Ever had a stink bug land on your arm? Well, give it chance: it may turn out to be a different species altogether. You may even like it.
Huge thanks and appreciation to all those who played, danced and barked:
Pony Poo personnel:
D. Franklyn Crane (banjo)
Mister R. Smith (hands)
Lars Truly (guitarros)
Bessie (barks)
William Venturini (dancing legs)
Lauren Peachy (dancing legs)
Anna Glypter (walls)
Richmond Park (copse)
Soho Square (succulents)
Philo Phax (notes)
The first box of There's a Bug On My Arm That Won't Let Go arrived the other day and the first book out of the box could be yours with a formless scribble by yours truly on the first page. Simply email me the name of your most reviled insect (no spiders please) and if it matches the S E C R E T A N S W E R then this particular book will be yours. First past the post wins. Competition must end by June 30th 2017.
Conditions: Relatives and friends of and the employees of Moon Tiger Mosquito Coils Pty Ltd. are not permitted to enter.
Izzy wins the prize for the best drawing of Catherine of Aragon. She didn't draw it for school, or because she was asked to. She just drew it because she wanted to. Go Izzy.
Copies of my new picture book There's a Bug On My Arm That Won't Let Go have arrived. They are full of vitamin D. For parasite-loving readers of all ages. Published Autumn 2017 (HarperCollins).
On Sunday Archie and The Bear was launched with a party at The Little Book Room in Melbourne.
I wasn't there, but I heard from the author Zanni Louise that it was a big success. I would have liked to hear her reading the book.
It was launched in a nice looking black room which goes well with the black bear. We did a limited edition print and in true Australian style it was the prize in a raffle. Thank you, Little Book Room. It's a good bookshop and it even has a cake shop next door.
One boy at the party asked how the pictures got from one side of the world to the other. The answer is in a big cardboard envelope, posted bear mail.
A good time was had by all.
Photos: Hayley Stephenson
A real page turner.
Rejected early designs for the Ark have been discovered in an ancient Filofax unearthed in a primitive cardboard box dislodged from beneath a double bed.
It has potential.
Clearing out the studio unearthed a dummy of rough drawings and inkjet prints of an early stage of The Frank Show pasted into a printer's blank. It takes me back to when I was thinking about how the book could work. The text was at a stage before a merciless edit by Helen (you know who you are) the editor. I wonder what she did with all those words she took out? I'm going to keep it because the drawings are from a notebook and I've lost the notebook. Probably when I was clearing out the studio sometime before.
Drawings of Sussex countryside after speeding train journey.
