Arrowtown artist Jenny Mehrtens has added a string to her bow.<\/p>\n
Or should that be a pen to her brush?<\/p>\n
Mehrtens has written and illustrated a book originally meant only as a present for her grandson William\u2019s third birthday last month.<\/p>\n
However, when she posted some of its watercolour illustrations on her Instagram page, the feedback was so positive she decided to “go the whole hog” and get it published, she says.<\/p>\n
Titled\u00a0William and Rosa Go For a Walk, it\u2019s about her grandson and his best friend, Rosa, going for a walk and looking for a fantail.<\/p>\n
Each page features things he\u2019s liked \u2014 such as a hot air balloon, a digger and the river \u2014 during his summer visits to Arrowtown.<\/p>\n
“I certainly don\u2019t call myself a writer, but it was coming from the heart about what a 3-year-old might love.”<\/p>\n
Mehrtens, who has a studio and gallery in the Dudley\u2019s Cottage Precinct, says William lives in Copenhagen and she doesn\u2019t get to see him often, so she decided to write the book just for him.<\/p>\n
She found the whole process of self-publishing, including learning how to paint with watercolours, a “lot of fun”.<\/p>\n
The final product has a fabric cover, while its inside covers are adorned with the medium she\u2019s renowned for \u2014 gold leaf and multi-layered acrylic paint on oak board.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s the kind of book she would\u2019ve liked as a child, she says. “I grew up loving the feel of beautiful books \u2014 books that had fabric covers and gold leaf.”<\/p>\n
Fortunately, it was a “hit” with her grandson during her recent stay in the Danish capital, when she often read the story to him.<\/p>\n
“By the time I left he was almost saying it verbatim.”\u00a0<\/p>\n