This illustration is the book jacket to 'A World of Prayers' written by the Rev. Jeremy Books and published by Frances Lincoln Children's Books.
Often when I look at my work it takes me back to the time when I painted it. I illustrated 'A World of Prayers' whilst living in Paris for a couple of years. It was by sheer luck and a lack of available accommodation that I wound up living in the heart of Montmartre. An artist's paradise!
The filming of Amelie (directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet) was just finishing on my door step and surrounding streets (that I had yet to walk many times) when I arrived there. After the film came out, friends who visited would often ask if it was shot in my building. It wasn't, but they'd be forgiven for mistaking the apartments that are so typical of that area and in particular, the main stairwell, which bar the odd plant is, well, the same!
I lived just a few streets away from the garden of Sacre Coeur and would often spend lunch times there on a park bench, reading a book and glancing at the circus of tourists, street sellers, buskers and children on the old fashioned merry-go-round.
On the hottest summer evenings the parisian air would get so still and thick that the only place to catch a breeze was at the top of the hill, at the top of the steps to Sacre Coeur. During the hottest days, I'd spend an hour or so inside the thick cool walls of the church admiring the frescos and statues.
This book jacket is the direct result of making many escapes from a very hot, old apartment with no air-conditioning.
Au revoir!
Elena Gomez
'A World of Prayers' is available from Amazon
