I’d clearly forgotten I’d ordered a second hand copy of ‘ A Child’s Garden Of Verses’ by Robert Louis Stevenson and more importantly, illustrated by Brian Wildsmith.

What a treat when I discovered what was in the mystery parcel. He is a talented children’s artist and has been for many years, yet many people still don’t know his work. Out of interest the book of verses I’d bought was first published in 1966, my edition was reprinted in 1992, some 26 years later and I’d guess it’s still going strong !  The japanese not surprisingly love his work so much, that in 1994, the Brian Wildsmith Art Museum was established in Izukogen, a town south of Tokyo, Japan. Almost one and a half million people visited a traveling exhibition of his work in 2005. Eight hundred of his paintings are on loan to the museum.

On his own website  Brain Wildsmith it says..

Brian Wildsmith was raised in a small mining village in Yorkshire, England, where, he says, “Everything was grey. There wasn’t any colour. It was all up to my imagination. I had to draw in my head…”.  “ I believe that beautiful picture books are vitally important in subconsciously forming a child’s visual appreciation, which will bear fruit in later life.”

And those of us already in our mid lives can thankfully appreciate him still !

and talking of being inspired,this amazing advert from Premiere Vision caught my attention.