Nicola Bayley (born August 18, 1949) is a Singaporean-born British

children's book Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. Modern children's literature is classified in two different ways: genre or the intended age of the reader. Children's ...

illustrator and author. She is most known for her illustrations of cats, including in the books ''The Tyger Voyage'' by

Richard Adams Richard George Adams (9 May 1920 – 24 December 2016) was an English novelist and writer of the books ''Watership Down'', ''Maia'', ''Shardik'' and ''The Plague Dogs''. He studied modern history at university before serving in the British Army ...

, ''

The Mousehole Cat ''The Mousehole Cat'' is a children's book written by Antonia Barber and illustrated by Nicola Bayley. Based on the legend of Cornish fisherman Tom Bawcock and the stargazy pie, it tells the tale of a cat who goes with its owner on a fishing ex ...

'' by

Antonia Barber Antonia Barber (real name Barbara Anthony; 10 December 1932 - 4 April 2019), was an English author of books for children and adults. Barber resided in Kent and Mousehole, Cornwall. Her book ''The Mousehole Cat'' was adapted as an animated film a ...

, ''Katje, The Windmill Cat'' by Gretchen Woelfle and others.

Life and career

Bayley was born on August 18, 1949 in

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

. She grew up in China and

Hampshire, England Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

and attended an English

boarding school A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. As they have existed for many centuries, and now exten ...

. She originally planned to study to become a fashion designer. Instead, she attended St. Martin's School of Art in London and studied

graphic design Graphic design is a profession, academic discipline and applied art whose activity consists in projecting visual communications intended to transmit specific messages to social groups, with specific objectives. Graphic design is an interdiscipli ...

, focusing on illustration in her later years there under

Fritz Wegner Fritz Wegner (15 September 1924 – 15 March 2015) was an Austrian-born illustrator, resident in the United Kingdom from 1938. Early life and exile Fritz Wegner was born in Vienna on 15 September 1924 into a family of assimilated Jews. Following ...

and John Farman. After, she studied at the

Royal College of Art The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in South Kensington, Battersea and White City. It is the only entirely postgraduate art and design university in the United Kingdom. It offe ...

in London under

Quentin Blake Sir Quentin Saxby Blake, (born 16 December 1932) is an English cartoonist, caricaturist, illustrator and children's writer. He has illustrated over 300 books, including 18 written by Roald Dahl, which are among his most popular works. For his ...

. Publisher Tom Maschlerer noticed her final portfolio from the Royal College of Art and commissioned her to illustrate a book. This led to her first book, ''Nicola Bayley's Book of Nursery Rhymes'', being published by

Jonathan Cape Jonathan Cape is a London publishing firm founded in 1921 by Herbert Jonathan Cape, who was head of the firm until his death in 1960. Cape and his business partner Wren Howard set up the publishing house in 1921. They established a reputation ...

in 1975. Richard Adams was inspired by Bayley's illustration for the

nursery rhyme A nursery rhyme is a traditional poem or song for children in Britain and many other countries, but usage of the term dates only from the late 18th/early 19th century. The term Mother Goose rhymes is interchangeable with nursery rhymes. From t ...

, "Three Thick Thumping Tigers Taking Toast for Tea", and he subsequently wrote a

prose poem Prose poetry is poetry written in prose form instead of verse form, while preserving poetic qualities such as heightened imagery, parataxis, and emotional effects. Characteristics Prose poetry is written as prose, without the line breaks associat ...

based on her work. The poem was turned into a book called ''The Tyger Voyage'', which Bayley illustrated. Released in 1976, it was Bayley's second book published by Jonathan Cape. In 1977, her book ''One Old Oxford Ox'' was published, containing a collection of tongue twisters. In 1984, she created the ''Copycat'' series, which included the books ''Parrot Cat'', ''Polar Bear Cat'', ''Elephant Cat'', ''Spider Cat'' and ''Crab Cat''. The 1990 book ''The Mousehole Cat'', written by Antonia Barber and illustrated by Bayley, won the

British Book Award The British Book Awards or Nibbies are literary awards for the best UK writers and their works, administered by ''The Bookseller''. The awards have had several previous names, owners and sponsors since being launched in 1990, including the National ...

for illustrated children's books. She wrote and illustrated the 1998 book, ''The Necessary Cat''.

Style

Bayley's illustrations are painted using a

stippling Stippling is the creation of a pattern simulating varying degrees of solidity or shading by using small dots. Such a pattern may occur in nature and these effects are frequently emulated by artists. Art In printmaking, stipple engraving is ...

effect, created by using

brushes A brush is a common tool with bristles, wire or other filaments. It generally consists of a handle or block to which filaments are affixed in either a parallel or perpendicular orientation, depending on the way the brush is to be gripped durin ...

to make thousands of small dots. She works with

watercolors Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (British English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin ''aqua'' "water"), is a painting method”Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to t ...

, which is her preferred

medium Medium may refer to: Science and technology Aviation *Medium bomber, a class of war plane * Tecma Medium, a French hang glider design Communication * Media (communication), tools used to store and deliver information or data * Medium of ...

. Her illustrations were often based on her own pet cats. ''The Oxford Encyclopedia of Children's Literature'' stated, "Her artwork is characterized by minute detail, glowing colors, and fine texture", adding that her work "generally asa soft feel."

Selected works

*''Nicola Bayley's Book of Nursery Rhymes'' (1975) *''One Old Oxford Ox'' (1977), counting book *''Copycats'' (1984), series *''The Necessary Cat'' (1998)

Illustrations

*''The Tyger Voyage'' (1976) by

*''Puss in Boots'' (1976 and 1977),

pop-up book The term pop-up book is often applied to any book with three-dimensional pages, although it is properly the umbrella term for movable book, pop-ups, tunnel books, transformations, volvelles, flaps, pull-tabs, pop-outs, pull-downs, and more, each ...

*''La Corona and the Tin Frog'' (1978) by

Russell Hoban Russell Conwell Hoban (February 4, 1925 – December 13, 2011) was an American expatriate writer. His works span many genres, including fantasy, science fiction, mainstream fiction, magical realism, poetry, and children's books. He lived in ...

*''The Patchwork Cat'' (1981) by

William Mayne William James Carter Mayne (16 March 1928 – 24 March 2010) was an English people, English writer of children's fiction. ''The Oxford Companion to Children's Literature'' calls him one of the outstanding children's authors of the 20th century and ...

*''The Mouldy'' (1983) by William Mayne *''The Moushole Cat'' (1990 or 1991) by Antonia Barber *''All for the Newborn Baby'' (2000) by Phyllis Root *''Katje, The Windmill Cat'' (2001 or 2002) by Gretchen Woelfle

Awards and honors

* 1991

for Illustrated Children's Book - ''The Mousehole Cat'', written by Antonia Barber * 2001

Kate Greenaway Medal The Kate Greenaway Medal is a British literary award that annually recognises "distinguished illustration in a book for children". It is conferred upon the illustrator by the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP) ...

Shortlist - ''Katje, the Windmill Cat'', written by Gretchen Woelfle

References

External links

Nicola Bayley at Caroline Sheldon Literary Agency

Interview in ''Books for Keeps''

Nicola Bayley at Godine, Publisher
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bayley, Nicola 1949 births Living people 20th-century British women artists 21st-century British women artists Alumni of Saint Martin's School of Art Alumni of the Royal College of Art British Book Award winners English children's book illustrators