04 July, 2012

Jean Chapman

I was very sorry to hear of the loss of Jean Chapman recently.  She was an author who wrote specifically for young people and made a long lasting impact and contribution to the world of children's literature.
She was a lovely person with a lively humorous spirit.

My sister Kilmeny and I were fortunate to have illustrated many of her stories over the years.
Jean compiled various collections of folk tales, poems, activities and songs, retold in her easy going style with close attention to detail.

Her works have been consistently popular, and although the collections I mentioned are now out of print, they are well represented in libraries around Australia.

The illustrations below are from the book, Tell Me Another Tale, a collection written and compiled by Jean Chapman, and first published in 1976.  Kilmeny and I had a great time creating some imaginative illustrations inspired by Jean's writings.

Jean will be sadly missed.



 
 


All illustrations are by Deborah and Kilmeny Niland.

3 comments:

Australian Picture books said...

The illustrations are just beautiful and a lovely tribute to the writer.

Anita Povelsen said...

I love these illustrations. I was fortunate enough to have lived next door to her daughther and her family when I was growing up. I loved being there and being able to read and sometimes just look at these wonderful books. Thank you for posting these illustrations.

Unknown said...

Hello. I bought a painting from a second hand shop to paint over and save money on framing. However it quite a nice one signed by Jean Chapman. It is called OXFORD FALLS - Frenchs Forest. I wondered whether it would be one of the author Jean Chapman's as I read that she studied art around Sydney. If anyone could help me identify it, I would rather forward it to Jean's family than paint over it. Do you have an email address to which I could forward some pictures?
Angela