I am a children’s book illustrator and I’ve been to the Hay festival many times but this was my first event at the festival, talking about two recent children’s picture books written by Nicola Davies, which I have illustrated, Perfect and The Pond.
In front of a lovely audience of small children, sitting on the floor in front of me, I was on my hands and knees, painting on the floor, with an overhead projector showing a watery splash of marks and colour grow on a large piece of water colour paper, while Nicola talked animatedly about swifts, our stories and pond life.
Because I became so engrossed in my hyperactive way of making marks with colour and watery brushes, influenced by the things Nicola was talking about, the event was over, two paintings later, before I realised that I had been scared at the start of the event. I had a wonderful time and felt very touched by the lovely open faces watching me paint. I could have happily kept going. I want to come back now and do it again.