Watercolour is the Choice for Book Illustration

Nineteen-year-old freelance artist and designer Lael Chisholm of Feilding has won the prestigious Storylines Gavin Bishop Award for Illustration for 2017. The Award was presented at The Storylines Margaret Mahy Medal and National Awards Day on Sunday 2 April 2017 in Auckland. for a previously unpublished picture book illustrator.

The sixth child in a family of 10, she began drawing from an early age. As a child she was encouraged to draw and made picture books for her younger sisters, writing and illustrating her own stories about their soft toys midnight-feasting in the yard with feijoa characters.

At Feilding High School the art students used acrylic in early years, but when Lael was studying for NCEA a teacher drew her attention to watercolour. From then on, thats all I use, says Lael. Its easier than other media (how often do you hear that?) because you can work it after it has dried you can blend it, or rewet it. It has lovely transparency.

Lael experimented with watercolour, figuring out her own ways of using it to suit her illustrations.

Lael created a storyboard and two illustrations for the award and is now completing the job. The book, by Heather Haylock, is called Granny McFlitter, the Champion Knitter and will be published next year. Lael has plans for a future in illustration and also in writing her own stories.

The Storylines Childrens Literature Charitable Trust of New Zealand supports and promotes the development of childrens and young adults' literature in New Zealand.

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