Alex O’Connel visits John Burningham and Helen Oxenbury..
Burningham explains that they are their own best critics. “We depress each other more than we uplift. You work all week on something and it’s, ‘Oh my God, that foot is all wrong, it lacks colour!’ ” says Burningham. “I only bring work back [here] if there is a problem,” says Oxenbury. “I ask him, ‘What do you think is wrong?’ ”There is a pause. “You have a terrible problem with pretty ladies, don’t you?” says Oxenbury to her husband, a twinkle in her eye.“Do I?” says Burningham, archly.“They are dreadful. If he has a fairy to draw . . . they’re awful!”It’s hard to draw the beautiful, I offer, like a human Switzerland.
Burningham explains that they are their own best critics. “We depress each other more than we uplift. You work all week on something and it’s, ‘Oh my God, that foot is all wrong, it lacks colour!’ ” says Burningham. “I only bring work back [here] if there is a problem,” says Oxenbury. “I ask him, ‘What do you think is wrong?’ ”There is a pause. “You have a terrible problem with pretty ladies, don’t you?” says Oxenbury to her husband, a twinkle in her eye.“Do I?” says Burningham, archly.“They are dreadful. If he has a fairy to draw . . . they’re awful!”It’s hard to draw the beautiful, I offer, like a human Switzerland.via ‘If you limit children then they don’t learn’ | Saturday Review | The Times.
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