How it all began

I have been passionate about art and writing from a young age and had the fortunate opportunity to grow up in a safari park where I worked in my school holidays as a Park Ranger in ‘Pet’s Corner’, looking after llamas, monkeys, pot-bellied pigs, a donkey called Bramble and my very own lion cub called Caro-lion.

Following my passion for illustration I went on to graduate from Leeds University and spent my formative career working as an illustrator and Artists Agent in children’s publishing working with all the major publishing houses which gave me great insight into how books are created from start to finish. I then had a very successful career in the branding and design industry at managing director level.

And now? Well, I am completely focused on illustrating, painting and writing whilst living in the quintessentially English village of Stanton in the Cotswolds with my husband John who is always encouraging me to ‘Get on with it’. When I’m not getting busy with my crayons, I love nothing more than playing my piano and sitting in the sunshine with a good book and sun hat.

My Studio

My studio is where all my writing and character creations come from and you can see some of my favourite photographs below. I always do 2 or 3 sketches before I get the characters right and then I usually do a test painting to make sure I’m happy with the colours. My sketches are created in coloured pencil and my finished illustrations are hand painted in watercolour and sometimes I use a touch of gouache.

I just love being in my studio.