Shirley Hughes, 87 today: happy birthday!

Shirley Hughes is 87 today. I'd like to wish one of my all-time favourite illustrators a happy birthday.

I've admired the children's illustrations of Shirley Hughes for as long as I can remember.  As a child I've lovely memories of being read to by my mother. As an illustrator I find her work really inspiring.  And now, as a mother I'm reading the Alfie series to my son Remy, who is showing all the signs of becoming a fan, too.

Shirley Hughes has written over fifty books and illustrated over two hundred. I thought I'd read most of them but it appears I was fooling myself.  So I've more to discover, which is an exciting prospect.

I adore the way Shirley captures the postures, shapes and characters of little ones. She spent many years taking life drawing classes at Liverpool Art School and then Ruskin School of Art, University of Oxford - it shows. 

I adore her attention to detail - it's what I remember most as a child - I'd spend a long time being mesmerised by the illustrations.

Shirley Hughes has a daughter, Clara Vulliamy, who is herself a children's book illustrator. You can visit her website here. 

Clara Vulliamy with Shirley Hughes

If you're interested in finding out more about Shirley's life and work, I'd highly recommend her autobiography 'Shirley Hughes, A Life Drawing' published by Random House - a must-have for all fans like myself!

ALL ARTWORK IS COPYRIGHT OF SHIRLEY HUGHES

A little catch-up...

Phew! 

What a busy few weeks for Love Lucy, both work- and play-wise... we've had my best friend's wedding... as you can see, the bride was a beauty. AND we saw a shooting star over the sea as we left the wedding party. Magical!

We've also had birthdays, both for me and the Frenchie. With the best lemon drizzle cake made by Mummy dearest, yumyum...

A super new Samsung Galaxy Ace smartphone for my birthday which enables me to take photos as if I were in the 1970s. Delighted!

Yesterday the Frenchie and I made the most of the September sunshine and picknicked on the river.

Workwise, it's been good too. The holidays are most certainly over and it seems people are already on the lookout for Christmas (eeeek!) gifts. These personalised mirrors were my best sellers last week...you can find them here in my shop...

Also last week I ran my first little Facebook competition, offering as a prize a personalised painting. It was a great success. Thanks to everyone who entered. 

And the winner was... drum roll please...

Congratulations to Liz's Cards, who will be receiving her personalised painting in the next few days.

Love Lucy x