Monkeys are ten for pound;280; choose two hippos or six warthogs for Pounds 300. The in-your-face acrylic artwork from Alison Bartlett’s jolly counting book, Over in the Grasslands, is among more than 300 pieces on sale at Images of Delight, the contemporary children’s books illustrators’
exhibition at Waterstone’s Piccadilly branch April 21-29. You can also view or buy works by 20 illustrators at www.imagesofdelight.com, a great source of picture book artists’ biographies, booklists and background.
For example, Barbara Firth, creator of the Little Bear series with Martin Waddell, could not help noticing the “mean little eyes” of the creatures she drew in the zoo before creating their cosier counterparts. Original colour artwork of Firth’s Big Bear and Little Bear will set you back around Pounds 1,000 (there are sketches for pound;150), Axel Scheffler’s Gruffalo (pictured) is pound;900 and the Gruffalo’s Child or The Smartest Giant in Town are Pounds 750 each. Saturday April 23 is a children’s open day of storytelling, book signing and drawing with a selection of the illustrators, 11.30am-4.00pm, in the children’s department of Waterstone’s Piccadilly, in central London. Full programme at www.imagesofdelight.com.