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

My Phoenix favourites: part one

I've been working with Phoenix Trading for a couple of years now and I really love freelancing for such a smashing company. One of the best things is the way they keep their catalogue fresh by introducing new designs every couple of months. 

While browsing the new March catalogue I found myself compiling a list of my favourite Phoenix artists. Here are a few of them; I'll be featuring more in a future blog.

Sarah Summers: Sarah has such a lovely delicate, feminine style and paints birds beautifully... just look at this delightful blue tit!

Louise Rawlings: I love Louise's use of colour, and she always sets a scene so perfectly.

Claire Henley: As well as being a Phoenix artist, Claire's also a very talented children's book illustrator, and I've been a fan of hers since discovering the wonderful Zippity Zebra and the Windy Day.

Amanda Loverseed - Amanda is a prolific Phoenix artist, with a whopping 81 designs in the current catalogue! And it's quite clear why...

Kate Gunn - I love Kate's bright colours and adorable characters, just such fun! I can see her style working wonderfully in children's books...                                

                       

At the risk of blowing my own trumpet, I can't resist including one of my own designs! Like most artists, I find my favourite piece is usually my latest, so that would be this little lady who is very proud to be featured in the new catalogue.

You can see all of my current designs for Phoenix Trading here.

Children's illustrators - a few of my favourites

Good children's illustrations stick in our minds way beyond childhood.

For me, as a young reader, the illustrations were often more important than the text. I spent hours just poring over the pictures and often took the same books out of the library week after week just to look at the pictures again.

Here are a few illustrators who made a big impression on Love Lucy Illustration:

I adore Shirley Hughes' rich detail and the scenes she sets...

Raymond Briggs is a firm favourite too. In my family it's a tradition to watch 'The Snowman' every Christmas Eve, without fail. Magical...

'New Blue Shoes' by Eve Rice was the book I took out of the library time and time again! Looking at it now the illustrations seem quite simple but it had a real charm to my 4 year old self...

I feel like a bit of a child all over again since moving to France and seeing everything with fresh eyes. I can very often be found in the children's departments of libraries and bookshops discovering great French illustrators who I missed out on as a child, like Alain Gree, for one...

And Agnes Rosenstiehl with her adorable character 'Mimi Cracra'

                               So these are my favourites...who are yours?