In March 2004 my daughter Dominique began bi-lingual pre-school and I recommenced my studies in Italian. Just for fun, we began drawing and painting some of the animals and objects we were identifying in Italian.
Dominique's teacher, Laura Cicali saw these pictures and asked if I would illustrate an Italian story that she could use with her young students.
We immediately began work on Nel Mare and ran our first proof copies in September 2004 with the very generous support of PIRION PTY LTD.
Having experienced the immersion system first hand I am amazed at how rapidly the children are able to absorb the language and use it with fun and confidence. They relate to the simple images and quickly make the connection with the words.
The illustration technique used is a simple one that would be known and used by most pre-school children! A wax crayon drawing is made on the paper and then finished with watercolour paint.
As the response to this first book has been very positive, we have begun developing other stories and flash cards.