The Wulf Trilogy

The Sea Stranger, The Fire Brother and The Earth Father were written by Kevin Crossley- Holland. http://www.kevincrossley-holland.com/  The trilogy describes the life of a Saxon boy, Wulf, and how he is converted to Christianity around 653AD when the monk Cedd comes to East Anglia and builds St Peter's Chapel in Bradwell-on-Sea. When I did the illustrations for these three books I didn't know East Anglia, but later when I married, my husband and I bought a derelict farmhouse in Suffolk which we restored, so I came to know and love that part of England very well. 

In the last book, The Earth Father, Wulf journeys to Northumbria to visit Cedd who is dying of the plague. The following illustrations show the change of landscape from the flat Essex coast to the stony moors of the North.

                                                                                   

The Wizard Punchkin

This is a slide show that my husband Brian Melling onehandonepage.blogspot.com made of one of my picture books, The Wizard Punchkin. The story of the giant or wizard who hides his soul outside his body, is found in fairy stories all over the world. I based my illustrations on the beautiful Indian miniatures I saw in the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Pilgrim's Progress retold

These two slide shows are my illustrations for Quest and Conquest retold by James Reeves. This book is a retelling for children of John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. The first set of slides are my pencil roughs, the second my finished illustrations. I based my pictures on the woodcuts in The Kelmscott Chaucer by William Morris

A Thousand Yards of Sea

A Thousand Yards of Sea was written by Adele Geras. This was one of her first books.  She went on to write over ninety more for children and young adults. Check out her web site: http://adelegeras.com/index.html  I set the illustrations of the story Tom Taffet the fisherman and the mermaid, near St Ives, Cornwall, where I spent all my childhood holidays.