Happy New Year!
A new year has begun!
2025 was a momentous year for me. As I started my retirement, I was excited about publishing Silent Sentinel after six years of planning, research, writing and painting. Little did I anticipate that this was to lead to such a busy and interesting year!
I have attended markets, book festivals and shows, where I have met many fascinating and lovely people, had lots of interesting conversations … and even sold a few books! In fact, in the eight months since Silent Sentinel was launched I have sold almost 250 books, or half of the printed copies I ordered. (For an independently published book, this is not a bad effort as many authors struggle to sell 100 copies in a year. )
I have been invited to give talks about my experience as an illustrator and author at schools and bookish events. One highlight was being asked by the Benalla Garden Club to be the guest speaker at one of their meetings. I felt a little daunted when I walked into the conference room and found it packed with more than a hundred members- a much bigger audience than I had anticipated. I began the talk nervously by telling a bit about myself, glad that I’d prepared a slide show to help me. As soon as I mentioned that Benalla was my birthplace, and showed some slides of our first house at the Migrant Accommodation Centre, I heard a murmur of appreciation from the audience and my own nervousness dissolved; we had a shared connection!
While in Adelaide in October for the Independent Book Festival (hosted by my publishers, Greenhill Publishing) I received my first enquiry from a company wanting to stock my book and artwork in their gift shop.
Perhaps the most exciting and unexpected thing to happen was an email I received from author Anika Molesworth on the day before my book launch in April, asking if I’d be interested in illustrating a book for her. This project kept me very busy for the next three months, painting pictures of a Barrier Range Dragon and her adventures.
2026 already promises to busy and exciting for me as an artist, author and illustrator. Anika and I are collaborating on a second picture book, so I have my work cut out to complete another series of illustrations! I am booked in for several events including the Whittlesea Community festival and the Clunes Booktown Festival in March and the Cavendish Red Gum Festival in April. Sunlight Dragon will be published in May. In the meantime I will be continuing to sell my books, along with cards and prints featuring my artwork, at markets throughout the year. I might even find time to work on a second book of my own. An idea is brewing; all I need is time to write it down!
I always knew that I would not be bored when I retired, but had not envisaged how busy I would be doing what I love and realising my childhood dream of becoming and artist and illustrating my own picture books.
Thank you to all those who follow Amaria’s Artwork, to those who have bought and shared my book, offered encouragement and shown an interest in my new venture. I wish you all a blessed new year, in which we live more thankfully and tread more thoughtfully each day.