A compilation of Chinese paintings I did while studying in Taiwan and China
Aug 18: A Passing Whisper
View this post on Instagram A post shared by Gabrielle Wang 兴霜 (@gabriellewangbooks) I did these many years ago when i was studying Chinese painting in Taiwan and China in the 1980’s.
Hi everyone, Happy Chinese Lunar Year of the Tiger. This year it’s the water tiger. I’ve drawn a lot of tigers over the years because they’re one of my favourite animals. I like drawing dogs too, but the Year of the Dog is not until 2030 which is quite a long way off. Some of […]
This year is the metal ox so you should wear a piece of metal each day. If you belong to this sign like I do then you should also wear something red each day. Last night I hunted around the house for something red. I found the perfect thing in this tiny ruby ring my […]
Tiny of the Forest
Nov 03: A Passing Whisper
This illustration is called Tiny of the Forest. When I look at a blank sheet of paper, my mind is blank too. Then I draw some random pencil lines and an image slowly emerges. If I made random lines 15 minutes later, a different illustration would come out of them. I love working like this. […]
My son Ren celebrated his birthday last week so I painted him a picture. We had a Zoom family dinner this year because of lockdown and I couldn’t bake him a birthday cake. When this is all over being together with family again will be something to cherish. Not that I ever took it for […]
During this incredible historical moment I feel it is important to record what’s going on in our lives even if it is just for our grandchildren and their children and future generations of our family. We are all practicing self distancing ie keeping 1.5m away from each other unless we live together, and some of […]
I was born in Melbourne in an era when there were few Chinese. My great grandfather, like many of his compatriots came to the Victorian goldfields from China in the 1850’s to search for gold. When it ran out most of the Chinese diggers returned to their homeland. My great grandfather was one of the […]
In this world full of hate I hope as a children’s author/illustrator that my stories and pictures help young people to learn about and respect the differences in others. And that those of us who stand on the outside looking in, take pride and joy in what makes us different.
It is a tradition in China to paste up Spring Couplets to welcome in the Chinese New Year and so this year we did. This poem talks about spring which of course in China is on its way. In Australia we can only imagine. The couplet says – Amongst the five rivers and four seas […]
I was walking down Swanston Street alone one day, near the City Baths, (I was about 15 years old) when I saw a homeless man coming towards me. He looked rough – dirty clothes, unshaven, the type of man whose age has been obliterated by hard times. I braced myself. Experience had taught me that […]
My New Look Website
Oct 30: A Passing Whisper
My new website is up. Thank you, Jin & Co. I felt like I needed a change from my old site which I’ve had for quite a number of years. Over those years my tastes and my illustrations have changed. I do a lot more illustration work and I thought that the look of my […]
After almost three years the play has arrived! Taken outside the Arts Centre last Monday with Felix Ching Ching Ho, myself and Matt Edgerton The Beginning The email that began this incredible journey – March 1, 2016 Hi Gabrielle, I’m the Artistic Director of Barking Gecko Theatre Company, based in Perth, and I’m writing to […]
Thank you to everyone who entered A Ghost in My Suitcase colouring competition. There were 35 entries and they were all fantastic! CONGRATULATIONS TO THE PRIZE WINNERS! 1st PRIZE Aditi 10 years old from NSW I loved the fine detail Aditi put into her drawing. The colours are lovely and vibrant. The whole painting gives […]
To celebrate the World Premiere of the play at the Playhouse Theatre Melbourne and a new cover for A Ghost in My Suitcase, I am holding a colouring competition for 7 – 12 year olds. 1st PRIZE A signed fine art print plus a personally signed copy of A Ghost in My Suitcase. 2nd […]
Work and Travel
Jul 10: A Passing Whisper
Travelling is an essential part of being a writer and illustrator. There is travelling for research which I do often. For example while researching the bombing of Darwin during World War Two for the Our Australian Girl Pearlie series, I spent a week there feeling it, smelling it, getting an idea of the lay of […]
It has always been on my wish-list to attend the Bologna Children’s Book Fair while at the same time continue learning Italian, so in March this year that’s what I did. MY ACCOMMODATION I booked via Airbnb, a one bedroom apartment in S. Petronio Vecchio, a lovely quiet colonnaded street 15 minutes from Piazza Maggiore […]
This is a diagram showing the process each of my major novels go through – from spark, to birth, to crisis/self-doubt, to calm, to completion. What will never change is that dreadful moment of crisis and self-doubt. My mind goes through mental torture at that stage. But then I push through that and get to […]
What a fun weekend us illustrators had at Anne Spudvilas’ place on the Murray. The River House was the perfect setting to share ideas, relax and illustrate. Anne gave us a workshop where we made a concertina book on watercolour paper. Here’s the finished book laid out to dry in the sun. So I’ll now […]
This is a big thank you to the schools who hosted me during Children’s Book Month!
Sep 17: A Passing Whisper
Farah Kausar and myself at Minaret College. I received so many hugs from the children after my talk it was lovely. Visiting schools during Children’s Book Week which falls in August is an essential part of being an author and illustrator. I love meeting my young readers and spending the time in the school libraries. […]
This giveaway is to celebrate school and public libraries throughout Australia. Librarians and libraries need all the support we can give them so I made this poster for them. If you are a library and would like a poster to hang on the wall please email me and I will send you one, two or […]
The past few months
Jun 17: A Passing Whisper
It has been a tumultuous few months with the death of my lovely mum who was 92 years old. She lived a long and healthy life, and an exciting one too. You can read her adventures in my YA novel Little Paradise . Mum’s secret to longevity she said was to laugh a lot and have […]
It was a very happy day on Sunday for the launch of The Beast of Hushing Wood. Thank you to everyone who came and to those who couldn’t make it but sent their well wishes, thank you also.
Spirited Away: Gabrielle Wang on ‘The Beast of Hushing Wood’ Interview with Bookseller & Publisher
Mar 03: A Passing Whisper
The Beast of Hushing Woods is set in a world that weaves together a variety of mythologies. Were there any particular myths or cultures that inspired the story? A trip to Morocco planted the seed for this story. The landscape, the colours, the people so filled my imagination that I knew one day a novel would […]
I painted a fire rooster with two little dogs in attendance. They can’t wait for 2018 when it will be their turn. I do love painting dogs. This year Chinese New Year falls on January 28th Rooster characteristics Those born under the sign of the Rooster are easygoing and never shy. They like reading and […]
Happy 2017!
Jan 03: A Passing Whisper
Be kind and true. Let us celebrate diversity, nature, art, imagination and creativity and maybe the world will be a better place.
2016 has been a big year – a year of travelling, of finishing a new novel, of publishing an old one, of making new friends. But sadly, it has been a year where we have lost two very special people, both who were also wonderful illustrators and authors – vale Narelle Oliver and Kevin Burgemeestre. […]
The Beast of Hushing Wood – the tribulations and trials of a work in progress
Sep 13: A Passing Whisper
The Beast of Hushing Wood In May, I travelled to the US, to the Berkshire woods to further research my forthcoming novel The Beast of Hushing Wood. I saw squirrels and chipmunks, woodpeckers and deer. I stayed with a friend in her beautiful house on the edge of the woods overlooking Williamstown in Massachusetts. Her very […]
Little Bee – a new picture book Varuna, the Writers’ House in the Blue Mountains has enveloped me in its magical mists once again. Whenever I go on a writing retreat, I set myself a specific project. I know where I’ll start and I know what I want to achieve by the end of it. […]
Illustrating I’ve been illustrating a lot lately, working on a picture book just for fun. I remember how I used to love drawing when I was a kid, filling many books with pictures of dogs and horses. This is one I drew when I was 10 with my 72 Derwent pencils. And now I feel […]
I have just completed a new commission for a friend. She requested it to be in black and white so I thought pencil with a soft watercolour outline would be best to communicate a dreamy feel. I also have this illustration for purchase called Tiger and Baby as an art print at Redbubble
The first day of 2016 and I’m sitting at home, alone. It is lovely and peaceful. The local magpies are carolling in the paper bark tree and a single crow caaws in the oaks that line the street. I’m at my desk looking through the door of my writing room down the kitchen to […]
I received this lovely email from Truc and I thought I would share it with you. Little Paradise is a young adult novel which is very close to my heart. It is about my mother and the passion she had. It is a story of love, of war and creativity, of finding your own little paradise […]
I am raising money for the Befriend a Child in Detention project which sends books and letters from penpals to children in detention centres in Australia and offshore on Nauru. Leading up to Christmas, I am selling this set of 4 cards in the “it came upon the wind” series and will donate the proceeds […]
What a fabulous interviewer Sarah from Bell Primary School was. Here we are talking about the Befriend a Child in Detention Project for Behind the News.
I love seeing other people’s creative spaces. Here are 40 Inspiring workspaces of the Famously Creative so check them out. I’ve selected a few and the reasons why I love them. MARC CHAGALL – painter I love Chagall’s beautiful, dreamy work. And he looks like a lovely man. E. B. WHITE – Author The raw starkness […]
Behind the News
Oct 14: A Passing Whisper
Today I was interviewed by Sarah (right) and Michaela (left) for ABC’s Behind the News. Sarah and Michaela attend Bell Primary School in Melbourne, the first school to be involved in the Befriend a Child in Detention project established by Dr June Factor. The aim of Befriend a Child in Detention is to make others […]
mindfulness
Oct 04: A Passing Whisper , From My Sketchbook
From moment to moment, from one cycle to the next, don’t think of where you are going or where you have been This is the only moment…
“Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.”
How to Make a Story
Aug 14: A Passing Whisper
There is a horse in my letterbox The first time I saw him was on the nature strip where he lay for four days. He is a china horse and has two broken legs. On the fifth day he had disappeared and he slipped from my mind. The next time I saw him was […]
To be good at anything you have to practice and practice regularly. So I’ve been practicing illustrating lately with the aim of creating a picture book. I do love animals especially dogs and cats. The cats are my grand-kitties, Bandit and Pebble. They are rescue kittens that belong to my daughter. The cavalier is Rupert […]
our shimmery world
Jun 28: A Passing Whisper
I caught this image while walking home. The winter sun was sliding down the sky. The bare grey branches of the oaks looked like coral in an underwater garden. It was one of those shimmery moments that makes you smile inside, makes you feel that everything is just right. So often we only see the […]
happy writing tips
May 30: A Passing Whisper
If you have only an inkling of a novel idea, try writing a synopsis first. Ideas come as you write. It not only crystallises the story in your head but can also move it forward. This is what I did with my new novel, The Hushing Wood. The finished novel is not like the synopsis but the […]
The Hushing Wood
May 23: A Passing Whisper
I have just completed the ‘first’ draft of The Hushing Wood which will be published in Australia next year. Here is a short synopsis: Ziggy Truegood has a reoccurring dream that she will drown on her twelfth birthday. When a strange new boy comes to town and a frightening beast haunts the woods, she must decide […]
sunday musings
May 03: A Passing Whisper
Befriend a Child in Detention is a wonderful new community project organised by Dr June Factor and a group of volunteers. You can find out more about Befriend a Child in Detention at their website and what you can do to help http://www.befriendachild.com/ Gabi x
Upon learning of the death of Gunter Grass, I was jolted back to my late teens and early twenties, to a period in my life when I read more widely and more prolifically and watched more foreign films than in any other period. This blog post is about some of the authors and directors who […]
I had the pleasure of speaking to the grades 3’s to 6’s at St Dominics Primary School in Camberwell East this week. The students were delightful and all of them have been reading at least one of my books in class. Thank you to librarian Nadine Bolton and to all the teachers. It is always […]
it’s been a while
Mar 07: A Passing Whisper
It’s been a while since I last wrote. Lots of things have happened, are happening. Some I can mention, some I won’t. Some emotional stuff too. Life’s like that. That’s how you know you’re alive, I guess. I’ve been drawing more than usual lately. Like anything worthwhile, you have to be constant and practice and […]
i made an illustration. may the new year be a gentle one. may it be filled with friendship, humour and love
Sprouting velvety antlers.
cat and bird
Dec 15: A Passing Whisper
These illustrations are from my sketchbook done with brush, ink and watercolour. It is good to use Chinese painting techniques again. I have written a picture book and am experimenting with style.
Bookaroo India
Dec 03: A Passing Whisper
I have just returned from Bookaroo Children’s Literature Festival in Delhi, India. I so enjoyed meeting the children,
This article was published on September 29th in Daily Life, a SMH online magazine about women. I grew up in the suburbs of Melbourne at a time when back doors were never locked, when bikes were our wings, when we never had to tell our
I am thrilled that The Wishbird has been shortlisted for both the Yabba Awards and the Australian Book
What’s happening
May 09: A Passing Whisper
WHAT’S HAPPENING WITH PEARLIE ‘Meet Pearlie’ (book 1) and ‘Pearlie’s Pet Rescue‘ (book 2) have already been published and are available in the bookshops. I have just finished the final edits for book 3 ‘Pearlie the Spy‘ and am now working on the fourth and final book which is called ‘Pearlie’s Ghost‘. I do love ghost stories. As […]