ABOUT ME

HELLO!

I am an award-winning children’s book author and illustrator from Perth, Australia. I was raised in the country along side my brother, dog, sheep, several orphaned kangaroos and one very cheeky echidna.  

My obsession with animals also extends underwater as I have braved lionfish in Egypt, piranha and pink dolphins in the Amazon, marine iguanas and hammerhead sharks in the Galapagos Islands and swum with whale sharks, manta rays and humpback whales at Ningaloo, Western Australia.

Click here for my longer official bio.

illustration process

My picture book illustrations include lively textures created from paintings by my two young children during our backyard art sessions. We love getting messy, splashing paint, rubbing charcoal, painting with potatoes, bubble wrap, sticks, seaweed and anything else we find. Kids can get an amazing energy into their art that adults struggle to recreate.

My kids often teach me new techniques too! The art sessions I lay out rarely stick to plan - they always try things I would never have dreamed of. 

Using children’s process art techniques in my book illustrations encourages the kids I meet to have a go at book making too. They recognise the techniques and materials familiar to them and often say ‘Hey, I could do that.’ This is music to my ears, as children often find highly realistic illustrations intimidating and feel they could never achieve that level of detail themselves.

Check out my illustration gallery here.

School Visits / workshops

My author / illustrator sessions are always fun, engaging and inspiring. Interactive book readings, conch shell playing, live drawing demonstrations, and illustration workshops are just a few of the fun activities I do. Kids discover story creation techniques and character design, or can even try texture rubbings and charcoal smudging. I also run online sessions live or pre-recorded and customised for schools, bookstores, festivals and libraries anywhere in the world!

Please visit my talks / workshops page for more details. 
Or visit my events page to find out about upcoming events.

INSPIRATION & OTHER STUFF

Travel and adventure

I have been very fortunate to travel to incredible places and meet amazing people and animals from all over the world. I constantly draw inspiration and ideas from these rich and diverse experiences for my writing and illustration.

FAMILY

I am Mum to two, fun and adventurous young boys. They are super imaginative, and inspire me every day. I write my books for them and involve them in the creative process whenever I can. Eating and ocean seem to be consistent themes!