Jane Eldershaw's Blog

Thank you Rebecca!

This story is about Elisabeth McIntyre, an Australian children's book artist and writer, and and an artist in many other ways. She was also deaf, having lost her hearing when she was younger. This story of how she created her art, coped with deafness and her interesting and challenging life is told with obvious affection by her daughter, intertwined with reproduced quotes from others and lots of quotes from Elisabeth's own diaries.

I enjoyed the story very much and found Elisabeth's story to be very interesing - she's a great subject. I have an obvious bias being interested in children's book writing. Elisabeth's story brings us through several themes including her thoughts on the creative process; her challenges in creating art during the time period; the challenges of life generally at the time and with her hearing impairment; discussions of what children's book writing was like at the time; and interesting anecdotes about things like her travels. Elisabeth lived in both Italy and Japan and these included great stories.

I loved learning about things like children's writing, Australia, and the life of an artist and the challenges Elisa faced.

The writing is fairly clear and easy to read, aand there is very much the sense of the daughter's affection that comes through. We are privy to Elisabeth's voice through her diarry which is great, although sometimes I found that the way the quotes were intertwined wasn't always quite as smooth as it could have been.

The formatting of the book is very cute with lots of graphics such as bits of drawings, photos and snippets from letters that bring the book to life, very appropriate since Elisabeth wrote picture books.

"As I see it, an Art artist is the one who balances on a knife-edge of such nebulous whims, fashions and circumstances that there is no stable criteria of good or bad, of whether you have made a fortune or just ruined a good $5.00 sheet of paper." — Elisabeth MacIntyre

“Charming!”
— Sophy Williams
International Director 
Black Inc

I compiled From Elisa with Advice & Kangaroos from my mother’s unpublished manuscripts, letters and illustrations. Part memoir, part analysis of the arc of an artist’s career, part travelogue, part diary-of-an-obsession, part self-help advice for creative people, it’s illustrated with drawings of her Currency Lads, the cute Aussie animals she spent her life trying to make as well-known as Disney characters.

"As I see it, an Art artist is the one who balances on a knife-edge of such nebulous whims, fashions and circumstances that there is no stable criteria of good or bad, of whether you have made a fortune or just ruined a good $5.00 sheet of paper. " — Elisabeth MacIntyre

ARC in pdf format of From Elisa with Advice & Kangaroos
available at BookSirens.com

Margo Lanagan, New York Times-bestselling author, reviews From Elisa with Advice & Kangaroos::

Nearly twenty years after her mother’s death, Jane Eldershaw goes hunting for “the secret of my mother’s creative zeal”. That zeal runs through this biography like a sustained flash of lightning. It’s there in Elisabeth’s own energetic voice and Jane’s more meditative one. It shines throughout from Elisabeth’s lovely deft drawings. It powers Elisabeth’s lifelong impulse to make and do and communicate what she sees and feels. And as she travels the world, attends to her art and builds her confidence in herself, she casts a fascinating light on the Australia of her times. Anyone interested in mothers and daughters; in 20th-century Australian publishing, literary culture and life; or in the ongoing labour and inspiration of a creative existence, will thoroughly enjoy this book.

It's my mother's story. She was an Australian children's book pioneer, travelled widely and had lots of advice on creative pursuits and self-confidence.

From Elisa with Advice & Kangaroos, available on Amazon.