Happy Summer and welcome to my Substack!
My first newsletter - please let me know what you think!
Welcome to Notes from Nicola! This will be an occasional newsletter - not a relentless spam one - with news from my desk.
I’ll share things like book news, creative processes, ideas for creativity at home (for children or adults) and funny or interesting images I’ve found. For the first one, I have added people I’d love to follow me, but needless to say if it’s one too many thing in your inbox you are free not to subscribe! If you think you’d like stick around for more, please do subscribe (it’s free) and do tell me anything you’d like to see more or less of.
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First up, a picture of my sister books ALL THE CATS and ALL THE DOGS. These were first born, in more primitive form, on my MA in Children’s Book Illustration at Cambridge School of Art. They were commissioned by Andersen Press and I spent the first Covid lockdown making the artwork. Because the kids were at home, I would be on school duty till about 3pm, then I’d head upstairs to spend four or five hours on book work. They were joyous to make and the perfect antidote to all the uncertainty of the pandemic.
Both books are available in hardback, but ALL THE DOGS is also coming out in paperback in August, and you can pre-order signed, dedicated and doodled on copies of this and any of my other books, from Pickled Pepper Books who will send them anywhere in the world. Here’s the link to order:
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In other news, I have been sorting out the loft and am loving the design treasures I’m stumbling upon. I’ve had a passion for lettering and graphic design all my life, so it’s been a real treat to find some of these gorgeous examples amongst my own boxes of junk!
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I also take pictures of this, that and the other that I spot as I go about my day. I really recommend a slow walk with your smartphone looking for thing to snap. It’s makes a great creative and uplifting mindfulness exercise. I also recommend it as an activity to do with kids. Set them a challenge to photograph yellow things, or circles, or to spell their name collecting photos of different letters from shop signs. I’ve done this a few times with children and it’s a brilliant and fun way to encourage them to look closely at their environment. You can see my own random observations on Instagram here: Quiet and Co. Recent pics include:
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Finally, it’s always wonderful to see my books translated into other languages. Here is Grumpy Hat published recently in Turkish! I live in an area with a very large Turkish community so it’s always special to receive Turkish translations of my books. I’ve given copies in Turkish and English to local schools which I hope will be fun for
Thank you for reading my newsletter. If you subscribe (it’s free!) I’ll be back with more after the summer. If you have enjoyed it, please share with friends who might do too. And any feedback gratefully received!
ooh this is so enjoyable to read. I'm excited to see what else comes out of your loft. I love the graphics and the way your eyes respond to the world. I look forward to reading more notes from Nicola and desk dispatches! I'm going to pinch the photography idea for the Summer hols with Fred (a reluctant walker with his Mum) xx
Great first edition....
I like your ideas for photography with kids. Good for grandmothers too! I'm going to experiment