My first book (I can say that now that my second is being
launched in April – whoop!) ‘Elen’s Island’ is very much influenced by where I
live.
It’s not difficult to see why.
The county simply evokes a need for storytelling – in me, at
least. I love it here. It’s a modern-day Blyton-shire with a culture of people
who still greet each other in the street. It has Honesty Boxes
for eggs and veg, and Ploughing Matches on special occasions.
My second book ‘Gaslight’ (Firefly Press, coming in April,
did I mention that?) is full of loads of the other things I love. It’s set in
Cardiff, where I was born, and in the Victorian era which I am obsessed with. It’s dark and mysterious, eerie and sad,
adventurous and more than a little bit murderous. Eek!
For my third and fourth books – which I am still working on –
I’ve returned to Pembrokeshire as my setting. I have brought the dark,
mysterious, danger back here with me! I may create villains but I'll still pay for my eggs!
Every day, when I step outside my door, I see something that
I want to write about. I thought I’d let my husband’s paintings show you some
of those things.
He is almost halfway through a project called ‘Postcards
from Pembrokeshire’ in which he challenged himself to paint a postcard-sized
picture of Pembrokeshire every day FOR A YEAR.
Apart from being hugely impressed with his skill as an
artist, his perseverance, commitment, and his ability to live with me, I am
also hugely in love with his depiction of this part of West Wales.
I do wish he would stop drying paintings on radiators and in
the oven though. Small price to pay to the Art God I suppose.
Guy Manning – husband - has a daily blog where you can
follow his progress if you are interested www.postcardsfrompembrokeshire.com
He says a bit about painting and a lot about Watson Jones,
our dog.
3 comments:
How interesting to live in a place that you both reflect that place back in your work. Thank you, Eloise.
The new book looks lovely. I read about your husband's project some while ago - his paintings are lovely! Off to look at his website...
Thanks both. That's really kind of you. :)
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