Tag Archives: books

Harry Potter Studio Tour – Entering a World of Magic

When you enter a world of Magic – you become part of it!

That’s what happened when we visited the Warner Bros Harry Potter Studio Tour London. We discovered a place of wonder and became part of a legend…and fervently wished we’d enrolled at Hogwarts…

Dumbledore’s Study, Chess piece, Aragog, Chamber of Secrets, Creature books, Knight Bus, Ministry of Magic and Potions Room © Lisa Shambrook

Potions Room © Lisa Shambrook

Day trips these days are expensive, anything from dungeons, to theme parks, to zoos etc, they cost a small fortune and if I’m paying over £100 I want value for money. The Studio Tour is not cheap, I balked when I first saw how much it would cost, but as we’re all such huge Harry Potter fans, I relented.

I’m glad I did. I, and my family, came away feeling uplifted, fascinated, full of wonder and truly happy having experienced the sets and stories that filled the day.

Dumbledore’s Study and Hogwarts Display © Lisa Shambrook

Under the stairs… © Lisa Shambrook

The excitement starts as soon as you walk inside, the cast members pictures grace the walls and the car from The Chamber of Secrets hangs in the entrance…you’re there! You queue and pass Harry’s room beneath the stairs, and then the experience begins…

I’m not going to tell you what happens next, you need to go and see for yourself, but enjoy the pictures and know that it’s all ten times better in the flesh!

Last bit of advice: book early, choose a time that suits and take your time as you wander. Make sure you have time to see everything and watch the information clips that accompany most sets. (We booked late and got a 5.30pm tour, we weren’t rushed, but we could have spent much longer there!)

Discover the magic that is Harry Potter!

Potions Room and Ollivanders in Diagon Alley © Lisa Shambrook

Lisa and Bekah and wands (Fleur Delacour’s and Hermione Granger’s) © Lisa Shambrook

Excited with House Ties: Slytherin, Hufflepuff, Gryffindor and Ravenclaw. On the Hogwarts Express and afterwards at the exit, happy! © Lisa Shambrook

And I can’t leave you without a hint of what you see in the final room…photographs cannot do it justice…

Hogwarts © Lisa Shambrook

Lastly, we watched all of the movies, all eight of them (because re-reading the books would’ve taken a little longer) before we went…and, to be honest, when we got home, we wanted to watch them all over again!

What would you have wanted to see most from the Harry Potter world of magic?

Author Feature: Sophie Moss

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Whenever I visit Heron Island, I feel like the wind whispers through my hair,
and I can taste salt on my lips, and hear the ocean lapping at my feet…
If you love romance then Sophie Moss is the writer for you…

I discovered Sophie’s gorgeous sensory writing through several flash fiction contests, which led me to read her evocative Seal Island Trilogy. From there I’ve eagerly waited for more from this expressive author.
I’m honoured to close this series of Author Features with one of my favourite writers, especially after I’ve just finished her latest new release ‘Wind Chime Wedding’ and loved it! You can check out my review on Goodreads.

Sophie Moss

Sophie Moss

I fell in love with your Selkie books, fantasy romance with fairy tales thrown in, and I quickly became engrossed in Wind Chime Café. What inspired you to change direction from fantasy to the new Wind Chime series?

I had actually written about a third of a book very similar to Wind Chime Café several years ago. It was right after the recession hit in the U.S. and the war was going on strong and I wanted to write about a military man on leave coming back to his hometown and meeting a single mother who’d moved there to open a cute little cafe but who didn’t know how to cook anything but casseroles. I stopped writing the story about halfway through for a lot of reasons (and it’s very different from the final product of Wind Chime Café) but when I finished the selkie trilogy (or at least pressed pause on it for a while) I decided to revisit it. I noticed that café books were doing really well at the time, books on Navy SEALs were growing in popularity, and small town contemporary romances were becoming huge. So there you go.

Wind Chime Cafe – Sophie Moss

Your characters are beautifully drawn, with intricate histories and depth, for example Wind Chime Café has an ex-Navy SEAL, and a great baker, Wind Chime Wedding has a teacher in its main role. How much research goes into your characters and their background stories?

I do a ton of research. While writing the first Wind Chime novel, I read almost every book written by a former Navy SEAL to get a sense of who they are, what their lives are like, and what issues are important to them. I also do a lot of research online—reading articles, watching you tubes, etc. It’s very important to me that my characters come across as authentic.

Wind Chime Wedding – Sophie Moss

I love the beauty of your writing which matches your locations. I know your Selkie series was inspired by a visit to Ireland, where did you get your inspiration for Wind Chime’s Heron Island?

Heron Island is loosely modelled after Tilghman Island, a real-life island only thirty minutes down the road from where I grew up. It’s a place known for sailing, fishing, and crabbing. It’s home to some of the last few hearty souls who still pull their living from the water. It’s one of the only places on the Eastern Shore that is relatively undeveloped. One of my favorite things about starting to write a new series is getting to know the place where my characters live. I’ve always been drawn to island settings, both in reading and writing. There’s something so soothing about being surrounded by all that water. The pace of life is slower. Neighbors look out for each other. Everyone knows everything about everyone.

Myself, reading Wind Chime Wedding on my Kindle!

So far, we know you for romance, are there other genres you’d like to explore, or is romance where your heart lies?

I will probably always write love stories. I’m a hopeless romantic. Nothing warms my heart more than a well-earned happily ever after.

So, if you want romance – you know exactly where to look!

Sophie Moss is a USA Today bestselling author of five full-length romance novels. She is known for her captivating Irish fantasy romances and heart-warming contemporary romances with realistic characters and unique island settings. As a former journalist, Sophie has been writing professionally for over ten years. She lives on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, where she’s working on her next novel. When she’s not writing, she’s testing out a new dessert recipe, exploring the Chesapeake Bay, or fiddling in her garden. Sophie loves to hear from readers. Email her at sophiemossauthor@gmail.com or visit her website to sign up for her newsletter.

Find Sophie on Facebook and @SMossWrites on Twitter. She’s also on Goodreads and Pinterest. Sophie is also, like myself, a BHCAuthor.

Wind Chime Café:
Kindle
Paperback

Wind Chime Wedding:
Kindle
Paperback

Why Do You Read – The Results

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Last week, I asked Why Do You Read, and this week we learn why… To sum up the results, I’d like to quote Blue Harvest Creative who pretty much hit the nail on the proverbial head
‘I read to learn, to experience, to feel, to escape, to immerse myself
…it’s something I have to do.’

This is why we read.

Pinterest – Blue Harvest Creative – William Styrone

Thank you so much for all those who voted in the poll, I appreciated your time and responses. As an author it’s valuable to understand the reasons why people read. As writers we read much of the time we’re not writing, but sometimes we become so absorbed in our own little worlds, it’s good to remind ourselves of the motives readers have for indulging!

Before giving you the results, I’d like to comment on the ‘Other’ reasons almost 5% of you gave in the poll and you came up with some great reasons:

To maintain my sanity

Reading helps me hone my writing skills

Improve both my writing and reading skills

Research, to be a better writer!

It’s a de-stresser

Ideas! To discover new ideas and new perspectives!

I want to know everything…and…read every single book ever written!

I can attest to all of these, especially how reading improves both my writing and my sanity! As an author, I need to know my market, my subject, and what’s already out there – reading and research aids this. And to the final answer I replied: so many books so little time – the reader and writer lament!

So, to the results – Why Do You Read:

21% read to escape to another world

18% tell me it’s in their DNA, they have to

14% want to experience life they never can without reading books

10% desire to learn something new

9% read to elicit a strong emotion such as fear, joy, grief, or another emotion they might not otherwise experience

8% read to understand the world around them better, to learn about their surroundings

6% read to fill spare time

6% want to experience a different culture or life

5% give us the other reasons listed above

And our final 3% read for school and other education

In conclusion – the most popular answer is to escape…over a fifth of us choose to leave the world behind to escape into another world, to have an adventure, as our main reason for reading. I know many people chose multiple answers, and our reasons are varied and sometimes complicated, but the one most of us choose is to escape.

why-do-you-read-results-books-fantasy-the-last-krystallos

Reading offers a chance for our brains and our minds to breakout of the lives we lead, to indulge in fantasy, dreams, diversity and essentially time to let our minds catch up with our souls.

Thank you for sharing your reasons with me…

why-do-you-read-results-books-the-last-krystallos

I read for escape, for emotion, for encounters that I cannot experience myself and I read to diversify my life. I want those highs and lows, I want to feel crushing pain and soaring joy – I want to know I’m alive!

I’ve included pictures of some of my favourite books – they have broadened my horizons, encouraged me, informed me, and helped me escape.

why-do-you-read-results-books-classics-the-last-krystallos

I’ve wandered through the Misty Mountains with Bilbo, I’ve raced across the ice fields with Lyra on the back of a polar bear, I’ve searched the library and the Old Kingdom with Lirael, I’ve sailed upon a surrealist ocean with Pi and his tiger, and I’ve been there when the dark rose. I’ve learned about the holocaust and survival, and wept, with both David and the boy in the striped pyjamas, I became what I was, I learned about the power of memories and colour from Lois Lowry, and Loser didn’t lose. I was delighted by the little Prince, and intrigued by the alphabet. I cried with Beth and loved with Jo. I was anorexic, I loved like no other, I had adventures with the Famous Five and I fell in love with silver brumbies. Books bring me home, they take me away, they let me live and love and when stars fall I know they can still shine!

This is why I read.

Tell me where books have taken you?

Why Do You Read?

6 Replies

I read because there are so many stories out there,
so many lives I’ll never be able to lead,
so many worlds in other peoples’ imaginations that I want to visit,
and my soul has a need to discover the words other people write.

I read for the same reason I write. I have to. My own imagination is vivid. I have worlds inside my head, and dreams that need to escape, and these are the very reasons I read. If I have these amazing visions in my head that need to breakout onto paper, then I want to read the imaginations of those around me, I want to know their stories too.

I want to write things that people want to feel, thomas and iola,

Pinterest

As a writer and author the reasons people read fascinate me, for several purposes: firstly, I’m curious, and perhaps a little nosy! Secondly, as an author, I want to write books people want to read; and thirdly, it’s a subject that seems to divide.

I belong to many communities: family, church, online, book-club, local, neighbourhood – and everyone has a different reason for reading…

George R. R. Martin – Tyrion – Game of Thrones

I asked my family and got different responses. My son only used to read short fiction because it was easy and he struggled with a tendency towards dyspraxia and dyslexia. My husband reads about things he’s interested in, ‘both fact and fiction’, and both my daughters read ‘to escape reality’, and ‘to escape into another world that’s better than this one.’.

stories take us on a journey we mioght otherwise never take,

Lisa Shambrook World Book Day 2014

I’ve got friends who love biographies, but not fiction, others who want to read to learn, and some who read just for the sake of reading. Some readers want absorbing stories but shy away from horror or sorrow. There are others who yearn for an emotional response, who need to commit and feel the emotion; those who want to be scared by horror, or weep amidst a tragedy, and whoop with delight as characters rise and triumph, and some who just need to escape.

So, I thought I’d ask you, the reader – why do you read?

Samuel Johnson – Blue Harvest Creative

Lastly, why do you read the books you do, do you choose because you love a specific genre, or author, or do you love an eclectic mix?

Do you stick to traditionally published works, or love to discover more from up and coming indie authors?

(If you read my latest author interviews, you’ll discover some of my favourite books from the last year…)

What books sit side-by-side upon your bookshelf? Tell me the books that have affected you the most, and tell me why you love them!

Source

Mother’s Day Sale – Amaranth Alchemy and Beneath…

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We have a generous 40% off everything in the lead up to Mother’s Day, we’ve had our UK Mothering Sunday, now it’s time for the rest of you to treat your mums.

Use Etsy Code: MOTHERSDAY15 and find something special!

As we’re a UK company, this offer can help you find a beautifully unique gift and offset the higher cost of international shipping!

dragon, dragon necklace, dictionary necklace, Amaranth Alchemy, gifts,

My own Dragon dictionary necklace.

I still wear the very first necklace we made, a prototype, one of our Scrabble style dictionary necklaces, perfect for any writer or for anyone who loves words. This one’s not for sale, but message us via our Etsy shop and see if we have the perfect word for you, or for you Mother, or your loved one. We have some very happy commission customers.

See what we can do for you!

I am also offering my two novels at sale prices for Mother’s Day. Both these books cover the deep and complicated relationships between mothers and daughters, and would be an ideal addition to your mother’s, or your own, bookshelf…

‘Freya won’t let death stand in her way. When she dies Freya knows she needs to move on, but is caught within her mother’s grief and the discovery of terminally ill Old Thomas. Beneath her Rainbow…Freya needs to reach her mother, wait for Old Thomas and be ready to move on.’

Praise for Beneath the Rainbow:

“Every parent or indeed anyone who remembers the magic of their own childhood will identify with this book from the very first page. What starts off as a personal tragedy quickly blossoms into an enchanting story of joy, happy memories, and hope.
On a literary note, the book employs a stream of consciousness style that bears a well-deserved comparison with Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway.
A cracking good read that even the most cynical of us are likely to be left with perhaps a tear of joy, and a hope that maybe, just maybe, there could be an element of truth in its vivid description of Freya’s journey and what lies beyond…” ~ Paul (read more)

‘Meg thinks her mother is broken. Is she broken too? Meg’s life spirals out of control, and when she mirrors her Mum’s erratic behaviour, she’s terrified she’ll inherit her mother’s sins. Seeking refuge and escape, she finds solace beneath a huge, old oak. A storm descends, and Meg needs to survive devastating losses.’

Praise for Beneath the Old Oak:

“A lightning bolt of a story that burns from the inside out.
Maneuvering through early teen years is difficult at best. Add a mother with mental illness, a family history riddled with mystery, and an ancient oak eager to share its secrets, and you have a beautifully poignant tale.
Beneath the Old Oak delves deeply into the helplessness of a family torn apart by depression, leaving hope scattered like fallen leaves.” ~ LaDonna Cole RN, BS, CAR Therapist and Author of Heartwork Village, Grief Recovery Curriculum (read more)

The Kindle eBooks are on sale from 26th April to 10th May on Amazon.

‘Beneath the Rainbow’ is just $1.50 (£0.99)
‘Beneath the Old Oak’ is only $3.00 (£1.99)

Both books are also available in paperback at Amaranth Alchemy on Etsy offering 40% off – thus giving you a substantial discount off signed books!

Note: Mothering Sunday is on Sunday 10th May in the US and much of the rest of the world.

Give your mother the gift of an enchanting read…

New BHCAuthors Website—Connecting Readers to Authors

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Have you ever read a great book and wondered what inspired the writer?
Have you ever wished to know more about the person who penned your favourite book?
As a BHC Author, I am so excited that I can help promote this new program and website that will bring more amazing books and authors to all you wonderful readers out there!

Blue Harvest Creative is excited to announce the next generation of independence has arrived!

Welcome to the BHC Authors website—a place dedicated to bringing readers and authors together. If you love to read, this is the place to be. Find a new favorite genre or author. Check out new releases and titles. Or enter a giveaway or promotion.

Here’s what you’ll find when you visit BHCAuthors.com

Author spotlights—Get up close and personal. Enter our monthly giveaway for a chance to win autographed print titles or eBooks from featured authors.
Reader/ARC (advanced reader copy) Program—Love to read? Want to see new titles before they are released? Enjoy giving feedback and discovering new authors or genres? Be sure to sign up for our ARC program.

News and events—Check our calendar often. You never know where a BHC Author will turn up!
Are you a reviewer, blogger, or journalist interested in review copies or scheduling an interview? Visit our media center, and we’ll be sure to get you everything you need.
Librarians and booksellers can also contact us at the media center. We’re here to make your job easier.
If you run a readers’ group, we offer book club reader’s guides for many of our titles and we’re always adding more.
Purchase titles and other nifty products from our Amazon affiliate store—From books to writer’s tools of the trade, and more, you’ll find it all here, right at your fingertips.
Meet the BHC Authors—Many of whom have won multiple awards and are USA Today bestsellers—and get to know their work.

Subscribe to our newsletter and be the first to know about new titles, promotions, events, sales, and more. We hate spam as much as the next person, so we only send out about one email per month. Our intent is not to solicit services. Our newsletters only feature information about BHC Authors.

We’re just gearing up, and we’ll be adding more exciting features. Love our website? Have an idea to share or something you’d like to see featured? We’d love to hear from you, and we appreciate and value your ideas and suggestions. Please email us at: Feedback (at) BHCAuthors (dot) com

Thanks for stopping by and supporting independently published authors!

Click HERE to visit the BHC Authors website.

Mother’s Day Sale – Reach Beneath for Enchanting Reads…

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Your mother’s heart will be captured with an enchanting
and uplifting gift for Mother’s Day this year…

Both these books cover the deep and complicated relationships between mothers and daughters, and would be an ideal addition to your mother’s, or your own, bookshelf…

Beneath the Rainbow – Lisa Shambrook

Praise for Beneath the Rainbow:

Beneath the Old Oak – Lisa Shambrook

Praise for Beneath the Old Oak:

‘Beneath the Rainbow’ is on sale from 1st to 15th March on Amazon. Kindle eBook £0.99 ($1.50). ‘Beneath the Old Oak’ is only £1.99 ($3.00). Also available in paperback (see below).

Both books are also available at Amaranth Alchemy which is also offering a 20% off everything Mother’s Day sale – thus giving you a substantial discount off signed paperbacks!

Note: Mothering Sunday is on Sunday 15th March in the UK and Sunday 10th May in the US and much of the rest of the world.

Give your mother the gift of an enchanting read…

The Extraordinary Art of Writing Short Stories

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Tips to help you write extraordinary short stories.

I love dipping into an eclectic mix of short tales. Picking up an anthology or collection of shorts whilst waiting in the car for my kids, or reading while working out on the elliptical with my Kindle app on my phone, delights me and utilises what could be wasted time!

Books containing great short stories…

There’s an art to a short story, and it takes a well-practised writer to get it right. There’s nothing worse than dipping into a tale, finishing it in a few pages and having no reaction. That meh feeling just doesn’t cut it.

You need to be short, sharp, and succinct, and have enough story to make the tale worth telling.

A short story needs to tell a tale in very few words, it needs to grab you and not let you go, it needs to pull you in, swirl you about and throw you back out again! It needs to elicit a reaction. Very often that reaction will either be a smile, a laugh, or a shock, but it has to be a reaction nonetheless. It’s dreadful to read a short and feel you’re just dipping into someone’s high school level homework. Don’t make short stories ordinary, make them extraordinary!

If you’re writing romance, boy-down-the-road meets girl-up-the-road… Shake it up. Don’t give me four or five pages of boy thinking about girl, meeting unexpectedly, and falling in love right away. Shake it up, turn it around…maybe the boy is blind, maybe she walks by every day, she might like him, but not be confident enough to speak – then one day she trips and knocks into him, he recalls her scent and catches her hand… Make me breathe their attraction; make me feel their confusion and their nerves…let the story catch fire!

If the story’s been done before – and let’s face it, most have – what can you do to change it up, twist it, make it different, make it new and inspiring, turn the cliché upside-down? What’s your USP (Unique Selling Point) or as I like UTP – Unique Telling Point! What’s your style?

I honed my writing skills writing Flash Fiction and I hugely recommend it. You learn a vast amount by reading flash fiction, and then by writing it. Most Flash Fiction prompts are words, photos or music. You’re given a set of rules to follow and you create a piece within a particular number of words. It teaches brevity and that every word counts, editing skills, the importance of content, beginnings and endings, grammar, and basic story-telling to name but a few.

I’ve taken part in a variety of flash fiction, and still do. I delight in both writing to a set prompt, expanding my voices and genres, and sharing my work with those around me. My short flash fiction, shared on my blog, serves as an advert for my novels. If you like my flash, read my books!

Take a look at these short tales on some of my favourite blogs, see how the stories work, how they elicit a reaction, and you’ll see why you need to read more from these writers! Tinker My Heart – A Jar of Fireflies, Dancing at Whitsun – Cubic Scats, Duty – One More Leaf, The Apothecary’s Art – The Last Krystallos, Uninterrupted – Jo Cannon, and At the Museum – Searching for Ingleside. (Several of these pieces are Flash Fiction contest winners)

A short story collection or being included in a compendium or anthology can be great for an author especially an indie author. It’s a way for readers to get to know your writing, your style, without needing to buy your full length novels. This is also a major reason why getting the short story right is so important. If you write shorts badly, they may never move on to your other writing. Share whatever you want on your blog for free, let readers taste your writing, but only put your best work into a collection. If you’re publishing make it worth the money your reader is spending!

Don’t write ordinary tales, make them extraordinary!

When you’re choosing a collection of tales, don’t just read the reviews, make the most of the preview of the book that Amazon allows you to see…take a look at the writing, see if it’s for you..

Cutthroats and Curses

If you want to read some amazing collections – try these, tried and tested and brilliant works, and something for everyone. And I’ll stick my neck out and say of you want to read a fantastic short pick up ‘Cutthroats and Curses’ and read Beth Avery’s ‘ Roaring Dan Seavey…’, that’s how short stories should be written!

Once Upon a Time: A Collection of Unexpected Fairytales – SJI Holliday and Anna Meade

Finding a Voice – Jeffrey Hollar

And the Angels Cried and Other Short Stories – Annette S. Thomson

Once Upon a Time, Finding a Voice, And the Angels Cried, Through the Portal

Cutthroats and Curses: An Anthology of Pirates – Michael Wombat and The Anthology Club

Through the Portal – LaDonna Cole and Read Write Muse

Tales by the Tree, In Creeps the Night, Here be Dragons, Moonbeams and Fairies

Tales by the Tree: A Christmas Collection – J. A. Mes Press

In Creeps the Night: 50 Flash Fiction Horror Tales – J. A. Mes Press

Here Be Dragons – Hannah Steenbock

Of Moonbeams and Fairies – Rebecka Vigus (Childrens Tales)

Darrion, Burn, Moth Girl Versus the Bats

Darrion – Marissa Ames

Burn – Daniel Swensen

Moth Girl Versus The Bats – Michael Wombat

And if you want to try, and read, some Flash Fiction…click on the sites below or my side bar, check out my Blues Buster stories which you can find a quick link to in my Categories.

Five Sentence Fiction, Blues Buster, Visual Dare, Three Line Thursday, Flash! Friday, Horror Bites

So, do you love short stories? What are your favourites and what makes them special?

Are you a Flash Fictioneer? If you want to know more of my Flash Fiction beginnings read: Being a Flash Fictioneer (like a writing Musketeer…or something similar…). What’s your favourite site for Flash?

Great Indie Books for Christmas

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Books are great Christmas gifts – you know that, I know that…everyone should know that!

So the great #DFQ has compiled a list of some of the best indie books available this Christmas…look no further for the perfect book to give the person you love.

I can atest to the brilliance of some of these books, having read many of them myself. My personal favourites include:
Orison by Daniel Swensen, Edgar Wilde and the Lost Grimoire by Paul Ramey, Dead Sea Games by J. Whitworth Hazzard, Minstrel by Marissa Ames, Fog by Michael Wombat and I’m currently reading and loving The Complicated Geography of Alice by Jules Vilmur.
I can’t wait to bury myself within many more of the books upon this list…

And my two novels Beneath the Rainbow and Beneath the Old Oak are there accompanied by two of the anthologies I’ve also written for In Creeps the Night and Cutthroats and Curses.

So pop over to Yearning for Wonderland and feast your eyes upon The 2014 DFQ Literary Gift Guide a wondrous list of words and stories, you’ll find something to love!

DFQ Literary Indie Guide 2014

Creative Feature: Abi Burlingham

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This week I’m bringing you another artistic writer, what a choice, words and pictures!

The Walk – Abi Burlingham

Abi is the author of several children’s books and when she’s not filling notebooks with words, she’s painting and creating works of art instead. I relate so easily to Abi, as much of my time is spent the same way!

Abi Burlingham – Author and Artist

Abi Burlingham – Author and Artist

What inspires you?

Nature and poignancy for themes, colour and shape for appearance. I love the natural curves of nature and the diversity of colour. I really love being outside amongst trees, meadows, moors and I love creatures of all shapes and sizes. I find nature very inspiring and want to create something that the viewer feels a connection with, which is why an animal or person often feature in my paintings. Artists that have inspired me are Paul Cezanne, Gustav Klimt and Gaugin – I love their use of colour and shape and themes.

Live – Abi Burlingham

Is your art planned or spontaneous?

I usually get an image in my head – it pops up without any conscious thought. Sometimes I store it in there and when I have two or three I draw them on tiny sheets of paper – about 3 x 4 inches – just in biro. They take seconds to do and are the only planning I do. Drawing the picture on canvas usually takes around 10 – 15 mins – I am a fast drawer! The painting and re-painting, as I make changes along the way, take a lot longer and I feel it as I go along, so yes, I would say my art is far more spontaneous than planned.

Matlock (pen and ink) – Abi Burlingham

I can see you like bold colours and I’ve seen you use pencils and acrylics, but do you have a favourite medium, colours or techniques?

As a child and teenager, I loved using pencils. I still have my box of Caran D’Ache pencils. I now also use Derwent Inktense pencils which are really distinct colours and you can add water to them which increases the intensity. I love doing sketches in situ with these and a black pen. For larger pieces that are completely from my imagination, I love acrylics. They are so bold and bright and you can build them up and get a range of textures. I think they suit the bold, abstract nature of my paintings more than any other medium.

Ivy Leaves – Abi Burlingham

What do you consider your best work to date – do you have a favourite piece?

Ooh that’s a hard one. I think my personal favourite is the big ivy canvas I painted five years ago and have hanging in my hallway. It was a labour of love and took every day for six weeks to complete. I also love ‘The Walk’. I barely thought about the painting as I was doing it – it seemed to create itself and I was so pleased with the end result.

Grubs Pups – Abi Burlingham

You have several published children’s books, have you ever thought about illustrating them yourself? What are your future plans with your art?

I have! I really would love to one day. I have illustrated a book which I couldn’t find a publisher for and still have all the paintings for this. Maybe I’ll give it another shot one day. I need a fantastic concept that also fits in with my style and the themes of nature and animals. I am currently arranging for a limited amount of prints of my acrylic canvases and plan to sell these and the originals – I already have a buyer for ‘The Walk’ which is wonderful.

Leaf Fall – Abi Burlingham

Lastly, if you could commission anything for yourself, money no object, what would it be?

It would be a painting. I love sculpture too, but I am drawn to huge canvases more than anything. A really huge abstract canvas of trees and birds would be wonderful.

Tree from Abi’s website (you can all four seasons of trees on her website!)

Cloud Gazing – Abi Burlingham

Thanks Abi!
Check out Abi’s website abiburlingham.com and keep up to date with her projects and the future availability of prints. Take a look at her books which are available on Amazon. She also blogs on her website and you can like her page on Facebook and follow her on Twitter, she’ll be happy to see you there!

Abi’s Bio

A Mystery for Megan – Abi Burlingham

Abi Burlingham lives in Derbyshire and teaches English to adults. She has had six children’s books published, including the Ruby and Grub series and Buttercup Magic: A Mystery for Megan. She likes to walk through fields with her rescue greyhound, paint, write and eat cheesecake. She would quite like to do all of these at once and is still trying to work out how.