I was born in Zimbabwe and spent most of my early childhood outside, exploring and looking at the amazing plants and trees and a whole host of fascinating creatures such as chameleons, millipedes, ants and snakes. The local African children made art quite naturally as a matter of course. Together, we made paints from natural things found in the garden and beyond - and at the age of six I made my first big artwork – a mural painted on the outside wall of my parent’s very white house. I was thrilled...... they were not! We came to England when I was eight and although life was not like before, I continued to paint anything and everything. I liked drawing, but paint was, and still is, my favourite medium. As I grew up I painted walls, furniture, paper, wood, rocks, doors and fabrics – anything really. If I didn’t paint, I wrote little stories on old computer paper or on the back of huge weather maps (my father was a meteorologist!) – which I then illustrated and made into small books. They nearly always featured animals and plants and patterns. As a student, I first studied fashion and textile design - then photography. I have worked in textile design, as a commercial and industrial photographer and in recent years as a mural and trompe l’oeil artist. Commissions include projects in both private houses and commercial buildings. See http://www.ceruleanblue.co.uk. My first children’s book, Chicky Chicky Chook Chook, published by Boxer Books in March 2007, drew on all that I have done before. This was followed by my second and third books, Monkey Monkey Monkey, and Spooky Spooky Spooky - both published in 2009. I'm currently working on lots of new ideas, and am very excited to be working on my fourth book. I work from my studio at the bottom of the garden. From here, I can see birds and bumble bees and watch the seasons alter the plants and trees. I love to depict in paint :-
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