Category Archives: stories

Foxie and Mash Up Truck Version 2

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© Ken Wilson-Max 2011

Developing an idea is a process.  Its full of holes and spaces into which you can fall and be lost forever, though.  For some the thrill comes from avoiding the creative pitfalls.  For others the result is the thing. Shaping an idea is not an exact science and very few come out ready to use and there is  a balance between being practical and ‘out there’ that has to be maintained.

Its great when the result works. Its great when it doesn’t (once you stop crying or destroying the studio) because you’ve learned something more about what you are capable of achieving. For me, ideas are best developed with others.

An orange truck this time…

Repair men

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The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining.
John F. Kennedy
35th president of US 1961-1963 (1917 – 1963)

I have has this idea for decades! a book about repair men. Finally somebody shows some interest. I really hope it  works, excuse the pun.

Building Site

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This is from a project for Peaceable Kingdom Press. Its part of ‘My Toolbox – A memory concentration game plus a challenging puzzle’. It was fun to work on something like this with many components, especially after working on picture books solely for the last couple of years.  I could do another one, (hint).

The struggle continues

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The look of the blog struggle continues! We’ve changed again this month and are still looking for the theme that best works for us until there is enough spare time to design one ourselves. This coming week Ken is at a number of libraries in Brent doing Life Size workshops with children as part of their summer programme. There will be five-hour long sessions over three or four days and he’s aiming to finish a full-sized lion painting in the this time!

In August we’ll be away and are not likely to post, although you never know! But on our return in September we should have a great deal of new material that we’ll be experimenting ono for a few weeks.

Using watercolours. Or, is it watercolors?

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I have always admired ‘watercolourists’! I also always thought, deep down, that it is a classical medium and that there are only so many ways to use it. But after seeing a few ‘modern’ ways to use watercolour I was inspired, or courageous enough to use them for the sketches stage of  a new book project. I must admit to being very nervous when I sent the water-coloured roughs to the publisher but am happy to report they went down well. With a bit of practise and luck it might help me widen my appeal as a children’s book illustrator.