[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":11},["ShallowReactive",2],{"blog-post-picture-books-week-at-moniack-mhor":3},{"_type":4,"body":5,"bodyHtml":6,"excerpt":5,"featuredImage":5,"publishedAt":7,"slug":8,"tags":9,"title":10},"blogPost",null,"I often run into writer-illustrator-performer \u003Ca href=\"https://www.jamesmayhew.co.uk/\">James Mayhew\u003C/a> at book festivals, along with his partner \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MrTotoMartinez\">Antonio Reche Martinez\u003C/a>, and we've always talked about meeting up for dinner or something, but until now it had never happened. So when the invitation came to spend A WHOLE WEEK with James, teaching a \u003Cb>Picture Books\u003C/b> course, I absolutely jumped at it! (And so did Toto, who booked himself onto the course!) \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/810456_original-c40b4863c2.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nHere we are on our first day in the Inverness countryside, exploring the grounds of the \u003Ca href=\"https://www.moniackmhor.org.uk/\">Moniack Mhor creative writing centre\u003C/a> and finding this adorable Hobbit House.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/810718_original-d356013851.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nWe also had a visiting guest speaker on Wednesday, writer-illustrator-lecturer \u003Ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/pamsmyillustrator/?hl=en\">Pam Smy\u003C/a>, who came all the way up from Cambridge:\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/819601_original-53e530f830.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nPam let us see some of the amazing sketchbooks she drew in during the four years she spent working on her lavishly illustrated \u003Ci>\u003Ca href=\"http://www.davidficklingbooks.com/shop/ItemDetails.php?pubID=185\">Thornhill\u003C/a>\u003C/i> novel:\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/818998_original-de78578034.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nJames let us peek into his sketchbooks, too! Here's a bit of his experimental collage work: \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/819339_original-38a801c83c.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nTo start us all off, we made books. Unsurprisingly, the best practice for making books isn't only drawing pictures and writing stories, it's... making books! I always say that the difference between a wannabe author and an author is that the wannabe starts making a lot of books, but the author \u003Ci>finishes\u003C/i> them. So we made sure we finished books right from the first day, even if they were short and scrappy and only took us fifteen minutes to make! Here's mine, and another by landscape architect \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/felicitysteers1\">Felicity Steers\u003C/a> (that she gave me permission to post). \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/811244_original-d4873c4bd7.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003C!--more Click here for lots more under the cut!-->\\r\nDuring an early session, James led us in painting to music, and he demonstrated by painting to Rimsky-Korsakov's \u003Ci>\u003Ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scheherazade_(Rimsky-Korsakov)\">Scheherazade\u003C/a>\u003C/i>.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/815988_original-2ecb6ceca9.jpg\" alt=\"sarah_james_sunset.jpg\" title=\"sarah_james_sunset.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nHere you can see some of the students' pieces laid out on our work table: \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/816368_original-0e400b23e9.jpg\" alt=\"sarah_james_sunset.jpg\" title=\"sarah_james_sunset.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nAnd here's one I did. I meant to use colour but I sort of forgot as I got into the piece. Time flew so quickly as we were painting that we begged James to play it again!\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/815668_original-9b312c60db.jpg\" alt=\"sarah_james_sunset.jpg\" title=\"sarah_james_sunset.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nAnother of James's sessions involved fairytale collage. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/819738_original-bb8fd4abb2.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nUsually when I do events, it's all I can do to get pencils and paper to the children, so it was exciting being able to have a space where we could muck in with messy paints, cut paper, oil pastels and glue. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/811691_original-ccc79f58ce.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nAnd here's some of our final colourful collage work, laid out! I usually try to be a stickler for crediting images - \u003Ca href=\"http://www.picturesmeanbusiness.com/\">#PicturesMeanBusiness\u003C/a>! - but these pieces were all experimental, and I didn't want people on a course to worry that pictures they made would haunt them forever on the Internet, and not feel they could play around. But if you were on the course and you'd like me to add your name to one of these images, please let me know and I'll add your credit! \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/811783_original-44fd6e1fc0.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nHere's a photo James took of me talking about the makings of \u003Ci>\u003Ca href=\"http://www.jabberworks.co.uk/grumpycorn/\">Grumpycorn\u003C/a>\u003C/i>, which seemed appropriate because it's a very visual book all about a Unicorn trying to write a fabulous story and procrastinating. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/821187_original-74b6380a70.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nWe tried to walk people through the stages of making a picture book; here's \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/annabruder\">Anna Bruder\u003C/a> showing us her thumbnail roughs. Thumbnail roughs are very simple maps of a book's layout. (If you'd like to see the 32-page thumbnail template, I have it here on my \u003Ca href=\"http://www.jabberworks.co.uk/faqs/\">website FAQ page\u003C/a>, scroll way down.) \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/813689_original-503a50a631.jpg\" alt=\"sarah_james_sunset.jpg\" title=\"sarah_james_sunset.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nAnd here's \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/Rosology1\">Ross McInnes\u003C/a> showing us a book he'd written the day before and thumbnailed overnight. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/813313_original-c09b0b867e.jpg\" alt=\"sarah_james_sunset.jpg\" title=\"sarah_james_sunset.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nIt was exciting to see during afternoon tutorials how many people got stuck in and finished small projects right there on the course! Here's one of two 8-page books that \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/felicitysteers1\">Felicity Steers\u003C/a> created in one day, and they really made me laugh! \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/812528_original-a03585c702.jpg\" alt=\"sarah_james_sunset.jpg\" title=\"sarah_james_sunset.jpg\">\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/812570_original-3380b1bc8e.jpg\" alt=\"sarah_james_sunset.jpg\" title=\"sarah_james_sunset.jpg\">\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/813037_original-9065f54ccd.jpg\" alt=\"sarah_james_sunset.jpg\" title=\"sarah_james_sunset.jpg\">\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/813297_original-e956e65bbf.jpg\" alt=\"sarah_james_sunset.jpg\" title=\"sarah_james_sunset.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nA couple people who came along already had some experience of self-publishing and selling artwork. Here's \u003Ca href=\"https://www.mandyerush.me/\">Mandy Rush\u003C/a>, who has already put together at least five books; I really admire her enthusiastic can-do, DIY spirit. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/815524_original-36f462042e.jpg\" alt=\"sarah_james_sunset.jpg\" title=\"sarah_james_sunset.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003Ca href=\"http://www.helenkellock.com/\">Helen Kellock\u003C/a> won The Moniack Mhor Writing for Children Award to come on the course, and her debut picture book, \u003Ci>\u003Ca href=\"http://www.helenkellock.com/#/new-gallery/\">The Star in the Forest\u003C/a>\u003C/i> comes out this week with Thames & Hudson! I got to peek at two more of her books she has in the works, and I'm excited to see where her career's going to go. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/815205_original-711dd9b6be.jpg\" alt=\"sarah_james_sunset.jpg\" title=\"sarah_james_sunset.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003Ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/small_stories_scotland/\">Gabrielle Reith\u003C/a> showed me some remarkable drawings in her sketchbooks and I absolutely can't wait to see what kind of book she'll turn them into. She's already made a lot of beautiful pins and things that you can buy in her \u003Ca href=\"https://gra-small-stories.co.uk/\">online shop\u003C/a>. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/813996_original-0a6eeff04b.jpg\" alt=\"sarah_james_sunset.jpg\" title=\"sarah_james_sunset.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003Ca href=\"http://www.fionathomson.com/\">Fiona Thomson\u003C/a> had already taken part in my \u003Ca href=\"https://www.curtisbrowncreative.co.uk/sarah-mcintyre-likes-dont-pay-the-rent/\">Curtis Brown Creatives online Picture Book course\u003C/a> (and said she enjoyed it, which was a relief to hear!). She's incredibly good at drawing Pointy dogs and I'll be curious to see how she takes forward a related book project.  \\r\n \\r\n\u003Ca href=\"http://www.fionathomson.com/\">\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/820824_original-63d5c8d8b5.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\u003Ci>Images from FionaThomson.com\u003C/i>\u003C/a>\\r\n\\r\nWhile she was on the course, \u003Ca href=\"https://witchmountain.co.uk/\">Kim Tillyer\u003C/a> made this lovely Moniack Mhor souvenir book of her experience. You can buy some beautiful things she's made in her \u003Ca href=\"https://witchmountain.co.uk/\">online shop\u003C/a>. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/818926_original-8d0992b02a.jpg\" alt=\"sarah_james_sunset.jpg\" title=\"sarah_james_sunset.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nOo, look! Little cameos by Kim of \u003Ca href=\"http://www.jabberworks.co.uk/kevins-great-escape/\">Kevin the Roly-Poly Flying Pony\u003C/a> and \u003Ca href=\"https://www.gaspardthefox.com/\">Gaspard the Fox\u003C/a>! \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/821250_original-27757577b8.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nIt was fun discovering people's talents, some more hidden because they weren't directly linked to picture books. Here's musician and artist Sarah McFadyen playing on a fiddle she made herself, during a rather lavish Burns-themed final dinner that included a piper and an Ode to the Haggis, performed by Rikki Craig. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/820623_original-80fa14e609.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003Ca href=\"https://www.sarahmcfadyen.com/\">Sarah McFadyen\u003C/a>'s in a group called \u003Ca href=\"http://www.poozies.co.uk/\">The Poozies\u003C/a> and had to slip away one evening for a gig. We've all been having fun watching their latest music video, \u003Ci>Soaking in The Bathtub\u003C/i>: \\r\n\\r\n\u003Clj-embed id=\"4509\"/>\\r\n\\r\nAnd that \u003Cb>Rikki Craig\u003C/b>, who was attacking the Haggis, he's taught art for years and he gave me some cards with the most gorgeous paintings on them. The guy really knows how to use paint! His daughter, \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/TickTock2gether\">Abbey Craig\u003C/a> (also in the Haggis photo), is brewing up a joint project with him and I really do hope they make a big success of it. She's getting Rikki onto social media this week, so I'll add his link as soon as he's on, so you can find out more about his paintings, and possibly their project:  \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/820326_original-711e1ede1f.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nEveryone on the course had an interesting personal story, and something they were working on that showed promise. And just as importantly, they created a wonderful, supportive atmosphere during the retreat; everyone was amazingly thoughtful and kind, and we often had such a good laugh. (And if we weren't already laughing, Toto would find a new way to make us laugh!) \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/820015_original-7b81107e37.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\nThe Moniack Mhor staff were brilliant, coming up with lots of thoughtful details for us. And the food... the food! I had no idea how good it would be. Here's one of the amazing lunch-time spreads. Staff cooked dinner the first night, and then the course participants were split into groups, and each group one night cooked us a dinner from prepared ingredients and recipes. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/817289_original-3d0f751138.jpg\" alt=\"sarah_james_sunset.jpg\" title=\"sarah_james_sunset.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nJames and I had a separate little kitchen space in the detached cottage where we were staying, but we always wandered over to the main kitchen to rustle up some breakfast because it was so cosy and fun hanging out with everyone in there. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/817692_original-baf4d50fc4.jpg\" alt=\"sarah_james_sunset.jpg\" title=\"sarah_james_sunset.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nLots of good chats 'round the table. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/817935_original-5fe3b2453d.jpg\" alt=\"felicity_book1.jpg\" title=\"felicity_book1.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nEvery evening we went over to the Hobbit House; here's one evening where we shared picture books we loved, both books that were important to us in our own childhood and newer books we love now. I'd seen many of them, but some were new to me. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/816650_original-f61a9c69ba.jpg\" alt=\"sarah_james_sunset.jpg\" title=\"sarah_james_sunset.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nSharing work was a highlight; here's Helen Kellock giving her very first reading of \u003Ci>The Star in the Forest\u003C/i>: \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/816430_original-9115ac8a4b.jpg\" alt=\"sarah_james_sunset.jpg\" title=\"sarah_james_sunset.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nOn Saturday morning, we all felt a bit bereft splitting up, it was rather poignant seeing people go back off to the farthest ends of the country after we'd spent so much time together. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/818637_original-40f0ae87e4.jpg\" alt=\"sarah_james_sunset.jpg\" title=\"sarah_james_sunset.jpg\">\\r\n\u003Ci>Photo tweeted by @felicitysteers1\u003C/i>\\r\n\\r\nI'm going to miss everyone from Moniack Mhor, students and staff and our cosy cottage. I hope participants got a lot out of the weekend - from what I can tell, they really enjoyed it - and I certainly did. Right at the beginning I was a bit nervous; I'd been doing lots of hour-long stage events, but this was the first time I'd done longer sessions like this, with the same group of people for an extended amount of time, and I was worried they might be overly demanding, critical or even hostile. But they weren't at all, I was surprised by just how supportive and positive everyone was. And I wasn't hiding behind bright stage lights or a big fancy costume, so when I first addressed all these grownups at the big table, in standard clothes I'd wear to the studio, I blabbered a bit incoherently for the first few seconds. But when I saw how kind and friendly they were, I quickly gained confidence. I also felt challenged listening to James tell stories so beautifully from memory, and not only that, make beautiful pictures at the same time. I'm not sure I could do both in the way he does, but I'd love to practice at least one of them, telling stories from memory with much more skill and wordplay and pacing. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/817571_original-6e1f6e56e3.jpg\" alt=\"sarah_james_sunset.jpg\" title=\"sarah_james_sunset.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nHuge thanks to the Moniack Mhor team (Sarah, Rachel, Richmond, Angie, Eilidh, Laura, Heather and so many more), to James and Pam, Robert the chatty driver, and to everyone, including \u003Ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/mrsmandm/\">Marilyn McCullough\u003C/a> (she's posted some recent Instagram photos of our week!), \u003Ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/bullrush_anna/\">Anna Woodman\u003C/a> (also on Instagram!) who came along and took part! If you've not been on one of the \u003Ca href=\"https://www.moniackmhor.org.uk/courses/\">Moniack Mhor courses\u003C/a> and don't know if you could afford to go on one, keep an eye on the \u003Ca href=\"https://www.moniackmhor.org.uk/writers/grants/\">bursaries\u003C/a> and \u003Ca href=\"https://www.moniackmhor.org.uk/writing-competitions/\">competitions\u003C/a> they run to win places on the course - you never know, it might be creatively just what you're looking for.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/821755_original-debd8a5d9e.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cb>EDIT:\u003C/b> Here are some more blog posts about the weekend! \\r\n* \u003Ca href=\"https://witchmountain.wordpress.com/2019/09/24/moniack-mhor-there-and-back-again/\">From Kim Tillyer\u003C/a>\\r\n*\u003Ca href=\"https://www.jamesmayhew.co.uk/2019/09/magnificent-moniack-mhor.html\"> From James Mayhew\u003C/a>","2019-09-22T17:00:00.000Z","picture-books-week-at-moniack-mhor",[],"picture books week at moniack mhor",1776628730316]