Knowing your place

Over the past few weeks I have had the great joy of seeing one of my children’s stories brought to life by a skilful illustrator. When you see it, there is the world of difference between an artist and an illustrator. With deft skill, an illustrator works hand in glove with the author- adding a hitherto unseen dimension to the words. They are neither exceeded nor side-lined nor overshadowed by the images, but rather it seems as if they have ‘woken up’ to the reality they were always meant to have. I hope to show you on here very soon what I mean.

As a preacher later today my role is far more that of illustrator than artist. The story, in all its wonderful dynamism, has already been written for me. My task is simply to shine light upon it.

Below is an illustration painted by my Grandmother, Marjory, at the Slade Art School, some time in the 1920s. Her task was to illustrate the following phrase: dawn entered the room like a frightened girl. I love everything about it, from the very stylised face to the way the orb of the dawn light reflects upon it. Let’s hope the skill has come down the generations…

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