After trialing the rough sketches for the Katie trail with children and staff, the National Gallery gave me a green light and I have just sent off the finished artwork to Orchard Books, who will assemble, design and print the trail in time for it’s launch in the February half-term.
In the 12 page mini-book Katie encounters characters from five wonderful paintings in the National Gallery collection and an empty frame encourages children to find the painting the characters belong in and then draw something in the frame that is inspired by what they see. It sounds simple, but in fact it is incredibly complex.
Firstly paintings that are NOT going to be on loan have had to be chosen, which ruled out a great many canvasses. Then with the co-author, Caroline Marcus, we carefully planned (and replanned!) how the trail would work, what was important for children to notice, what facts were relevent, and so on. But I have thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to work with Caroline and have found out about some paintings that – if I am honest – I had never really bothered with before.
Here is some of the finished art, sans text. It’s going to be a lovely thing and something – at the very end of Katie’s 21st anniversary year – I feel just a tiny bit proud of!
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