1) Out of all the pages you
have illustrated, which one is your favourite and why?
In the Rabbits, probably the
painting of the ship, partly because it was quite difficult. It is also a
pivotal moment in the story, where it goes from being maybe a happy story (of
two kinds of animals meeting each other), to something a bit dark and
threatening - that is, all these rabbits coming out of this enormous machine,
and not to have a holiday!
2) What is the meaning or
significance of the little puddles of water that the rabbits are peering into
throughout the book?
I guess I felt it was a nice
image because water is so important as a life giving thing, but also that a
pond might reflect the sky (clouds or stars), and therefore somehow connects up
with the wider universe. I find there is a sense of 'oneness' or the
interconnectedness between all things to be found in looking at a pool of
water, or even just a puddle. At the end, the pool is important because it may
be the only bit of water left. Also, the fact that the pools are small
emphasises that little things can be more important than big things.
3) The Symbol above the
heading on the cover, does it have a significant meaning and Why have you used
it right through out the book?
It is meant to look like
some kind of insignia or governmental stamp, and that's why it recurs
throughout the book - my idea was that the Rabbits are very concerned with
property and ownership (in a way that other animals are
not) and claim things by
putting marks on them, including that symbol. The Symbol itself is less
important than it's use, but since you ask: the gun and the pen (quill) crossed
at the bottom represent 'instruments of power'
- the pen writes the laws
and the guns enforce it (this is how our society works a bit, when you think
about it). The image above them I imagined as the 'rabbit queen', with her ears
curled up - you will notice towards the end of the book we can see the rabbit
city, which has a big statue of the queen rabbit, with the curled ears.
Again, this is a very
'European' sort of an idea - of having kings and queens - especially ones that
rarely ever visit the country that you live in (which is why I think having the
Queen as our head of state is a ridiculous idea). I was making a bit of a
comment about that in the book.
4) Why is your art so Sureal
and not Realistic?
I like the fact that
paintings and drawings don't have to be realistic, and can be more powerful and
contain more information if they are not. Your question is quite a big one, and
it would take me a long time to answer properly, but the short response is that
by making things surreal, I'm hoping that people will look harder at them and
ask more questions about all the details (as you are doing!), rather than just
recognise it quickly and turn the page.
