Finding inspiration – right in their own backyards

Jess Scully, ABC: We've all heard the myths about getting older. You get slower, busier and you certainly can't start a new hobby. But that sort of thinking is as backwards as an echidna's legs. Just ask Dorothy Roddy and Leonie Napier: two grandmothers from Leeton in southern New South Wales.

Leonie Napier, author: Curiosity is key. To me, being curious, well this began this idea, posing that question. I wonder if, I wonder what would happen if.

Jess Scully, ABC: Leone and Dorothy set out to make a children's book, just to see if they could.

Leonie Napier, author: And so I just questioned the possibility of what it would be like if I just looked at all our beautiful creative talent here. What if we worked together and combined it? And I just wanted to see what would happen if we had a go at it. COVID-19 almost felt suffocating because we were very restricted and had to stay indoors a lot and stay just focused on our screens. So I was working from home and my two grandchildren had to do some school from home. And it was just relentless. We just seemed to be there day after day in front of our screens when the great outdoors was beautiful and sunshiny and just amazing. So I just got very exasperated one day and I said, we're learning about all this, let's go outside. So we got our binoculars and we went investigating and searching our backyard.

Jess Scully, ABC: Dorothy worked on the pictures and illustrations while Leone wrote the book. The story of Lex and Mila exploring their big backyard.

Dorothy Roddy, artist: We decided to use Leone's lovely big gum tree in the backyard as the main scene. And then all the rest just kind of, as I looked around at home, because I live on a rural property, I see lots of wildlife, I see lots of birds and insects and gradually they became incorporated into the illustrations as well.

When I was painting, so I'd gotten through all the stages and I was ready to paint the final paintings in January, February and March this year, there were so many dragonflies flying around at home. They eventually made their way into the book.

So first of all, they were just one big one on a page. And then I thought, I could put a couple on each page and let the kids find them. So just give the hint that, you know, just go looking for where these dragonflies might be. So they just became part of it. I really appreciate nature. I'm observing it all the time at home. I see all sorts of different things that the animals and birds do that you don't normally see. And if I don't understand it, I do some research and find out what they were doing. And I love to see that sort of thing with my grandchildren and my family, that they observe nature, that they protect nature and enjoy nature and don't disturb what's a natural thing.

Jess Scully, ABC: Now, about those backward echidna legs. Dorothy was keen to educate readers about the wonders of our wildlife through her illustrations. Like an echidna egg is the same size as a five-cent piece. The very same coin that you find an echidna on the face of. And that an echidna's feet dig backwards. Dorothy's been enjoying this artistic journey. She only started painting 10 years ago.

Dorothy Roddy, artist: The illustrations on this wall, the small ones here, the small sketches; last year I was Western Riverina Arts Artist in Residence in Griffith. And during that time, what I did was paint these little sketches to find out what sort of style I needed to use, what sort of colours I needed to use, learn more about the echidna, what does it really look like, how do you paint those quills. It's different things in each one. So, like, in some of them, the kids are just perfect. They just look exactly like they should. And I enjoyed adding in all the different animals, like the kangaroos I see at home, all the birds, the fairy wrens, I see them at home all the time. So it was nice to be able to work on that, put them all in, but at the same time create a nice Aussie landscape that people would recognise in using the right colours, so that you could open this book and know you're in an Aussie backyard. Because you've got to use brighter colours and simplify things a lot more, because I'm a realist artist, I had to not look at detail anymore and just go simple and bright, but make sure there was plenty of interest in there as well. I really enjoyed putting in, well, what us oldies call the modern things, like Mum doing the selfie in the book and Mila doing the heart shape to show that she's thinking about the puggle. That was fun to put those sort of things in there and be a little more specific in that regard.

Jess Scully, ABC: Leonie and Dorothy were stoked when the Curious Explorers made its debut in hip bookshelves.

Leonie Napier, author: It’s our local library in Leeton. They invited us for Grandparents Day. They do book readings once a week, so we were very, very chuffed to be invited. The audience were really happy with the story, they loved all the images, and yeah, we had people lining up to buy the book. I take my grandkids to school each day and I always say, just be curious. Ask really good questions, there's never a bad question.

I think curiosity is really good and it keeps us empathetic. We can understand the world around us if we ask questions about it, and also with our environment, so what are we doing to make sure, even our very backyards can be welcoming and diverse little areas for wildlife, and I think be curious about that, what can you do to make it safe for the world around us and all the creatures that we share the world with. I basically want to inspire my grandchildren and my children. So often they say children want their parents to be proud of them, but I have to offer back to my children and grandchildren is that I would like them to be proud of me.

I want to inspire them to, they have dreams, they have hopes, that they should just, you know, not put barriers up, you know, just go over them. If you fail, so you fail, and you never fail if you've had a go. So that's what I really, really, that was probably the major aim in this, plus encouraging people to love books and stories.