Thezera Rowe postcards!

Me and Amberin met up with our friend Thereza Rowe, (we all did the masters together) last week at Royal Festival Hall for a lovely catch up and she gave us these lovely postcards, as modelled by Samson :D

In the garden...

In bloom we have tulips, persian buttercups, muscari and a dogs tooth violet (which is aces, as I totally forgot to water the pot of bulbs last year and made sure I did so this spring!)

Cheers dog ears!

You're a good egg

Lawrence the Red Bear for @Daily__Doodle!

Frightening kids films and tv!

So off the back of 'what makes a childrens classic' post which ended on the that scary Alice film, it made me think of all the things that put the willies up me off the tele!
So here goes!

The Return to Oz. Pretty much the entire film. Especially the Wheelers *shudders*

Svankmajer's Alice. Again, pretty much of all of it is horrendous!

The Dark Crystal, Skeksis!

But I think Charn from Through the Dragons Eye was far more creepy 

The Snow Queen from The Chronicles of Narnia 90s tv series. She was scary.

Hedgehog in the Fog always unsettled me slightly! 

Talos from Jason and the Argonauts is pretty creepy too! (But love it! You can hear the noise of him turning his head looking at the pic!)

Coloured up off to the shops!

Back to the allotment!

Checked up on the allotment after a break for winter. Much weeding to be done! But apart from the potatoes, the onions survived all that rain, the broad beans are romping away, the daffs are out and my quince has buds on!! Hooray! Even took home some corn lettuce or whatever it's called I planted in November, still going!

What Makes a Children’s Classic?-Childrens Book Circle Event

I've just got home from an interesting talk held by the Children's Book Circle  where Lucy Mangan, Melissa Cox and Kate Saunders talked about what makes a childrens classic, essentially classic!

Bear with me, I'm not a great writer, so I hope I can put my point across ok!

 Someone posed a question that really resonated with me which is, how much does a medium such as tv help as a way into classic kids books.
 I grew up in the 90's where Sunday tea time was Five Children and It, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Borrowers and so on, so you were introduced to classic books that way and even Jackanory.
 I do feel sad that kids tv in a way hasn't got a part in mainstream tv anymore, like above on sunday evenings or saturday mornings, it's just been sort of brushed aside and not deemed essential enough for what's classed as mainstream? Yes they read books on Cbeebies, but wouldn't that be much nicer on mainstream than Loose Women or Jeremy Kyle!? :)

 You all must remember how great Worst Witch was, and when they finally animated Beatrix Potter and the creepy stop framed Alice in Wonderland!?

There is a huge sense of nostalgia with what makes a classic, parents handing down what they read as children, but the tv shows were another way of accessing them. My parents didn't read C.S.Lewis's, but after the tv programme I went and sought them out at the library and later on you only start to realise how they are actually classics, as children you probably couldn't care less I suppose!
 So households where reading doesn't come so naturally, films and tv are surely a great help in accessing potential reluctant readers? Hunger Games, How to Train Your Dragon spring to mind...

I guess what I'm trying to say is, wouldn't it be brilliant if the tv powers that be brought back children's classics adapted for tv to have on a Sunday afternoon again!

Remember how terrifying the Snow Queen was and LIFE like Aslan was!?

Five Children and It

The Borrowers

Rik Mayall on Jackanory! 

The Worst Witch

(Although this Alice in Wonderland might not have been a Sunday tea thing! This is Švankmajer's Alice, I always remembered it as it scared the beejeezers out of me, much like The Return to Oz and Hedgehog in the Fog-Yuri Norstein....but then that's a whole other topic!)

You know nothing Jon Snow!

Catching up on Game of Thrones a million years after everyone else,  and I am heavily invested in Jon Snow, the little lamb! I like how he always looks slightly confused :D

Off shopping rough...

Bear and Duck do their chores rough!

World Book Day!!

So to celebrate World Book Day here I am as Elinor from 'The Flying Bedroom' I've illustrated for Firefly Press and one of the pirates from one of the stories within!

And I had to do Katniss Everdeen, as I love the Hunger Games :) 

Bella Nonna being unpleasant!

Now to colour it up next!

Moomin wedding invitation!

Possibly the best wedding invite I've ever received! My sculptor cousin who lives in Norway is getting married up in the top of the country! Really hope I can make it funds allowing, it'll be beautiful I've always wanted to go and the sun won't really set I should think that far up!

Pancake Day! Mrs Pepperpot doodle

Happy Pancake Day! One of my most fave days in the year! Here's Mrs Pepperpot bringing Mr Pepperpot his stack of pancakes :)