The Artist

Product Information

As I mentioned at the beginning,it’s about howwe connect with another person. By using drawing and pictures, we engage, we animate - we get an idea to live in another mind.

From the moment a child comes into the world they are searching for visual clues. Trying to understand if you are friend or foe, through facial expression and body language. Pictures speak this language fluently. Pictures intimate emotions, feelings and nuances that words cannot because of this sophisticated visual vocabulary (which we are constantly building). Pictures are open to interpretation – there’s nothing concrete to get right or wrong - which means they’re open to discussion. A young dinosaur artist (looking a bit like a T-rex but a cute one) sees the dinosaur world as full of joy and beauty, something that some dinosaurs are too busy to notice. She sees all that, draws and paints it and makes it into her art. Later she decides to go live in the city with lots of empty walls to paint so more people can see her art and really look. But she has a crisis of confidence when she starts to make mistakes and colour outside the lines - she almost gives up on art until she finds out it’s the heart in art that really matters. Ed worked with CLPE toco-createthe award winning Power of Picturesprogrammewhich encourages visual literacy in primary schooleducation andhas received major funding from the Arts Council, EEF & RSA.You can read an article in The Guardian relating to this work here . He has also been an invited speaker at many literary festivals in the UK and internationally, including;Hay Festival,Bath Festival,Edinburgh International Book festival in the UK.And;Cuirt International Book Festival, Galway, Ireland;Towers and Tales, Waterford, Ireland;International Literarture Festival, Dublin;Guadalajara FIL, Mexico (British Council); Hay Festival Kerala, India (British Council); Flupp International literature festival, Rio, Brazil (British Council);VallettaFestival of Children's Literature, Malta (British Council)This witty, resonant picture book is a manual for anyone's life, young or old." Sunday Times Children's Book of the Week Mae deinosor ifanc sy'n artist yn gweld y byd fel lle llawn llawenydd a harddwch – rhywbeth y mae rhai deinosoriaid yn rhy brysur i sylwi arno. Mae hi'n tynnu llun ac yn paentio'r llawenydd a'r harddwch hwnnw ac yn creu ei chelf ohono.

Vere describes the book as 'a painted and written travelogue, a journey of discovery, it aims to engender a love of nature in a world increasingly disconnected from it. The book will discuss issues around freedom, conservation and what we can do to create a world in which wildlife thrives, rather than perishes.' The book aims to properly discuss the issues at hand and consequently is aimed at a wide-ranging audience from 8 year-old to adult.As a writer who also draws, I’m interested in how we connect with another person through words and pictures. How we engage, how we animate, how we get an idea to live in another mind. When I read to children, I’m endlessly amazed by the power of a picture book. That a character is grippingly alive for those kids. An inky drawing of an enormous, lonely gorilla playing a piano, transforms in the mind into a living breathing being, deserving of love. It blows my mind. Every time. Vere has worked with the Britten Sinfonia and the Neil Cowley Trio to stage live concerts for schools and family audiences. With the Britten Sinfonia, adaptations of Mr Big and Max the Brave have been staged in concerts which bring together live drawing and classical music, the most recent at The Barbican Centre. The concerts were devised with and presented by Hannah Conway.

Vere worked with CLPE to co-create the Power of Pictures, a 12-week scheme in which author/illustrators teach teachers about writing techniques. Vere staged 'Mr Big plays Jazz' at Wigmore Hall, London & Birmingham Symphony & Town Halls with the Neil Cowley Trio. One brave little artist goes on one epic adventure to share her art, and in doing so learns that it doesn't matter if you colour outside the lines, that art is full of heart... and that maybe you are an artist too! There is something very special about that space in between the pictures and the words. A place which asks your imagination to fill the gap. A good picture book should leave room between words and pictures. Pictures don’t simply illustrate the words – they tell their own story, on a multitude of levels. If we make time to examine them.Yn ddiweddarach, mae hi'n penderfynu mynd i fyw yn y ddinas gyda llawer o waliau gwag i'w paentio fel bod mwy o bobl yn gallu gweld ei chelf ac edrych o ddifrif. Ond mae hi'n colli'i hyder pan mae hi'n dechrau gwneud camgymeriadau a lliwio y tu allan i'r llinellau. Mae bron â rhoi'r ffidl yn y to â'i chelf nes iddi sylweddoli mai'r galon yn y celf sy'n wirioneddol bwysig. Kirkus starred review-'Colorful, boldly imaginative, dynamic, quirky, and wonderfully child-appealing illustrations. . . . This book proclaims what children already know: Creativity and making art spark joy.' Sunday Times Children's Book of the Week(Ireland)-'Perfect for creative minds, Ed Vere’s beautiful children’s book The Artistfollows a young dinosaur on a mission to share her art with others...This book features joyful illustrations and a powerful message about what it means to be an artist.' - Lynn Enright