ElsPeth Alix batt

“Vegetable Culture” Annual 3

I’m an illustrator, designer, and artist living in Auckland. I’ve been illustrating for a living ever since I graduated with a Graphic Design degree from the Auckland Technical Institute (now AUT) in 1984. I have created lots of illustrations for the School Journals for the Ministry of Education as well as children’s books, greeting cards, postage stamps, flag and t-shirt designs, and pictures to hang on the wall.

I have also been reading and collecting books since I was four. I’ve probably read thousands of books, and I own rather a lot of them. Dreamy’s Mistake was one of my first books. According to my mother, I could read “The fairy queen was very pleased with Dreamy” quite early on. I still have this book, very tattered now, and criss-crossed with flaking, yellowed Sellotape. 

More favourites followed, including Winnie the Pooh and The House at Pooh Corner by A. A. Milne along with Milne’s books of mostly humorous verse When We Were Very Young and Now We Are Six. Also, the small Beatrix Potter books of which The Tailor of Gloucester was much admired for the depiction of the intricate embroidery sewn by the naughty mice. Apparently, I was also very fond of The Blueberry Pie Elf, which I kept getting out of the library and asking my parents to read.

The Annuals that you could buy when I was a kid were released at the end of the year for Christmas. When I was younger, I got the Daily Sketch Children’s Annual and the Playhour Annual, both coming from England. I reread them occasionally.

Later, I really looked forward to receiving the Princess Tina comic every Monday, and Santa gave me the Princess Tina Annual for Christmas. They came from England, too, and I still appreciate the high-quality illustrations.

I have so many books that keep on inspiring me. Eloise in Paris by Kay Thompson and illustrated by the great Hilary Knight and Myths from Many Lands by Roger Lancelyn Green and illustrated by the under-appreciated Janet and Anne Grahame Johnstone are just two.

Of course I also got hooked on books without pictures as well, like the Sherlock Holmes stories by Arthur Conan Doyle and the Anne of Green Gables series by L.M. Montgomery. I continue to love reading mysteries, biographies, and thrillers as well as how-to and non-fiction books on arts and crafts and sciences. And of course children’s picture books.

Recently, I joined the ranks of picture book writers and illustrators with the publication of my first picture book I Love Bugs. What a thrill! Thank goodness for books and their creators. They have entertained me, fascinated me, informed me, transported me to other worlds during difficult times, and kept me sane!

My website https://www.elphbatt.com

My Instagram https://www.instagram.com/elph_batt