Suzanne Carpenter
Suzanne Carpenter lives in Caerleon, South Wales and her striking use of collage is the trademark of her illustrations. She has many Pont jackets to her name and the popular stories about Sglod, the chip-shop dog, have become firm favourites. This is how Suzanne has written about her way of working:
My lovely friend Mary kindly collects mountains of magazines and delivers them to my door.
Then we
gas, gas, jabber, jabber,
sip, sip, slurp,
jabber, jabber, gas, gas,
sip, sip, burp.
I search through the magazine pages to find bits of colour and texture
blue, sky, yellow,
stone, water, metal,
green, grass, purple,
red, flower, petal.
All my pictures are made out of paper. I cut and tear the pages to make new shapes and forms
fiddle, fiddle, fuss, fuss,
rip, stick, rip, stick,
twiddle, twiddle, fuss, fuss,
snip, stick, snip.
When I'm not making collages I like to go on long runs near my home Caerleon
huff, huff, huff, huff,
jog, skip, run,
pant, gasp, pant, gasp
it doesn't sound like fun . . . but it is.
I also like Whizzing around Wales, visiting schools and meeting lots of lovely children
whizz, whoosh, whiz, whoosh,
giggle and chatter,
story telling, picture making,
natter, natter, natter.
Sometimes I tell jokes to my teenagers, Holly and Joe
cheeky, cheeky monkeys,
roll their eyes and sigh,
'You're just not funny Mum,
we don't know why you try' . . . but I am
Maybe we'll meet one day and you'll see for yourself . . . I hope I can make you smile???
'Barti and Bel Whizz Around Wales' was her first venture as author and illustrator, rapidly followed by 'Barti and Bel Look for a Book'.
Suzanne continues to develop her way of working, increasingly using the computer to help produce her eye-catching images. Suzanne's work appears in Gaelic and Welsh as well as English.
She regularly provides workshops for children and teachers.
