A Niland Art Exhibition

 
I've been busy the last couple of months sorting, painting and framing many of my works to be exhibited alongside my sister Kilmeny's fabulous array of her own paintings from her art collection.

This exhibition is presented as a tribute to Kilmeny's lifelong interest in art and will be held at the Artarmon Galleries in Sydney from the 6th to the 23rd October, 2012.

There will be a wide variety of artwork on show and for sale: original illustrations from books, oil paintings, watercolours, ink, humorous paintings, serious paintings, enigmatic paintings, portraits of people and portraits of fruit. There will be a scattering of hippos, monkeys and cows, dogs and cats, but no pigs.
You'll see big paintings and tiny paintings.

Come and visit the gallery if you are interested in book illustration and painting. Kilmeny has left a beautiful legacy.

Some more paintings on show from the exhibition.

Kilmeny Niland

Deborah Niland

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.

Children's Book Week 2011

Now we're in the middle of Book Week and there are so many wonderful books to read!

Last Friday The Tall Man and the Twelve Babies written by my nephew, Tom, and his mother, Kilmeny and illustrated by me, was awarded a prize in the CBCA Awards for 2011.
All the books and award-winners can be found here.

Tom and I were thrilled to have received an award, and Kilmeny would have been as proud as Punch of her talented son.
Thank you to the publishers Allen & Unwin who believed in this funny story and were totally supportive.

I'd like to acknowledge the dedicated work from the members of the CBCA who have done a magnificent job in encouraging and extending the reading habits of children.  Also to our fantastic teachers/ librarians who promote reading and work tirelessly for good literacy standards.

Nicola from Swallowcliffe School in South Australia has sent me a photo of herself dressed up as a Book Week character.  She has chosen The Tall Man.  Doesn't she look fabulous!

Well done Nicola!  I'm sure the kids were delighted!