Michèle Lemieux, Author/Illustrator

I was born in Quebec City, Quebec.

May 29th, 1955.

After graduating from university in 1977, I decided to live in Germany for awhile. I had a friend (who is now my husband!) in Germany and I wanted to learn a new language. I settled in West Germany and worked in Europe for five years before returning to Quebec. Soon after arriving home, I headed to New York, to work with publishers there ... I now live in Montreal, Quebec.

I decided to stay in Europe after my publishing course ended, and made arrangements to be in Frankfurt for the big Book Fair. The experience was enthralling — I didn’t know the language, but there were all these beautiful books! I worked on my portfolio that year, so that I would be prepared when I attended the next Frankfurt Book Fair. The following year, I met a Japanese publisher who commissioned me to illustrate a book for Gakken in Tokyo. And my career as an illustrator grew from there ...

After finishing my Bachelor of Arts in Graphic Design at the Université Laval in Quebec City, I received a grant for a publishing course in France. The program was for people interested in writing, illustrating, publishing — anything to do with books. We spent a month, mostly in Paris, visiting publishing houses and so on.

The thought of a child going to bed with a book I’ve created is incredibly gratifying. I feel it’s a privilege to be part of a child’s memories.

I have two apartments, one to live in and one to work in — they’re side by side, with a door between them. My studio is large and airy, with a long balcony — I leave the door open to feel outside. It’s fairly empty, with lots of light (I usually work during the day to take advantage of the light). I paint sitting on a white wicker stool, surrounded by art. Besides illustrating kids’ books, I divide my time between my own artwork, international commissions and heading the illustration section of the Graphic Arts program at the Université du Quebec a Montreal.

I have always experimented with a variety of different mediums, depending on the book. What’s That Noise?, Winter Magic, and Amahl and the Night Visitors were all painted in watercolors; Voices on the Wind was illustrated with acrylic paints on canvas, partly because I wanted a challenge that I could have fun with (my publishers wanted me to do it in watercolors). From one book to the next, the motivation is often to try something new. For Stormy Night, I worked in pen-and-ink, taking most of the drawings directly from my sketchbooks. I redid very few because I wanted the doubt I felt to show in my hand. That book was really a 40th birthday present I made for myself. Many of my illustrations have been done in watercolors, a medium I like for its transparency. My work tends to have a dreamy realism because I work with strokes rather than lines. I have also played with different styles. Voices on the Wind was inspired by nature. A Gift From St. Francis was a good opportunity to change my vision of my environment. With that book, I felt that it was very important to create something for kids that had a lot to do with medieval art but that was perhaps not as stiff as some medieval art can be. This art can be extremely appealing to children because it’s so narrative. If you look at the work of painters in medieval times, it’s as if the history was drawn on the walls of cathedrals — so that everyone could understand it. Kids find a lot to see in art like that.

It can take a long time to research my illustrations. For example, in Amahl and the Night Visitors, I researched Palestine during Christ’s time to find clues on the Three Wise Men and the customs and dress style of kings and shepherds.