After more than five years of producing and selling my self-published children's picture book, 'The Adventures of William Brambleberry: Aviator Mouse' and plush toy 'Aviator Mouse' under my own brand Very Brambleberry, I have partnered with one of my best customers The Military Shop who are now producing and distributing the book and toy in a box set through their stores.

The book is about a little mouse who has big dreams of flying Spitfires during WWII. He befriends the pilots of 453 Squadron, a real Australian Spitfire fighter squadron based in the UK during WWII. With determination and practice, he becomes the bravest, most adventurous aviator mouse in the world. Information about the book and research notes on the book's military history can be found on the website - www.verybrambleberry.com.

In even more exciting news, Australia Post is selling the box set for ANZAC Day commemorations in participating stores all across Australia. The only problem is, I don't know what stores they've been sent to so I'd love to play a game of 'spot the mouse' with you. If you're in an Australia Post store please see if you can spot my little aviator mouse, take a photo, send it to me and let me know which store.

I am looking forward to sharing interviews and posts about the book. You can join me on the journey by following Very Brambleberry’s social media:

• Facebook - verybrambleberry

• Instagram - verybrambleberry

In 2018, I worked on a few social media art ‘challenges’ and kept experimenting with watercolour paints. One project I worked on in early 2018 was the Character Design Weekly Challenge. I created characters for my book series, Tales from Brambleberry Farm, which is not yet written but still swishing around in my head.

The theme for week 1 of the Character Design Challenge was Pet and I had such fun imagining and then creating the Brambleberry family’s pet, Snowy, the jumping spider. Snowy likes to play fetch with the Brambleberry children, join the family on their daily rambles and curl up on the lounge on cold, wet days.

The theme for the second week was Toddler/Baby, which prompted me to create ‘Bethany,’ the baby of the Brambleberry Farm family. She has a tiny pet frog called Sprog that she carries around everywhere goes. Bethany loves animals and wants to be a vet when she grows up.

Later on in May, I created the work featured above, A Very Brambleberry Mouse, which is one of my favourite illustrations, even if the work is not particularly sophisticated or well-developed.

Life and morning sickness got in the way of my creativity but I managed to challenge myself with daily sketches in June. I worked on an image of a Charming Tales figurine, which I drew on print paper, traced onto baking paper and then retraced onto 300gsm watercolour paper, cut down to card size for my daily sketches. I enjoyed experimenting with different techniques and mediums for each one.

In the third week, I decided to play around with my watercolour paint and create a few pieces with a Winter and Yule theme.

My illustration work slowed down and petered out as pregnancy, and then life with a new baby overtook my creativity for a few years.

Here are a few of my favourites from the year:

The Black-throated finch is an endangered bird now found in small populations in Queensland. One of these fragile populations is currently under threat from the proposed Adani Coal Mine in the Galilee Basin.

The Black-throated finch is representative of not only it’s own precarious position, but that of all other species currently threatened by the wider climate and biodiversity crisis. I welcome artists to share the voice of collective grief in The Black Finch Project.

Charlotte Watson, artist.

Inspired by this project, I created three pieces to express my heartache and protest the government’s decision to approve Adani’s horrendous Carmichael Mine in Queensland’s Galilee Basin. The artwork was sent to the Black Finch project and displayed in a Melbourne art gallery along with 1,400 other Black Finch-inspired works of art, before being sent to politicians who were involved in approving the mine.

The video 0:53 mins) below features some of the artwork displayed in the gallery.

Details about the project and some of the beautiful artwork can be seen in this July 2019 article, Black Finch Project: the anti-Adani art campaign - in pictures, in the Guardian.

In addition, I turned these pieces into postcards and sent them to the politicians who were involved in approving the mine.

• Townsville Mayor – Cr Jenny Hill

• QLD Premier – Hon Annastacia Palaszczuk

• QLD Minister for Natural Resources, Mines and Energy – Hon Dr Anthony Lynham

• QLD Minister for Environment and the Arts – Hon Leeanne Enoch

• QLD Opposition Leader – Mrs Deborah Frecklington

• QLD Shadow Minister for Natural Resources and Mines – Mr Dale Last

• Prime Minister – Hon Scott Morrison MP

• Minister for Resources – Senator Hon Matt Canavan

• Minister for Finance – Senator Hon Mathias Corman

• National Party Leader, Minister for Infrastructure Transport and Regional Development – Hon Matthew McCormack MP

• Australian Treasurer and Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party – Hon Josh Frydenberg MP

• Minister for Environment – Hon Sussan Ley MP

• Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction – Hon Angus Taylor MP

One of each postcard was sent to the politicians every month with a different hand-written message.

26 July 2019 - Postcard 1:

Dear <Politician>, No matter what your personal motivation is for supporting the Adani mine, or the coal industry in general, please ask yourself… is it worth it?

9 August 2019 - Postcard 2:

Dear <Politician>, For our children’s sake, please stop your greed, look at the consequences and listen to the experts, to the Australian people (especially our children) and to your conscience!

25 September 2019 - Postcard 3:

Dear <Politician>, Doesn’t your heart bleed, just a little, when you see the consequences of your greed?

Sadly, despite strong campaigning against the mine from scientists, artists, environmentalists, farmers, and traditional owners, Adani’s open-cut Carmichael Mine was approved and began construction in July 2019. It started mining commercial-scale shipments of coal in December 2021. Difficulties in securing funding due to intense negative publicity meant that the company’s plan to produce 60 million tonnes of coal per year was downsized to 10 million tonnes of coal. Adani Mining also changed its name to Bravus Mining & Resources in an attempt to avoid the negative publicity connected to its name.

The mine has significant environmental impacts including the production of enormous amounts of greenhouse gas emissions and the amounts of water needed from rivers and underground aquifers that will see more than 300-metre drops in the local water table and “typically between 20 and 50 meters” beyond the mine’s boundary according to Adani’s own Supplementary Environmental Impact Statement. The mine is also located in an area that contains several threatened species such as the yakka skink, ornamental snake, the waxy cabbage palm, and the black-throated finch.

… My story is woven into this time and place with the threads of my ancestors. On my mother's side, my ancestors hailed from across the British Isles, setting sail from Ireland and Cornwall to seek fortune in the gold rush, and from Norway with the whaling fleets. My father's lineage traces back to Canada’s French settlers who hailed from Brittany in France. I spent my childhood living in places along the equator; five countries across four continents, before spending my high school years in a small country town in Far North Queensland. It is only natural then that the stories of these diverse cultures and their journeys resonate within me, shaping my perspective and deepening my connection to the world.

As a dreamy child, I inhabited a world of imagination. Books became my portals to enchanted realms, and I revelled in the joy of making art, writing and. I was and still am curious about the world around me. Nature was my playground, and I spent countless hours outdoors, lost in whimsical tales and pretending I could soar through the skies.

Those childhood dreams nurtured my creative spirit and led to the publication of my first children’s book and the first book in the Tales from Brambleberry Farm series. The Adventures of William Brambleberry: Aviator Mouse is a historical fiction picture book for children ages 4-7. The story tells of a determined little mouse, William Brambleberry, who lives in Perranporth, Cornwall during WWII and learns to fly a Spitfire by befriending pilots from Australia's 453 Squadron. My research notes for this book can be found here. The second book in the series, The Extraordinary Tale of Bianca: Spy Mouse, based on the real WWII hero Nancy Wake, is planned for release soon, stay tuned.

In addition to my children's books, I delve into the realms of folklore, mythology, traditions and customs, based on the turning of the seasons in the southern hemisphere through my blog and website Wheel and Cross. When time and inspiration converge, I also love to draw and illustrate whimsical characters, and I have begun to enjoy cross-stitch and embroidery.

Mostly, I am a collector of beauty and wonder. Illustrated storybooks, fairytales, folklore, and myths hold a cherished place on my shelves, inviting me into realms of magic and wisdom. I find solace and inspiration in nature, wandering amidst the intricate tapestry of mushrooms, moss, lichen, flowers, and ferns. Nature's bounty beckons me to forage for useful herbs and flavoursome fruits that nourish and heal both body and soul.

As I embrace the passing years, moving from motherhood to sovereign and then to crone, I find myself eagerly anticipating the wisdom and enchantment that comes with growing old. I may be a henwife, tending to my loved ones with care, wisdom, and a magic trick or two, or even old Baba Yaga, living in the forest, fiercely protective of the wild places and slightly dangerous. The stories of old crones and wise women inspire me, reminding me that the journey of life is a tapestry woven with countless adventures and limitless possibilities.

My feet are planted in the soil of a small country town just outside Canberra, Australia's capital city, on Ngunnawal Country, tended by and tending to my boys: my husband, my children, two dogs, and a cat.

Geneviève XO

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