IT’S impossible to know how many people’s lives have been touched by Kenneth Grahame’s children’s classic, The Wind in the Willows.
But for one young artist, Ratty and Mole played a crucial role in establishing his career as a full-time watercolour illustrator of children’s books.
Chris Dunn graduated in 2008 with an illustration degree from Bath Spa University and began working life as a freelance illustrator producing portraits and conceptual illustrations mainly for editorial clients.
“The commissions were varied in style and content, however, they were not in the traditional watercolour style that I wished to pursue,” he says. “I set about entering open competitions that specialised in representational art, preferably with a watercolour bent.”
The process was a valuable groundwork for his career, but his big break came in 2013 with a large commission from Galerie Daniel Maghen in Paris.
“Until that point I was illustrating for magazines and producing private / gallery commissions while working part-time in a Bath gallery,” he recalls. “Soon after beginning work for the gallery I was offered a chance to teach a children’s book illustration course at a local summer school.
“I had an inkling The Wind in the Willows would be a perfect story for students and myself to illustrate, so I picked up a copy, made notes as I read and thought one day I’d like to illustrate the unabridged version for a publisher.”
Galerie DM approached him with an offer to paint a series of watercolours based in the world of The WInd In the Willows and his love affair with all things Ratty, Mole, Badger and Toad was cemented.
The paintings successfully exhibited in Paris in 2016, followed by another Galerie DM series commission, this time to illustrate Willows properly.
“I finally became a full-time artist specialising in traditional children’s book watercolour illustration,” says Chris.
The publisher Caurette had strong links with Galerie Daniel Maghen and it made sense to work together to produce a book and an exhibition of the originals to coincide with the book launch.
Unfortunately the grand exhibition and book launch never happened due to the coronavirus lockdown and everything was launched and sold online. But Chris’s career was firmly established.
Since then he has worked on a variety of other children’s books and an animal retelling of The Night Before Christmas.
But Ratty and Mole have a special place in his heart, allowing him to explore the world on the periphery of the riverbank sometimes hinted at by Grahame.
“It was a rich seam to mine illustrating an imaginary (alas) world of woodland animals interacting at home, in the trees, city, sea coast, school and even in the air,” he recalls.
Chris has given permission for his pictures to be used on The Beyonder to illustrate some blog entries and our review of Matthew Dennison’s biography of Grahame.
His galleries and shop can be found at his website.
