Today is Library Mice’s stop of the blog tour for Tom Tinn-Disbury’s My Summer with Grandad (New Frontier Publishing), a wonderful story of inter generational bond between a little boy and his grandad. Eric is learning to fish with his grandad and is finding it tricky. When a young seagull gets caught in a fishing net, Eric is intent on nursing it back to health. He does a great job and as Beaky (as he named the bird) becomes stronger, Eric must the face the fact that if he really loves his friend, he must set it free.
My Summer with Grandad is a gentle tale which is rich in important themes: family relationships, learning to care for animals (and the impact fishing has on marine wildlife), but also accepting where one’s strengths are: Eric might not be good at fishing, but he is very good at caring for the seagull. The idea that sometimes we need to let go, even if we don’t want to is dealt with very well. The artwork is both gentle and dynamic, with a lovely colour palette and a great use of typography.
As summer draws closer and we make a tentative return to trips to the seaside and visits to grandparents, this is a really lovely and poignant read of special bonds between a grandchild and his grandfather.

A tour of my studio
by Tom Tinn-Disbury

This is the office I work in, I hesitate to call it a studio as I think that sounds too fancy for what it is!
This is the fab work table that my wife had made for me a few years ago, I use it for all my painting and sketching.
The drawers are full of paper, textures and envelopes full of old paint swatches and various scans that I’ve used in past projects.
My overflowing book area, I have a very serious book buying habit but we have a general lack of book storing locations so it is tricky balance!

My gradually growing framed pic/art selection:

signed John Robins tour poster (one of my fave comedians), below him is a picture of my lovely doggy companion Wilma.
Oliver Jeffers animal print from “Here We Are”
A signed print from his book “The incredible book eating boy”, the book that made me want to make picture books for a living.
This is my main digital workstation, with my trusty Wacom tablet. Many illustrations have been made on that! Plus a signed print from fab illustrator Tony Johnson that says “Stop whining and do some work!”.

Like I say it isn’t much but it is my little haven, I love being in here when I’m deep into creating all the final artwork for a book. It becomes my creative cave. Then the feeling of completing a project and doing a massive tidy up is so liberating!

Thank you so much Tom
You can follow the rest of the blog tour:

My Summer with Grandad is out now and can be purchased from your local bookshop or online from our partner bookshop Storytellers Inc.:

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