Nicola Mary Bayley (born August 18, 1949) is a Singaporean-born British

children's book Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. In addition to conventional literary genres, modern children's literature is classified by the intended age of the reade ...

illustrator and author. She is most known for her illustrations of cats, including in the books ''The Tyger Voyage'' by Richard Adams, '' The Mousehole Cat'' by Antonia Barber, ''Katje, The Windmill Cat'' by Gretchen Woelfle and others.

Life and career

Bayley was born on August 18, 1949, in

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

. She grew up in China and Hampshire, England, and attended an English

boarding school A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. They have existed for many centuries, and now extend acr ...

. She originally planned to study to become a fashion designer. Instead, she attended St. Martin's School of Art in London and studied

graphic design Graphic design is a profession, academic discipline and applied art that involves creating visual communications intended to transmit specific messages to social groups, with specific objectives. Graphic design is an interdisciplinary branch of ...

, focusing on illustration in her later years there under Fritz Wegner and John Farman. After, she studied at the

Royal College of Art The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a public university, public research university in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in South Kensington, Battersea and White City, London, White City. It is the only entirely postgraduate art and design uni ...

in London under

Quentin Blake Sir Quentin Saxby Blake (born 16 December 1932) is an English cartoonist, caricaturist, illustrator and children's writer. He has illustrated over 300 books, including 18 written by Roald Dahl, which are among his most popular works. For his l ...

. Publisher Tom Maschlerer noticed her final portfolio from the Royal College of Art and commissioned her to illustrate a book. This led to her first book, ''Nicola Bayley's Book of Nursery Rhymes'', being published by

Jonathan Cape Jonathan Cape is a British publishing firm headquartered in London and founded in 1921 by Herbert Jonathan Cape, who was head of the firm until his death. Cape and his business partner Wren Howard (1893–1968) set up the publishing house in ...

in 1975. Richard Adams was inspired by Bayley's illustration for the

nursery rhyme A nursery rhyme is a traditional poem or song for children in Britain and other European countries, but usage of the term dates only from the late 18th/early 19th century. The term Mother Goose rhymes is interchangeable with nursery rhymes. Fr ...

, "Three Thick Thumping Tigers Taking Toast for Tea", and he subsequently wrote a prose poem based on her work. The poem was turned into a book called ''The Tyger Voyage'', which Bayley illustrated. Released in 1976, it was Bayley's second book published by Jonathan Cape. In 1977, her book ''One Old Oxford Ox'' was published, containing a collection of tongue twisters. In 1984, she created the ''Copycat'' series, which included the books ''Parrot Cat'', ''Polar Bear Cat'', ''Elephant Cat'', ''Spider Cat'' and ''Crab Cat''. The 1990 book ''The Mousehole Cat'', written by Antonia Barber and illustrated by Bayley, won the

British Book Award The British Book Awards or Nibbies are literary awards for the best UK writers and their works, administered by ''The Bookseller''. The awards have had several previous names, owners and sponsors since being launched in 1990, including the Na ...

for illustrated children's books. She wrote and illustrated the 1998 book, ''The Necessary Cat''.

Style

Bayley's illustrations are painted using a

stippling Stippling is the creation of a pattern simulating varying Grayscale, degrees of solidity or shading by using small dots. Such a pattern may occur in nature and these effects are frequently emulated by artists. Art In printmaking, stipple ...

effect, created by using

brushes A brush is a common tool with bristles, wire or other filaments. It generally consists of a handle or block to which filaments are affixed in either a parallel or perpendicular orientation, depending on the way the brush is to be gripped during u ...

to make thousands of small dots. She works with watercolors, which is her preferred medium. Her illustrations were often based on her own pet cats. ''The Oxford Encyclopedia of Children's Literature'' stated, "Her artwork is characterized by minute detail, glowing colors, and fine texture", adding that her work "generally asa soft feel."

Selected works

*''Nicola Bayley's Book of Nursery Rhymes'' (1975) *''One Old Oxford Ox'' (1977), counting book *''Copycats'' (1984), series *''The Necessary Cat'' (1998)

Illustrations

*''The Tyger Voyage'' (1976) by Richard Adams *''Puss in Boots'' (1976 and 1977),

pop-up book A pop-up book is any book with three-dimensional space, three-dimensional pages, often with elements that ''pop up'' as a page is turned. The terminology serves as an umbrella term for movable book, pop-ups, tunnel books, transformations, volvel ...

*''La Corona and the Tin Frog'' (1978) by Russell Hoban *''The Patchwork Cat'' (1981) by William Mayne *''The Mouldy'' (1983) by William Mayne *''The Moushole Cat'' (1990 or 1991) by Antonia Barber *''All for the Newborn Baby'' (2000) by Phyllis Root *''Katje, The Windmill Cat'' (2001 or 2002) by Gretchen Woelfle

Awards and honors

* 1991

for Illustrated Children's Book - ''The Mousehole Cat'', written by Antonia Barber * 2001

Kate Greenaway Medal The Carnegie Medal for Illustration (until 2022 the Kate Greenaway Medal) is a British award that annually recognises "distinguished illustration in a book for children". It is conferred upon the illustrator by the Chartered Institute of Librar ...

Shortlist - ''Katje, the Windmill Cat'', written by Gretchen Woelfle

References

External links

Nicola Bayley at Caroline Sheldon Literary Agency

Interview in ''Books for Keeps''

Nicola Bayley at Godine, Publisher
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bayley, Nicola 1949 births Living people 20th-century British women artists 21st-century British women artists Alumni of Saint Martin's School of Art Alumni of the Royal College of Art British Book Award winners English children's book illustrators British women children's book illustrators