Meet Igor the enormous yellow toothed rat

You’ve all probably seen a rat in your garden or in the streets of London looking for food around bins and rubbish. They say you are never six feet from a rat in London which is a very scary thought.

But you have most definitely never met any rat quite a huge as Igor.

Here is a taster for you from page 70 when Susie meets Igor for the first time down in the slimy, dark, dank London sewers… Under Buckingham Palace

Igor the enormous cat sized rat from Under Buckingham Palace
Igor the enormous cat sized rat with his yellowing teeth and ropey tail

‘Oh!’ she yelped.
‘What is it? Sshh!’
‘Look! Look at that Rat. He’s monstrous!’
A rat of enormous size – bigger than a cat – sat contentedly at Griselda’s feet, his ropey tail knotted firmly round one of her legs.
White whiskers twitched on his face. Occasionally he bared some yellowing teeth.
‘That’s Igor, the Princess’s pet rat. Yes, he is rather large, I suppose. He’s a Black Rat, and he belongs to the Old English Ratocracy. There aren’t many of them left.’

Well thank goodness there aren’t many of them left…

If you live in London and have ever wondered what goes on under your feet in the smelly sewers, Under Buckingham Palace is a must read exciting page turner. It follows the adventures of Susie, who one day finds herself down in the sewers when the lifts in her flat go wrong. She is stuck in a terrifying and dangerous world where she must fight to save the life of the Queen of England against hideous sludge gulpers and grotesque slimy creatures. Can she stop them? you’ll have to buy the book to find out.

If you would like to buy a copy you can buy it direct from Jane or as a Kindle book on Amazon.

Meet Princess Griselda – absolutely uglificent!

Have you ever seen anything quite so ugly as Princess Griselda? Well you haven’t met her mother Queen Greemould yet.

To read about Suzie’s incredible adventure in the sewers of London you’ll have to contact author Jane Waller to buy your copy of Under Buckingham Palace.

You’ll never see London streets, manhole covers or drains in quite the same way ever again. Does your sewer have a family of sludge gulpers, a rat army and slime grubbers?

Princess Griselda sludge gulper - Under Buckingham Palace by Jane Waller

Here is just a tiny taster from p.70 of the book when Suzie meets Princess Griselda on her amazing adventure:

Princess Griselda was ghastly – the ugliest thing Suzie had ever set eyes on. Splodges of a vivid sulphur yellow tumbled over one another in rich profusion, snugly settling in a series of spare tyres which spanned her lower circumference. Her dark spotted eyes bulged like her arms and legs.
‘She’s… absolutely uglificent… I mean magnificent.’ said Suzie.

You’ll have to buy your copy of Under Buckingham Palace by Jane Waller to hear more of Suzie’s ghastly adventures.

Available directly from Jane at just £6.99 and shortly at Waterstones book stores.

The rustle of silk – a poem inspired by the work of Jane Waller

The rustle of silk


By Ruth Holroyd, May 2010

The lights dim, darkness fills the room.
As the curtains slowly rise,
shadows of bodies bloom,
like flowers reaching for the skies.

Ballerina dancing by Jane WallerThe rustle of silk
as movement takes hold.
Skin pale as milk
The dancers unfold.

An arm stretched wide
Toes pointed, legs taut
Seeming to glide
Muscles and sinews wrought

Sometimes slow with poise,
others lithe and joyful.
Moving in time without noise:
Fragile, beautiful and graceful.

Fluid traces fill the space.
The dancers are as one.
Moving with such grace.
A spider’s web is spun.

Their very souls entwine.
Rhythm and music flow.
Total symmetry, a winding vine;
Flowing, melding, all aglow.

Amazing, graceful statuesque,
like birds in formation together.
One final glorious arabesque;
landing like a feather.

A poem inspired by the art of Jane Waller

Ballerina life drawing – with Jane Waller

On Monday 1st October Jane Waller was invited to speak about how she draws ballet dancers in movement at Stewart Clough’s Life Drawing class in Longwick.
Jane Waller drawing ballet dancer in Longwick
In a packed hall a beatifully elegant ballet dancer Aisling Longshaw performed various different pieces, first at normal speed, then slower, and then holding poses so we could all have a go at capturing both the movement, symmetry and lines of the body.

Drawing anything or anyone when they are moving is no mean feat. Jane had tips and suggestions for the group of how to stand back and free up your arm and hands to move with the movement of the dancer.

When you’re used to drawing things that aren’t moving this is an art in itself. Jane is used to drawing dancers in motion.

Add the movement to the fact that when Jane draws her dancer drawings she is in almost total darkness at a live ballet performance.

Drawing ballet dancer in motionIt was quite amazing to walk around afterwards and admire the varied work produced by everyone in the group.

Noone had drawn exactly the same thing, everyone had their own version, style and depiction of the movements.

A real challenge for the whole group.

Stewart is hoping to run another session in the near future with a ballet dancer because this one was so popular, fun and successful. Details to follow as soon as we know a date.

To find out more about Stewart Clough’s Life Drawing classes visit www.stewartclough.com, email art@stewartclough.com or phone 07901 517396

To read comments from some of the artists who attended this evening read Stewart’s blog ‘Life Drawing with ballerina Aisling Longshaw’.