IMPORTANT NOTICE!

I have decide to retire this blog; BUT posts about Katie will continue as normal at...

http://james-mayhew-author-illustrator.blogspot.co.uk/

Just one click away.... see you there!

The Nutcracker and the Mouse King

Tickets are selling very fast now, for this latest in my series of concerts with the de Havilland Philharmonic. I'm not surprised... the Nutcracker music is so glorious, who can resist? I had forgotten just how inventive and clever the music really is, until last week, and the first rehearsal, which reminded me of Tchaikovsky's genius!

The concert will not only feature the very famous tunes from the suite, immortalised in Fantasia, but also extended scenes from the complete ballet score, in particular the extraordinary "transformation scene" when the Christmas tree grows and the Mouse King battles with the toy soldiers.

Such a lot to paint!!! Such a lot to practise! But I think this just might be the best concert yet!

Booking details are on the poster and the right hand panel. Hope to see you there!!!

FREE STORYTELLINGS at the NATIONAL GALLERY!

Looking for ideas for HALF TERM with those pesky kids? Come to the NATIONAL GALLERY in London, for FREE storytellings and up-side down illustrations. October 27th at 11.30 and 3.30 in the Sainsbury Wing Bookshop.

Afterwards you can look at the wonderful paintings in the gallery and go home inspired!

Click here for details:
http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/whats-on/calendar/families-all-ages-27-october-2012

Living Art

Katie's adventures have almost always been about the magic of art coming alive. What if it really could happen? Well at the book launch for Katie & The Starry Night in Edinburgh last week,  art really did come alive...

Stars in my eyes on publication day!

Even after almost a quarter century, the thrill of seeing a book going out into the world doesn't change. You work so hard for so long. This is the final stage and it's a strange feeling. Especially if you are self critical, as I (and most illustrators) tend to be. What could I have done better? What if the book isn't liked? Well, it's too late now...

Katie and the Starry Night is officially published today.

This, the twelfth title, will be celebrated over the next few months with a series of events. Beginning today with a bouquet from my publisher, Orchard books. The book is jointly dedicated to Marlene Johnson, MD at Orchard Books and the steady-as-a-rock presence who has supported and kept Katie in print for over two decades: Thank you!

And the other dedicatees are Rebecca, Paco and Marco. Rebecca Watson of Valerie Hoskins Associates is my film and TV agent. What!? You ask... What film/What TV? Well I've never posted about the long drawn out epic to get Katie on film. Now is the not the place. It all sadly came to nothing, but for many many years Rebecca has steered the project through choppy waters and always give such valuable and insightful support in all areas of my working life that I felt she deserved a proper thank you as well. She and Marlene are both big Van Gogh fans.

The other big event today is that my very good friend Saviour Pirotta, a wonderful children's writer, has done me the kind honour of a special interview on his blog. So if you have time, do take a look. He's a great guy and I'm very grateful - thanks Saviour! A lovely way to give a book a good start!

Click HERE to read the interview: http://pirottablog.com/2012/08/02/reach-for-the-stars-in-conversation-with-james-mayhew/

In a few days time I am off to Edinburgh, to the Book Festival for a special event at 10.30 on August 14th. I am busy preparing... building props, creating costumes, reading up and it's going to be ... unlike anything I have ever done! So I hope, if you're in Edinburgh, you will come along and join me in this celebration on the great one-eared artist: Vincent Van Gogh!!!

Details on how to BOOK are HERE: http://www.edbookfest.co.uk/the-festival/whats-on/james-mayhew

The day before, August 13th, I'll be at the National Gallery of Art in Scotland, for storytellings:
http://www.nationalgalleries.org/whatson/events-calendar/meet-the-illustrator-james-mayhew-for-children-and-families/date/2012-07-27/interval/0/

Oh, and needless to say, KATIE & THE STARRY NIGHT is now available in all *good* bookshops, and please support your local independent bookseller if you can.

Stars in my eyes...

The countdown to August is underway!

On August 2nd Katie and the Starry Night is published, and I'll be back in Edinburgh for a series of events to celebrate the latest Katie book!

I was in Edinburgh recently as Ambassador to the National Galleries of Scotland Art in Schools Competition, for a special prizegiving, sponsored by Tesco Bank. It was a wonderful occasion seeing the joy and pride on the faces of the children whose work was exibited at the refurbished National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh.

Then we went on to the National Gallery itself for prizes - lots of lovely art materials (what could be better?). It was all put together by the brilliant Linda McClelland, and it is she who hosts two of my Edinburgh events...

Firstly, on August 13th, I'll be offering a morning masterclass in illustration to adults. This will be a fun and relaxed introduction to how a picturebook is created, and a sharing of techniques, tips and advice. VERY LIMITED PLACES so if you are interested, book soon. Details are here:
http://www.nationalgalleries.org/whatson/events-calendar/illustrating-for-children-master-class-with-james-mayhew/date/2012-07-13/interval/0/

Then there will be two FREE storytelling sessions in the National Gallery of Scotland - such a grand setting - in the afternoon of the 13th of August, at 2pm and 3pm. No need to book for these, but do arrive in good time to get the best view... as I'll be doing my upside down illustrations!
Details of the storytellings are here:
http://www.nationalgalleries.org/whatson/events-calendar/meet-the-illustrator-james-mayhew-for-children-and-families/date/2012-07-13/interval/0/

FINALLY, on August 14th, there will be an extra special event at the Edinbugh Book Festival. Rumour has it there will be a very unusual guest of honour. CLUE: he only has one ear!

A hour of arty fun and Mayhew Mayhem is promised, so I hope you can join me in this celebration of one the world's truly great artists!

BOOKING ESSENTIAL and the details are here:
http://www.edbookfest.co.uk/the-festival/whats-on/james-mayhew

I LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING LOTS OF YOU THERE!

In the land of the Arabian Nights

Rimsky-Korsakov's magical Scheherazade never fails to transport me to the land of the Arabian Nights. And telling the stories, painting illustrations and collaborating with wonderful gifted musicians from the Orient made the vision even more vivid!

Here are pictures of my recent collaboration with the Orchestra of the Music Makers from Singapore, who joined me in Cheltenham and Lichfield for their respective music festivals. Thanks to Zoe Toft, Jane Churchill and Clive Edwards for taking pictures. You can see some rehearsal shots as well as of the performances themselves. It was such an exciting weekend, especially seeing so many children enjoying a classical concert!

This orchestra of volunteer youngsters were astonishing... They performed magnificently and audiences absolutely adored them!  I just hope I have the chance to work with them again, they really are sensational!!!

Lichfield Cathedral - a magnificent setting for the second concert...

Pop Up Velazquez

One of the most popular things at the Pop Up Picture Pavilion was this cut-out Infanta, inspired by Velazquez's Infanta Margarita.

Here a little girl has put her head into place (like a saucy-seaside-cut-out!) and transformed herself into a Spanish princess.

She looks very serious. But then being a princess IS a serious matter.  She also looks uncannily like the real painting. A little moment of magic where life imitates art!

A Promenade around the Pop Up Picture Pavilion

Yesterday the Pop Up Picture Pavilion was unveiled at the Pop Up Festival of Stories 2012. And it was sensational. Designers Gabriella Malewska, Fabrizio Panella (and friend Marco) created a thing of rare beauty and wonder, where art really had come alive! Katie was very at home there!

Clara Vulliamy, Vanessa Stone and Peter Jones helped hundred of happy children in this wonderful celebration of art and creativity. My thanks to all these people and those who came of course, and stayed for stories and surprises from Clara (drawing with her lipstick because her pink crayon had gone missing!), magical paper cuts from Vanessa and my own upside down stories and pictures! Oh and thanks to Rebecca from Orchard Books for support,  snacks and more photos than you can shake a stick at... (which will be posted in due course... )

Above all, thanks to director, Dylan Calder and his team for pulling off such a great and unique festival for children. It felt like history in the making and just great to be part of it!

Here's a little YOUTUBE tour of the Pavilion:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptdqJXUmGzE&feature=youtu.be

And some pictures of an unforgettable day... enjoy!

Pop Art!

Look at this amazing gallery! Wouldn't Katie love it?



These are photos of the model created by Fabrizio Panella (pictured) and Gabriella Malewska for the Pop Up Picture Pavilion - my curated space at the Pop uP Festival of Stories 2012.

The Pavilion will be open from 12 - 6pm on Sunday July 1st, and quite apart from being a magical space in it's own right, lots of artists will be joining me to help children fill it with their own art. Superstars Vanessa Stone, Clara Vulliamy, Peter Jones and I will all be using famous paintings as a starting point to create magical new masterpieces, which will be exhibited in the gallery for all to see.


There will many other amazing things over the whole weekend: Vampire, comics and carnivals on Saturday; the Pop Up Picture Pavilion and a Roald Dahl Disco on Sunday - and much much more!

For full details click HERE: http://pop-up.org.uk/pop-up-picture-pavilion/ 

REMEMBER IT'S ALL FREE!

Roll up, roll up and… POP UP! Here it comes! The best book festival known to man (or beast)!

IN JUST TWO WEEKS I will be working with Clara Vulliamy and another artist, Vanessa Stone, in a unique and spectacular space: Let me introduce to you to…. (drum  roll)…

THE POP-UP PICTURE PAVILION

A magical gallery where art comes alive! Created by set design students (Fabrizio and Gabriella), from my concept, the gallery will  have crazy recreations of masterpieces  and these will be added too throughout the day as gradually the gallery is filled with more and more art created by … CHILDREN!

Here  you can see one "masterpiece" inspired by Turner, created at the Guardian Open Day a few months ago, which will be part of the exhibition. 

Also, here are some of the early sketches and designs for the pavilion. And you can see Clara, Vanessa and Gabriella enjoying tea and cake at Eat Shop Do, just round the corner from the Festival site. Which is:

Granary Square, Kings Cross (beside the new Central St Martin’s School of Art).

One of the festival highlights of last year was creating a giant pop up book for the very first (award winning) pop up festival. Now I’m back, joining an amazing line up: 

Sarah McIntyre, Marcus Sedgwick, Clara Vulliamy, Vanessa Stone, Candy Gourlay, Nii Parkes, Laura Dockrill, storytellers and bookshops and music and… oh so many things! Come and see for yourself, it’s all FREE !!!

BUT: Important note: the two days feature DIFFERENT line –ups. So check carefully. Or just come BOTH days! I’ll be there on Sunday July 1^st from 1pm. So come along and help me create the biggest and best children’s gallery of magic art EVER! (and stay a while for some stories too).

For full details, visit the Pop Up Website: http://pop-up.org.uk/pop-up-picture-pavilion/http://pop-up.org.uk/pop-up-picture-pavilion/

SEE YOU THERE!

Don't Rain on My Parade!

Well it did rain in the end. It poured down and what should have been a jubilant day was, let's be honest, a typical English wash out...

The trains were overcrowded, stations were closed to try to cope and it was a bedraggled assortment of loyal subjects who joined in with the jubilee.

As for Katie in London at Battersea Park, I was amazed and delighted than anyone showed up, not because of the weather but because, for some reason, my session had been timetabled to clash exactly with the Flotilla's arrival at Battersea. I didn't think I could quite compete with Her Majesty!!!

But as the crowd to see her was apparently 20 deep, a few families decided that a digital screen wasn't good enough, and they abandoned the riverside crowds for the relative sanity of the tee pee tent I was in. At least I was real!


I told stories linked to London and the English Flag: The Peddler of Swaffham and St George & The Dragon (for the England flag is the flag of St George). And I ended by reading the Jubilee edition of Katie in London. But by then everyone was cold and fed up and was heading for home.

I did the same myself... but as this coincided with heavy rain, everyone had the same idea - and all the tube stations I tried were closed to due to dangerous levels of overcrowding. Buses were few and far between as most roads were closed, and so I ended up walking with my family from the Thames all the way to Kings Cross. We were all wet through and felt like drowned rats. Honestly! The things I do!!!

The nearest I got to seeing any royalty was Fritha from Orchard books... looking very regal in this picture!

Still, the festival itself was fun, with a lovely vintage funfair and tables and sculptures made out of old books. A lot of thought had gone into it all, and it was a lovely browse. It felt good to be marking the day in some way at least even if the chance of seeing a single boat (never mind the Queen's) was next to zilch. So despite vintage car boot sales, and alternative village fetes and record breaking giant cakes and other frolics, there's no other way to sum it up than this:  it was a wash out!