I spent a wonderful morning yesterday strolling around the Cambridge School of Art Show for their MA students of Children's Book Illustration. It was the last day of the show and I'm so pleased that I made the journey to go. I have been to the show before when it was held in Foyles and the new Candid Gallery venue was a lot larger, light and airy and an absolute feast for the eyes. Portfolios laid out to browse through at leisure, mocked up picture books to handle with care and beautifully displayed artwork on the walls. It was hard to know where to begin!

The displays were so absorbing and carefully put together with comments books of many different styles to scribble in. Some of the picture books made me giggle out loud, I wouldn't be surprised at all to see several of them picked up by publishers and on sale in the next year or two. If I were a publisher, there were certainly some gems I would consider investing in.

One particular treat was seeing some of the artists' sketchbooks, like a sneak peek 'behind the scenes' of becoming an illustrator. Here are a couple of pictures of Emma Armitage's that were on display.

Below are just a few of the photos I took, I honestly could have snapped all day as this is a mere snippet of the wonderful work that was on display! Please click on the pictures to see more about each fabulous illustrators' work.