Behind the Scenes

A Grand Place - Grenada Illustrated

This Year I began work on hopefully the first of many Children’s book called ‘A Grand Place’.

‘‘While Zora waits for Grandma to return, she explores what it means to have a home away from home. This nostalgic love letter to Grenada is a joyful celebration of Caribbean culture and all the forms it has taken over generations. Join Zora on her journey through this heart-warming tale of love, family and home.’’ Formy Books

Written by Leighan Renaud, we worked together to create this charming tale about our homeland Grenada.

Published by Formy Book on October 14th 2021 . Available for purchase here .


My research into this book was luckily all first-hand as I happened to be currently living on the Island. I had returned to be with my family during ‘the unprecendented times’ , I never realised it would lead to a children’s book. I was very lucky in that respect, and lucky that my first children’s book would be very personal to my own childhood.

I came to learn the concept of ‘Own Voice Stories’ and even had the chance to talk about how it affected my perspective of children’s publishing. It is not always enough just to see yourself represented but to have that representation in the creatives themselves. It shows that anyone can have access to different oppurtunities.

We never know where our creative journey will take us, but knowing it is not a limited choice and it can be what you make it is very uplifting.

my re-imagination of the Grand Etang Forest Reserve.

I would be hardpressed to pick a favourite illustration in this book as each featured an element of home that was dear to me. I made a point to plant as many easter eggs as I could to be found by watchful eyes. A single image can tell a story in many layers, and I wanted readers both familiar and new to landscape of Grenada to revisit the book and always find something new, just like they would in person.

I am grateful to have had the chance to share this story, as lately my art has been heavily inspired by Grenada. I was given a chance to re-live my own childhood as I gathered my references and I came to realise that what I always love about Grenada has never faded. During this time, I also became an avid hiker and my parents now joke that I know more about the island than they do. So I think I can qualify as a tour guide now! (Perhaps my next workshop should include a hike?)


I will end this with a few illustrations from the book , but I do hope you will pick up a copy of Grand Place to see them all!

Drawing Architecture - An AOI illo Meet-up

On February 3rd 2021, I had the pleasure of being the guest host for the Illustration Meet-up organised by the AOI (Association of Illustrators). The meet-up is a casual setting for artists to socialize and sketch together for an hour or two. The theme was Drawing Architecture and it was very humbling to share my art practice in this way. It was also the first meet-up for the year so to say I wasn’t nervous would be a lie, but it also helped motivate me to create an enjoyable session.

Promotional Flyer

Promotional Flyer

As part of the meet-up I created a virtual tour, inviting participants to visit my homeland of Grenada via the magic of Zoom/screenshare. While they sketched away, I showed them around the capital town of St. George’s; known for being one of the most picturesque towns in the Caribbean. I presented anecdotes about famous historial buildings with emphasis on examples of Georgian-style architecture. The timing of this event alined nicely with it also being the Independance Holiday weekend (Feb 7th).

My sketch of the National Museum.

My sketch of the National Museum.

The session was divided up in to the warm-up; 5 minutes given to draw each slide (containing 2-3 references) and then 2 long studies, 30 minutes of one reference each.

Special Thanks to my co-hosts and organisers Lana Le and Natasha Knight.

A full article by the AOI about the event, including wonderful artworks from participants can be found here

The Long Wall - Long study reference

The Long Wall - Long study reference


2020 Workshops Summary

The ‘Let’s Draw!’ workshops are done for 2020 and in short amount of time I was able to have 5! Sometimes it rained and they had to be postponed but they all happened eventually! I had many repeat students and it was great to see their progress over the last few months. I never expected such a response but I’m so grateful to how it turned out. Every workshop I was pushed to come up with a challenge and always try something new and fun!

Critics were also a great way to help not only my students but for me to see what I needed to improve on in my teaching methods. Lots of healthy discussions were had!

I look forward to the New Year and the many new workshops to plan! Till then, thank you!