Jan Ormerod

Jan Ormerod , born Janet Louise Hendry, was an Australian illustrator of childrens books. She first came to prominence from her wordless picture book Sunshine which won the 1982 Mother Goose Award. Her work was noted for its ability to remove clutter to tell a simple story that young children could enjoy, employing flat colours and clean lines. She produced work for more than 50 books throughout her career, including publications by other authors, such as a 1987 edition of J. M. Barries Peter Pan and David Lloyds retelling of The Frog Prince. Ormerod began her illustrative career in Britain after moving to England in 1980, but she returned to themes connected to her home country with Lizzie Nonsense , Water Witcher and the award winning Shake a Leg for Aboriginal writer Boori Monty Pryor.

Janet Louise Hendry was born in 1946, the youngest of four daughters, in the port city of Bunbury in Western Australia. Her childhood was spent following artistic pursuits, drawing inspiration from British schoolgirl annuals and American comics. She studied at art college in Perth, and on graduation she taught art on enrichment courses in secondary schools and later lectured at a teachers college and art schools. She married Paul Ormerod, a childrens librarian, in 1971 and after spending several years moving between Britain and Australia they settled in Cambridge in 1987. Although never planning to start a family, the birth of her first child, Sophie, Ormerod found motherhood a great boon and enjoyed the intimacy of her daughters company. Sophies enjoyment in the childrens books her father brought home spurred Ormerod into considering illustrating her own books, which resulted in the publication of Sunshine in 1981. Sunshine was a wordless book which consisted of a series of panels fol

Source: Wikipedia