I am a writer, artist, and art historian and I live and work on the southwest coast of England. I write both non-fiction and fiction, the former focusing on 18th century Japanese woodblock prints and the latter being satirical or historical in nature.
To say that I am obsessed with Japanese woodblock prints would be a great understatement. I live, eat and breathe them. This passionate love affair all began back in 1986, when I was a student. I went on a field trip with a group of fellow students, to Birmingham City Museum & Art Gallery, and saw a Japanese woodblock print for the first time. It was one of Utamaro's, and it was love at first sight. I immediately bought a copy of Jack Hillier's 'Utamaro: Colour Prints and Paintings', and carried it with me everywhere I went from that day forward... it was never out of my sight.
I was immensely fortunate in that not long afterwards, while I was at art school, I met Jack Hillier for the first time. He became my mentor, but more importantly he became a very dear friend. I can't even begin to count the ways in which knowing him impacted, and continues to impact, upon my life.
With Jack Hillier's guidance, I began in depth research into Utamaro's woodblock prints. I also began collecting Japanese prints, initially concentrating on book illustrations and then moving on to broadsheets, until I finally worked my way up to Utamaro.
I've always been fascinated by the subjects depicted in Japanese art, and that interest resulted in me writing my first book about Utamaro, 'Utamaro Revealed: A Guide to Subjects, Themes and Motifs', published in the autumn of 2008.
My second book about Utamaro began life as a personal project; there was no complete catalogue of Utamaro's works, I needed one, so I decided to make my own. When I declared to Jack Hillier, in 1987, that I wanted to catalogue every single one of Utamaro's prints (which I knew numbered around 2,000), he did not bat an eyelid at the thought of so ambitious (it really was!) a project; he merely suggested that I allow twenty years and then handed me his own personal handwritten notes. The suggested timescale was spot on, and the notes were invaluable. 'The Complete Woodblock Prints of Kitagawa Utamaro: A Descriptive Catalogue' was published in November, 2009.
In 2003, I moved into a new apartment with my husband. Much to my horror, I found that we were living above what I can only describe as elderly 'neighbours from hell'. Always a fan of satire, I set about writing my first novel, a dark comedy about a thirty-something woman who murders her elderly neighbour. 'The Wonderful Demise of Benjamin Arnold Guppy' was published at the end of 2008, and the sequel, ‘The Delightful Undoing of Patricia Enid Guppy’ is due to be released in June 2010.
