Bettina Guthridge grew up by the sea in Melbourne. After graduating from art school she worked in advertising for a year before becoming Head of Junior School Art at Peninsula Grammar, Mount Eliza.
After four years teaching she travelled with her husband to Italy, where she lived for eight years. During this period she taught art at St Georges English School in Rome and took students for private drawing classes around the monuments of ‘Old Rome’. Her two children, Rachel and Ben, were born in Rome.
Returning to Australia, Bettina produced a quality range of stationery featuring historic National Trust buildings and Australiana Christmas cards. This series sold in major stores in Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide and Perth.
Her first commission illustrating for children came from the ABC, to illustrate their Sing books. Then followed constant work from publishers and advertising agencies.
Bettina’s first picture book was Matilda and the Dragon published by Allen and Unwin in 1991 followed by The Mango Street series by Margaret Clark (Penguin) and Hurry Up Oscar by Sally Morgan (Penguin), and lots of other books followed.
Bettina’s first commission as both author and illustrator came with the Travelling Solos for Omnibus Books. These lively informative 64-page books are simple guides to countries for younger readers (6-10 year-olds). Rather like a Lonely Planet guide for kids, all facts and cultural diversity are presented in an easy format full of colour and humour. Ideal for school projects, many drawings are featured as postage stamps, which evoke feelings of looking through a stamp album.
Over the last two years Bettina has also illustrated the Egg Books, a series of eight bright picture books for younger readers written by Margaret Clark (Hodder Headline).
However, the Travelling Solos is the project she has most enjoyed working on. To date there are six in this series which cover Morocco, Japan, Italy, India, Vietnam and France.
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