A last look at Peter Carnavas Unmasked

Bidding reserve: Highest bid so far: $170

This is the charismatic Peter Carnavas

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This is the mask Peter made

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Title: The Land is Us

Before Peter worked his art magic on it, the mask looked like this

Peter on making his mask

“I was thrilled to be asked by Isobelle to decorate a mask for this project,’ Peter said.

“I have traditionally worked in fairly limited media (primarily watercolour and pencil or ink), so the opportunity to paint a mask was wonderful.

“I interpreted the theme, Unmasking the Wild, by thinking of humans as part of the natural world, belonging to it, rather than possessing or controlling it. We are just one species on the planet – of the planet – and this idea influenced my image on the mask.

“In the end, it is a simple image of a tree sprouting from the chest of a human, showing that we are not separate from the natural world but part of the same thing. The background colours depict a wild sort of sky.

“I used acrylic paints to decorate the mask and, upon the advice of the helpful folk at my local art shop, added a coat of protective varnish, which brings the colours out (and makes it nice and shiny).”

Peter Carnavas

There is a marvellous display of Peter’s art for The Children who Loved Books at the Fremantle Literature Centre, from drafts to finished art work. Take the chance to visit the centre and see it and all of the other incredible artwork here, on its next open day.

About Peter Carnavas

Peter grew up in Brisbane and on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, Australia, with beloved parents, three siblings and, from the age of 13, a big white dog called Floyd.

He was a quiet kid who did things slowly most of the time. He spent a lot of time drawing little pictures and writing stories. Things haven’t really changed.

As a primary school teacher, Peter probably spent too much time reading books to his class instead of teaching them fractions and other things. The thing is, he didn’t really feel too guilty about this as you can never read too many books to children. The books Peter loved reading most of all were things like The Dot by Peter H Reynolds, Spirit of Hope by Bob Graham, and Amy and Louis by Libby Gleeson and Freya Blackwood.

The more picture books Peter read, the more he wanted to make them himself. So he worked part-time as a music teacher and spent the rest of his week burying himself in picture books and scribbling his own words and pictures. It was a wonderful time and, in 2008, the most wonderful thing of all happened… his first picture book, Jessica’s Box, was published. It was shortlisted for the 2008 Queensland Premier’s Literary Award and the 2009 CBCA Crichton Award for Emerging Illustrators.

Since then, Peter has written and/or illustrated many more books and his work has been nominated for many awards, including the Queensland Premier’s Literary Award, The Children’s Book Council of Australia Crichton Award, Speech Pathology Australia’s Book of the Year Award, and he has been a finalist in the SCBWI Crystal Kite Award for three years running. His books have been translated into many languages, including German, Italian,Portuguese and Dutch. He spends a lot of time visiting schools to show children how to write stories and draw pictures and, best of all, to read books with them.

These days, Peter lives just around the corner from a beautiful rainforest and waterfall on the Sunshine Coast with his wife, two daughters, two chooks and a scruffy grey dog called Georgie. Georgie is famous for her opportunistic escapes, although she is slowing down in her old age.

Peter was honoured to be a National Year of Reading Ambassador in 2012 and continues his role as a Love2Read National Ambassador in 2013.