Linda Edwards was born in 1957 in Harare, in Zimbabwe, and spent her early childhood in southern Africa until moving to the north east of England at the age of five.
Her love of art was instilled at a young age by her family and friends. She was taught a variety of handcrafts by her mother and grandfather, her father loved to paint and, with a close friend at school, she drew and held exhibitions and sales as far back as she can remember!
Linda Edwards has a degree in Geography from Cambridge University but, with the exception of evening classes in Cambridge, has undergone no formal artistic training.
Her first artistic inspiration was the work of the great illustrators of childrenīs art, including Arthur Rackham, Edmund Dulac and Beatrix Potter. Later, she grew to admire the work of twentieth century masters including Eric Gill, Jane Ray, Michael Foreman and Nicola Bayley, as well as the more international work of Dufy, Klee, Ravilious, Matisse and Kandinsky. She also admires folk art and the work of Winifred Nicholson and Alfred Wallis, which she first came across in Cambridge.
She works principally in watercolour, gouache on paper, coloured pencil and acrylic and has concentrated particularly in the past on illustration and design. She has illustrated seven childrenīs books for a large publisher, including collections of nursery rhymes, Greek myths, stories from around the world and a Childrenīs Bible. She is currently working on a Picture Atlas and she has also created several ranges of greetings cards.
Away from her illustrations, the work of Linda Edwards has also been exhibited at the Royal Academy.
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