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Meet my latest characters, the wonderful animals from my soon to be published book, AAAAALPACAS! You may have seen them before if you follow me on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter, as I have been sketching/drawing/painting them for what seems like forever. I’ve done them in pencil, watercolour and on my drawing tablet and for ages I’ve not been happy with how they look. However, I think I am now…or at least I can’t wait any longer to put the book to bed, so I’m as happy as I currently can be with the illustrations. So, here they are…from left to right there’s Frederick, Carol, Old Brown Dave, Little Bo and Flo and not only do they exist in my book, but they actually exist in real life too!

A few years ago now my family and I started a little tradition on our trips to the lovely market town of Beverley in the East Riding of Yorkshire, which continues to this day. Each time we drive near the field where the alpacas live, we all start with a low AAAAA sound, holding it in one long breath until we get to the field where we finish with a crescendo of PACAS! As the years have passed, the alpacas or aaaaalpacas as we now know them, are always there, in the sun and rain, even in the snow. They have a shed at the back of the field to shelter from the really rotten weather, but they are always there.

Or at least, they were always there, until one day we drove along the A1035 and began the AAAAA only to finish it with a PACOOOOOOH! The aaaaalpacas weren’t there; the field was empty! Our eldest daughter was completely mystified and immediately her dad said “They’ve been scoffed!” Well, that was it, she was adamant they hadn’t been scoffed and not only that, she knew exactly where they were and so began the tales of where the aaaaalpacas had gone. For weeks we passed the empty field and with every journey our girl came up with fanciful explanations for where the fluffy creatures had gone.

Then, one day, we travelled towards the field and even though we didn’t expect them to be there we all started, one by one, with a quiet aaaaa and as we got to the field we were ecstatic to finish with a resplendent PACAS! They were back! Our daughters were both over the moon to see the animals back in the field and it was then that I decided it was time to write the story of the aaaaalpacas and where they’d been. We found out where they had been, but I won’t share that information, as it would be a major spoiler.

And so, after many, many months of trying to get the illustrations just right (which in my mind they aren’t truly, but they’re as close as they’ll ever be to what is in my head), I have submitted AAAAALPACAS! I’ve gone for a different book size this time, 8″ x 10″ rather than my usual 8.5″ x 8.5″, so I hope it looks good when I get my proof copy in a day or two. If you follow my social media accounts I’m sure I’ll share a sneak preview…as long as I’m happy with it that is, if not it’ll be back to the drawing board…again!