‘With the Brightest Stars’ – Anna Walker – the bid is at $220

An award winning illustrator, author and multimedia artist, Anna is currently creating in Naarm/Melbourne.

She has illustrated and written books such as ‘Mr Huff’, ‘Peggy’, ‘Snap’, ‘Florette’ and more. One of her most recent ventures was a collaboration with Jane Godwin titled ‘A Life Song’.

Anna lives close to Merri Creek, a temporary oasis from the cityscape through which it wends, upon which so many different lives converge on their daily business.

Anna has learned to bike to work and enjoys calling out to the resident ducks on her way. From this description one might begin to believe Anna actually lives in one of her own peaceful and insightful stories.

As she works, drawing, writing or perhaps felting, a troupe of personality-filled miniature animals watch over her. Anna is their maker, as, perhaps most enchanting of all, she has taken to designing little felt and wire sculptures of her characters.

A project was sparked more seriously over the 2020 covid lockdown period, in which she became inspired by other’s street libraries and started constructing dioramas depicting these small creatures living their own simple lives. On Anna’s Youtube channel you can also find book trailers made with a some of this colourful cast.

As Anna explains her upbringing things start to fall into place.

‘I grew up in Eltham with lots of time to play in the garden and make things.’

Her desk also holds several lush pot plants and with various animals placed throughout, it seems her workspace has slowly morphed into an alternate version of the garden in which she used to play as a child.

‘I longed for the imaginary creatures that walked with me to school to be real.’

Anna radiates a warm joy and whimsy, perhaps this is partially because all her imaginary friends and foes have now materialised on the desk before her.

Anna likes to approach the world with a sense of wonder, letting every day life guide her imagination into potential story territory. When asked what she loves best about being an artist she says:

‘Being able to roam in the landscape of the imagination. Creating colours and images that come close to visualising what I see in my mind or feel. I often don’t have the words to be able to express what I want to say… but now and then I can create an illustration that speaks of a feeling or emotion without saying a word.’

A picture book like ‘Peggy’, follows a little black chicken, who has been blown over the fence and finds herself on a big city adventure. This was based on Anna’s fears about her own chickens being blown away during strong weather warnings. The Story of ‘Mr Huff’ is another narrative in which the main character is able to work through a challenge, and in so doing, is able to overcome it. Through her many gentle tales, Anna suggests that adversity can be disguised opportunity for growth and is after all, only temporary. Anna’s stories teach us that moving with the flow of life rather than fighting against it, can often lead to an unexpected answer and a renewed sense of freedom.

Anna uses a wonderfully tactile and layered approach to creating visuals for her picture books. She devises and draws her characters and then cuts them out with a fine scalpel. These can then be collaged with monoprints, patterned fabrics, or other ink and water colours cut outs. Her characters are delicately formed and most often shaded with a combination of watercolours, acrylics and pencil. It’s very textured work and each medium adds a different dimension and feeling to the varied elements of a scene, making an animal look soft or the sea rough. The collage style also defines the characters helping them to stand out and catch the reader’s attention.

When asked to speak about something beautiful she had seen in recent memory, she said:

‘One of the most beautiful scenes I have experienced was in late summer…in the afternoon sunlight a flock of Cabbage White Butterflies hovered over the gardens of Abbotsord Convent. Sunlit pollen lifted on the breeze and a gumleaf descended from the branches above. Time seemed to slow down, the leaf twirled, almost suspended while it danced with the butterflies.’

Currently, Anna is working on a project about a Cabbage Butterfly and a Cricket with Scribble Books. I imagine this blissful scene may have served as another of life’s nudges to Anna’s playful imagination.

Of her kite, Anna spoke thoughtfully, mentioning a quote journal she had recently begun, as source of inspiration that surfaced upon receiving the kite:

‘…I couldn’t help thinking of these words: “The Milky Way was commonly believed to be a river, with the brightest stars fish, other stars waterlily bulbs, and the dark patches lagoons.” from The Tall Man by Chloe Hooper. The idea of fish swimming in the night sky is so beautiful… I couldn’t resist creating a Weedy Sea Dragon on my kite, to fly among the stars.’

Her sea dragon appears much like a Cyanotype, however it was produced with shades of blue spray paint and a cutout creature design, all resulting in a deep midnight blue backdrop for the radiant, celestial sea dragon. The edge of the spray paint bleeds and smudges a little around the design imbuing the sea dragon with an ethereal, diaphanous quality.

by Adelaide Stolba