Petr Horáček's Blog, page 17

Toucan on Trafalgar Square

This week I visited only one school. Sambourne Primary School in Warminster. It is a lovely, small school. My wife’s cousin Sarah is deputy head teacher there, so it felt like a family duty. Children were great and teachers were nice as well. Thank you Sambourne for making me welcome and thank you Sarah for looking after me so well.

As always I get lots of pictures from children. One boy was rather exited about me drawing a fly, so he practised a lot. He did lots of flies and I was presented with one sheet of them. I think they look great. Here are more pictures. And one of my favourite. Though this one was from one of the schools I visited a week earlier.

The rest of the week I spent catching up with my other work. I finished a commissioned picture I mentioned last week.

It’s called “Suzy Goose and the Jumping Cow”.I found it exciting and also a bit strange painting on canvas something I normally do on paper by using collage. It’s like making a copy or falsification of your own work.  This is 914 x 610mm, acrylic on canvas.

I also finally finished the first picture for my new book!

I found time to do a little picture for my friend’s birthday. It’s called “Toucan on  Trafalgar square”.

The last thing I want to mention is an exhibition by my friend Vladimir Hanus.I love Vladimir’s work. If you are in the Czech Republic go to see it. If you can’t make it, at least look at his website – www.tan.cz It’s worth it.

Ever changing Mole

This week’s gone quickly. It’s March, so I keep traveling, visiting schools, showing pictures and talking about books. This week more than ever I’ve spoken to children in nurseries. I like this age. They can be a really good audience. The secret of handling the event with very small children is to have a small class, make your self also small (not so easy in my case) by sitting on a small chair and start with some colourful pop up book. I use Animal Opposites. I also do drawings in my talks. It does the trick.

On Thursday I was in Frome. Hunting Raven Books organised their annual ABCDay. I had a nice day and managed to meet  fellow writers and illustrators. Here is a picture -from left Christopher William Hill,  Anna Shuttlewood ,Karin from Hunting Raven Books who organised the event, Fleur Hitchcock  and  me.   

Covers of Christopher’s, Anna’s and Fleur’s books in order.

Mark Robertson  was also there, but had to go before the photo was taken.

It’s always nice to talk to other people who make books, but on occasions like this there is never enough time as you can imagine. We all are busy doing our part in the event. But I could see children walking out of each session with smiles on their faces and I could hear them shouting and laughing with excitement. I actually did managed to see a big part of Mark’s talk and it was brilliant.

It’s sunny outside and it’s so hard to switch from school visits to working on a book, but I did work a bit more on my “Mouse book”. Can you spot the differences?It’s the mole who is changing  shape.

I was also commissioned to do a picture, so I started working on it as well. Here is the work in progress.

On Wednesday I’ll be at Sambourne Primary School in Warminster. My wife’s cousin Sarah is teaching there, so I’m looking forward to it!

Fellow Artists and World Book Day

And so we had World Book day. Speaking of Books is keeping me busy. Last week I visited five schools. From Weston Super Mare to Radlett. I’ve seen and spoken to hundreds of children and lots of teachers. It was a nice but busy week.It’s always good to see children being so excited about books and pictures. We made concertina books together and drew lots and lots of animals.

In every school I got some Thank You cards and drawings to take home with me.  I have a big pile of them and I wish I could show them all, but it’s impossible. Here is one of my presents.

I like it when children tell me that they also want to write books or illustrate when they are grownups. I like moments, when a  teacher realises that the naughtiest boy in the class or a girl who can’t spell, are actually very good at art, or they can come out with a great story.

I could write for a long time about my visits to schools, but I’ll mention just one day. On Thursday I was in Arnhem Wharf Primary School in the Isle of Dogs. It was a nice modern school. Children were excited and keen to do some art. They were good at it. They had a good art teacher and in fact the school was full of nice friendly staff, who knew their children very well. I was with primary as well as with nursery children. I didn’t stop all day, but I enjoyed every minute of it. So if you Katherine are reading this blog, thank you very much for organising my visit and for making me so welcome.

One of the teachers, Alice, introduced me to a little boy, who wants to be an illustrator. His name is Guled and he is only 4 and half years old. He gave me a present. His own book of animals.

 I was really impressed with the boy’s work. The drawings are amazing.

I love the toucan

and the elephant. Here is a seal. My favourite picture is this ostrich running into the picture. Great sense of movement and composition.

Guled’s favourite animal is the giraffe, so here are two giraffes from my sketchbook.

This one is a giraffe falling.

On Monday I’m in three schools in London in Hackney. I’m taking part in Pop Up Hackney project. I will also do a talk at the Booktrust conference in Birmingham on Wednesday and on Thursday I’ll be in Frome for ABC Day 2014.  I’m looking forward to it!

 

I’m doing it again

Last time I said that I’ll be probably writing about mice this week. I was wrong. It’s not the mouse that is the problem. It’s the mole and also the size of the rabbit.

I had a meeting with my editors on Tuesday. I packed my drawings and went to London. I was quite happy with the work and I thought I’m presenting the final sketches for my book. I was wrong! It took Denise and Louise (my editors) just a few minutes to explain to me, that the sketches are anything but final.

The mole wasn’t quite right and the continuity in the book wasn’t brilliant either. Of course I tried to argue a bit, but there wasn’t much point. They were right …. they always are.

I made some changes and I’m going to make more.

I’m sure the pictures will make sense to you when they are in the book. I’m drawing it again.

It’s World Book Day on Thursday and it’s the busiest month of the year for anybody who writes, illustrates, or is in any other way involved with books. I’m going to visit five schools this week, three schools, one book festival and one book conference next week…I don’t look any further ahead. It’s for sure, that I won’t be working on my book much during the next few days. Maybe just as well. It will give me some time to have a rest and be able later to look at my work with fresh eyes.

But not everything was bad. After the meeting I went to Tate Britain just to have a look at nice paintings. In the Tate’s book shop I found my latest book Animal Opposites. It always cheers me up to see my books in galleries. I studied fine art and it’s becoming certain to me, that my paintings won’t make it to the Tate, so having my books there is not bad.

 

 

And what’s more, the book had a sticker Best Seller. Good.

Talking about books with animals…. One very exiting bit of news I want to share. I also had a meeting with Nicola Davies.  Nicola has written many amazing books. She is also fun to talk to and she has endless stories and facts to tell about animals and …WE ARE GOING TO MAKE A BOOK ABOUT ANIMALS TOGETHER!

I’m very exited about it. It’s a bit early to talk about the book,but one thing is for sure. It will have lots and lots of interesting animals in it.

Do you know what is Nicola’s favourite animal? Pangolin.

Here are some drawings of a pangolin from my sketchbook. “It looks like a walking pine cone”, Nicola said. She is right.

 

Mouse, lots of mice.

This week I was mostly drawing mice – again. I also went to the Southbank Centre – again. I was in there last Sunday and I went again this Friday. I didn’t mind at all. In fact I wish I could have stayed longer. The place was packed with children and parents, writers and illustrators. I talked to children about a cat who drinks hot chocolate, showed some books and did some drawings. It was great fun, but I could stay only an hour, because then I had to be in a small bookshop in Herne Hill called Tales on Moon Lane.

Tales on Moon Lane is a lovely award winning independent children’s book shop, which is doing a lot for children and everybody who loves books. They had their own Half Term Festival. On Friday afternoon I came early and sat on the sofa, sipping coffee. Soon the book shop started to be busy and before I knew it I was surrounded by children. You can imagine what kind of children – children who like books, stories and who like to make things and draw.

I don’t remember when I saw any bookshop being so busy. Can you see me in the picture? During these few events some parents came to me and mentioned my book “A New House for Mouse”. They told me, that it’s their child’s favourite and that the book is well used in their homes. It made me extra happy, because the second book with the same character, the little mouse, is going to be published this summer.The new book is going to be called “The Mouse Who ate the Moon”. And if it’s not enough this week I was busy working on the third book with the little mouse.

In preparation to promote ”The Mouse Who Ate the Moon” I was working on a poster and some activity sheets.

Here is the picture for the poster. I’m thinking of giving it away in a competition, but I don’t know yet what the competition should be about. Oh well, I still have some time to think about it.Here is one of the activity sheets. Can you find the way to the banana?And another one. How many bananas can you see?And how many stars can you see? Next time, I will write probably about mice again.

Drawings from the Museum

This week I was working on my new book. I was mostly drawing mice, rabbits and moles.

To keep continuity in the book I draw all the main characters first and then cut them out. I use collage in my books, so I can do that.

I draw each character from each illustration at least three times. Like this I can relax and don’t have to be too tight with the pencil.

This book is going to be the third with the same characters, so I should know the characters well, but it’s true only to a certain point. I always try to add a bit, do the illustrations a bit differently. What would be the point just to repeat myself?O.k. I know the mouse well by now, so I can play with the character a little bit. The rabbit is more difficult. There is lots of painting involved, but the one who is really difficult to paint is the mole. The mole needs to be dark, almost black, but you still have to see his face. The more I tried to get him right the more tight he is. I’ve spent lots of time painting the mole.

I also went to London. On Sunday I was taking part in Imagine Children’s Festival on the South Bank. I did some drawing, a bit of talking and a workshop. The children and parents who came were really nice and creative, so I think I can say that we all had a great time.

In London I had two afternoons just for my self. I went to Tate Modern to see the exhibition of Paul Klee (again). I love some of his pictures. Especially this one with fish. This one is my favourite. I remembered that I painted a picture with fish myself some long time ago. Here it is.This fish I painted resembs another fish by Paul Klee.I also went to the Natural History Museum. I forgot that it is half term so it was packed with people. The Natural History Museum is great! All the bones and skeletons, animals, stones, exhibitions …. I didn’t know where to go first.I also went there to see the exhibition “The wild photographer of the year”. It was awesome. I thought I will show here my favourite photo, but I don’t know which one to choose, so here is the winning picture of the year 2014. I love it!In the Natural History Museum they are very kind to me and they keep a good selection of my books. Animal Opposites is one of then nicely exhibited in the middle of the room.

I’ll be at the Southbank again on Friday at 12.30 pm and after that I’ll be rushing to Tales on Moon Lane in  Herne Hill. I’ll be doing a workshop, some talking, reading and drawing!

And one more picture from the museum.

Tiger and Schools

My week started in London by visiting my publisher Walker Books. I have now permission to start working on the final pictures! Working on the final illustrations is my favourite stage of making books.

From London I traveled to Kent. I visited St. Mary’s Primary School in  Gillingham. School visits are something I’m used to, but I’m always curious about what kind of school is going to be the next one.  I’m lucky to work with children in primary schools. Children like to play, make things and draw. Just the kind of things I like to do. Soon as I start showing pictures and drawing on the board I have their attention and it’s now up to me how well it will go.

But not every school is the same. In most of the schools the teachers are friendly and joyful and so are then the children. But I’ve also been in schools where the teachers would be strict with the children and in the staff room they would hardly talk to me. In the staff room I would sit in the corner and the teachers would pretend they don’t see me. I always think – is it kind of strange shyness, or just rudeness?  Children in such schools would often be rather nervous and it would take some time to make them relax and enjoy themselves.

I’m pleased to say that St. Mary’s School in Gillingham was one of the happy schools. I was well looked after by nice teacher Jacinta Read. I felt welcome and I think I can say, that we all had a great time. Here I am drawing a fly. I also got lots of lovely drawings from children. This elephant is from Holly. And this card is from Laisa. During the rest of the week I was cutting and stretching  papers for the book. I was also drawing rabbits and I was painting too.

I was asked to contribute  a picture for a very good charity call WILLOW.  Willow is a UK charity supporting seriously ill 16 to 40 year olds. The exact project I was asked to take part in is called “Stars on Canvas”. Stars on Canvas, is a bi-annual charity auction of original artworks created by well known names from the worlds of art, illustration, sport, music and popular culture. The online eBay auction is accompanied by a public exhibition with all proceeds to Willow.

I was sent a canvas size 20 x 20 cm. It didn’t take me long to think what I wanted to paint. I was recently drawing this tiger in my sketchbook.  Than I painted it on a small canvas because I liked the drawing. It happened that my friend Anthony had a birthday the same week that I finished the picture, so the tiger found a good home. And then the empty canvas from Willow arrived. I still had this tiger in my head, so I painted one more. This picture is called “Dream” and I hope it will find a good home. 

Back to work

It’s been a week since I came back from beautiful, wintery Prague. I was doing a talk in Mestska Knihovna (City Library of Prague). It was a good change for me to do the talk in my first language. Children who came were great and we all had good fun.

I was born in Prague, so it was a great chance to meet up with my friends. I like to meet my friends in one of my favourite cafes in Prague “Montmartre”.As you can see, it is one of the places which hasn’t been yet discovered by tourists. Writers and artists used to meet up here in the last centre and I think some of them still do.

Some of the friends I met there were Dominika and Ludek Radl and their clever and well behaved children Eliot and Manon.Here are Manon and Eliot drawing. I was lucky enough to be presented by some of their pictures.Manon gave me a beautiful castle and Eliot gave me a picture with colourful birds and other creatures.

I went to see a great exhibition by Petr Nikl and a small exhibition of my favourite Czech artist Josef Lada. I love Josef Lada’s paintings. Especially his winter landscapes.  You can almost smell the snow.

I’m back now and I’m trying to get in to work. I’m sketching a new book and I’m looking forward to the moment when I’ll be able to start working on the final pictures.

Yes, there will be a mouse, mole and rabbit and one or two cherries.

I also have a little exhibition in King’s School in Worcester and I did a talk and workshop there last Saturday. 

I was working with children together with adults. It was a nice morning and I was so impressed with their final work.

The grandmother of Joseph did this masterpiece which she called “Where is the Elephant?”

My few days in the Czech Republic were nice, but it was -10C, so it’s good to be back in rainy England.  I’m off to Kent on Tuesday visiting St Mary’s Primary School in  Gillingham. I’m looking forward to it! Saying that I now remember that last time I went to Kent it was also raining and due to flooding it took me eight hours to get there.

Yellow cover

I was working on the cover for my next board book “A Rainbow for  Tiny Mouse”.

I was thinking : “what colour should the board book be”?

Then I thought yellow!

I did a sketch and showed it to my publisher. My editor asked me “why did you  choose yellow”?

“Well, I don’t have any yellow covers and I think it would be nice”. My editor looked at me as if  I’d gone mad and pointed to the shelf of my books. My last two board books have yellow covers!

 

My very first board book was also yellow!

And Puffin Peter is also yellow!

Oh well, I must have been tired. It was just before Christmas mind you. This week Laurelie from Walker Books sent me an idea for the cover.

 I liked her idea very much. There is nothing much to change, so I did the picture straight away.

The final cover may look like this.

Next week I’m off to Prague. On Thursday at 2 pm I’ll be doing a talk in “Mestska Knihovna”.  It’s a beautiful library in the centre of Prague.

I’m looking forward to it.

 

 

 

Drawing with children

Last week I visited three primary schools. I started at Accrington on Tuesday. Green Haworth Primary school was a lovely little school on a hill with a beautiful view. The children were funny and the teachers were friendly. The school had just opened a little library and we painted a picture which is now hanging just across the hall.

The children worked very hard on it. It looks great!

 

Here are some details.   I like all the pictures, but this fish and this flying cheetah with a  parrot are probably one of my favourites.

The next school was in Kent and going there was quite a challenge. I live in Worcester and I went by train through Oxford. It was all flooded! We went to Oxford twice there and back. It took me eight hours to get to Rainham.

From Rainham I went to Hemel Hempstead. In Fairview Community Primary School I talked to years 1 & 2 and we did a picture based on “Butterfly, Butterfly”.

I started with a picture of Lucy, painted the background for the picture….and the children finished it off.

We had a great time and I received lots of cards and pictures which I took home with me. Here are some of them.

 This is Lucy.

 This is me with an apron with Suzy Goose on it (I do have an apron like this).

I got this letter

 and these amazing pictures.

I love this card from the little girl who signed it Savanah.

It was a busy but fun week. I met hundreds of children of which a huge number of them want to be illustrators and writers. Some of them told me that “they REALLY love me” and the best question from a little boy I got during my talk was: “Would you like to come with me and play outside?”