I am super excited to announce the publication of my children’s book, Who Lives in This House: The Village of Cobble Hill. Last year, I took up the art of watercolor painting. I started with simple quirky houses, as well as colorful mushroom houses. I quickly developed a wonderful style of whimsical and enchanting cobblestone houses.
As I shared my paintings with others, I was inspired to create a little story book with fun rhyming stories to go along with the paintings. It was meant to be a gift of a single book for my great nephew and niece, but the book morphed into a bigger project of a proper published book, which I am thrilled to share with you here now.
UPDATE: Due to printing issues with Amazon’s POD service, my book is now permanently unavailable.
I do have a few copies available that can be ordered directly from me. The cost will be 12.00 CND per book, plus shipping. Email me at [email protected] if you would like a copy. I do plan to have gift cards and prints available as well, but the book is permanently off the shelf now.
Initially, I tried to make the book using a picture book format from my local photo lab. It was awkward and impossible to format. So I decided to used Amazon KDP Select to self publish this book because it was the easiest and most affordable way to make a nice enough book for the kids. As a result, the book is available for anyone who wants to buy it.
The above paintings are what I started playing around with. This was in November of 2024. They were playful and whimsical, but I soon found another style of quirky houses which quickly became a style I loved to create.
By early 2025, I was creating this style of whimsical and enchanting water color paintings. The book, Who Lives in This House? : The Village of Cobble Hill, is made from nine paintings and includes fun rhyming stories for each house to help the children imagine who might live there. The last of the nine paintings does not have a story, but invites the child to make up their own story.
I have also written instructions on how to make the last two pages of the book into a pocket where they can safely keep their own written stories (with the help of an adult). I will also have gift cards available to purchase at some point. I’m still trying to figure out the logistics of that without doing Etsy or having an on-line store website.