishers. Gottmer published “A New House for Mouse” six years ago and we won an award in Holland. They are going to publish the sequel to that book “The Mouse Who Ate the Moon”, this year.

I enjoyed my trip to Holland.

I came home on Tuesday night and next morning was the wedding. Helen and Deirdre get married! Helen and Deirdre are great friends and Helen is godmother to my daughter.

The day was beautiful and the wedding was such a fun.

 We all got a little present to remember the day. It was a brooch  done by Melanie Tomlinson. 

 Yes, one of these. If you don’t know Melanie’s work you have to look at her website. I love her sculptures.

 

Really nice day. Lots of love to Helen and Deirdre! 

And then it was Easter and everything which belongs to it. Including two days trip to London and an egg hunt in Somerset and eating chocolate. 

I’m of to Andover this evening. One more school visit and next weekend I’ll be in Newcastle. On Saturday the 26th April I’ll be at Seven Stories doing talks and an Master Class on Sunday the 27th April.

I’m looking forward to it.

I’ve Finished!

This week I didn’t go anywhere! I spent most of the week in my studio working on my book. The book is the sequel to “A New House for Mouse” and “The Mouse Who Ate The Moon”.

I love this stage of my work. I did all the important preparation during the last few weeks, so now it was mainly printing, painting the background and collaging.

Although I’m glad I’ve finished the book I also wish it could last a bit longer. I still have to do the cover, but it can wait for the moment.

I’m off to Holland to visit an international school in The Hague and see my Dutch publisher Gottmer. I’m looking forward to my trip.

I also found time this week to paint two little pictures for my friends

and decorate two Easter eggs. That’s it. I have to pack my suitcase.

Honk Honk!

Good news! My board book Honk Honk! Baa Baa! is one of the four shortlisted books for the Craigmillar Books for Babies prize. I’m very exited about it and the main reason is, that you hear about board books so little. It’s as if board books aren’t important at all, but the opposite is true. Even very young children deserve good quality books. Board books are often the first introduction of visual art to children.

I started my illustrating career with two board books. To this day I’ve published twelve board books and another two are waiting to be published in August. 

This week I continued to travel around schools. I visited the really nice Wickford Church of England School in Wickford in Essex. I was there for two days, so at the end it felt as if I knew everybody. The children were very excited and we painted and drew a lot. We made lovely books.

The children were very young, but they were so confident and they made amazing pictures. Here are just two examples. Good school, nice teachers, great teachers.

So far over the years I’ve visited many schools and so far I was very lucky and if sometimes things didn’t go the right way I  have enough experience by now to get things right. But I always think “it goes too well and one day I won’t be so lucky and one day I will go to a school where I won’t be happy. It’s bound to happen”.  Well, the moment came this week. I thought I will write about it, but then I thought it’s also the children who could read this blog and it certainly wasn’t their fault.  So perhaps I will talk about it some other time.

I also had time to work on my new book. Working on the final pictures is the best part of my job. I’m enjoying every minute of it.

Next week I should be home, sitting behind my desk and working hard. I must finish the book, because then I’m off to Holland. Another school visit.

And the last thing I wanted to mention is the interview I did with Julie Danielson for her blog.  Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast.   There are lots and lots of my pictures and sketches to be seen!

Schools and more schools

This week I visited three more schools. At one of them I got a picture from a little girl. It’s a picture of me! First I thought she was exaggerating a bit, but I have to admit, after a month of travelling around schools I really do look like that.

I was in nice schools this week. The first one was Garswood Primary School in Wigan. It was great. Then I went to lovely Otterbourne Primary School in Hampshire. The school was very friendly and I was very well looked after by the head Alison Langrish. Alison knew every child in the school and she knew a lot about art, so the children were also nice and clever. Very good artists too. We painted and drew lots of beautiful pictures. We made a mural. Here is one of the self-portraits I was presented with.

On Friday I was in Thornden School in Eastleigh. The school was great. A really good Art department run by very nice and good teachers. This time I worked with older children. The girls and boys were 12,13 and 14 years old. I did a talk about picture books and then we did a workshop. We made little books together.I don’t work with this age group very often, so I was really impressed by the skills and the enthusiasm with which the children worked. Judging by the fact that some of them didn’t even want to go out for break, I can say they enjoyed the workshop and so did I.

Some of these books were amazing!

I can say that I was definitely inspired by some of the students’ ideas.

 

 

I was home over the weekend, trying catch up with my book. I’m now half way there (almost), but I have to leave the book on the side again. I’m off to …some schools next week.