Today Fátima Ordinola joins us in The Reading Realm to talk about her heart-warming and beautifully illustrated new picture book, OUR LOVE!

Read time: 4 minutes

Before we settle down in The Reading Realm and talk about your new book, what’s your drink and snack of choice? What music would you like playing in the background? 

My drink and snack of choice would be a black coffee with some chocolate biscuits. I like listening to the Beatles or peaceful acoustic music. I also like listening to podcasts! Lately I’m listening to Pulp Kitchen: A Film Podcast. 

Your new book OUR LOVE is beautiful! What can you tell us about it? 

Thank you! I made this book with all my energy and love for animals and family. It’s a picture book that reflects what love is between animals and the things they do as a family. 

The illustrations are so evocative and rich. Can you talk us through the process of creating the artwork for this book?

Sure, I’m always curious about this part of the process from other creators, and I’d love to share some pictures too. For the artwork I experimented a lot with printing techniques such as etching and monoprint. Then I used watercolours, inks, pastels and collage to try different colour palettes. Once I had all these papers and experiments lying on my desk I could see and make a decision about the book direction. I wanted the artwork to be aligned with the softness of the text, and that’s why the soft pastels and black ink illustrations were my final choice. One of the best parts of the process was visiting and drawing lots of animals at Colchester Zoo and the Natural History Museum in London.

Swipe the photographs below to have a sneak peek at Fátima’s sketchbook!

It’s a mean question, but do you have a favourite illustration you can talk to us about? Why is it your favourite? 

Mmmm…I really love the gate fold illustration at the end. I think it’s one of my favourites because it was one of the first ones I did and helped me visualize the whole book. I hope everyone that opens that scene will feel curiosity! I had the best time doing it!

I know you were born in Peru and now live in Cambridge in the UK. I wondered how this might have influenced the book and impacted upon its creation? 

At the beginning it was difficult to adapt to being away from friends, family and my whole culture. But I used that feeling as an inspiration to work on the projects I did during my Masters in Children’s Book Illustration at Cambridge School of Art. During the first 3 months I read, listened and talked about immigration and how different and lonely we can feel in a place that is so welcoming and beautiful like Cambridge. This book is a reflection of what I feel my relationship with my family is, of what care, growth and companionship means. 

Finally, can you describe OUR LOVE in three words? 

Soft, heart-warming and colourful.