IBBY Australia Mini Masterpiece art auction - Meet Judy Watson

 

Auction of 48 Mini Masterpiece art works runs from 14th - 28th November 2025

Judy was born in 1966 and grew up in an outdoorsy veterinary family, passionate about animals, art and books. She worked as a veterinary nurse while studying literature and art history at the University of Melbourne before travelling overseas. There she worked in a London theatre and painted in a garret in Brixton. After returning to Australia in 1995 she worked in revegetation and Landcare, whilst developing a graphic design business and found her way into children’s book illustration.   

Judy’s fine art practice typically incorporates mixed media techniques including printmaking and collage for her smaller pieces. But she also paints larger works in acrylics. These are often painted on found panels or upcycled surfaces.

Judy Watson has illustrated a number of children's books, including Goodnight Mice! by Frances Watts, which won the Prime Minister's Literary Award for Children's Fiction in 2012, Searching for Cicadas by Lesley Gibbes, shortlisted for the Eve Pownall Award for Information Books in the 2020 CBCA Book of the Year awards, and Leonard Doesn't Dance by Frances Watts which was selected by the International Youth Library for the White Ravens 2020 Catalogue. She lives and works in Frankston, Victoria. (Source Allen and Unwin).  Here is her Instagram page. 

When I was judging the CBCA Book of the Year award we were sent When You're Older and I just marveled at the colourful and lively illustrations. In fact, I loved this book so much that I gifted it to a young family with two little boys. Read the Kirkus review.

When you're Older

Here are edited comments by one of the judges:

The boldness of the design and illustration of the wrap around front cover grabbed me from the start. There were visual references to Elmer and Max from Where the Wild Things Are.  The body language of the bored and frustrated older sibling is captured so effortlessly. The shapes of the digital collage pieces have different textures and ratios of size (e.g. the squiggles on the baby suit are much finer than the pattern on the plant pot.) - this gives an illusion of depth and solidity of scene. This blue then turns to teal and peacock green on the following pages, but once again acts as a path or vein to follow across the pages.  All the other creatures and plants are highly patterned, but the dog has a very flat and plane shape and texture - linking him back to the reality of the opening scene. There is such movement on the opening with the seagulls hovering across the top of the page and the crab pincers up, stealing the hot chips. Judy Watson's use of texture for the water creates a sense of shimmering on the ocean. The negative space of the white used to create the glacier is quite extraordinary. The wild dogs pulling their sleds race across the page from left to right indicating a wildness of speed. The design of the binoculars framing the close up of the seal in ingenious. Simple yet sophisticated. 

Page from the French edition of When you're older (Source)

I have a beautiful art piece in my home from the book Thunderstorm Dancing. 

Blurb: When a sunny day at the beach turns stormy, a little girl runs for cover. Her daddy and brothers are wild in the wind and lightning, and her poppy is as loud as thunder. They fill the house with stamping and crashing while Granny plays piano to their riotous thunderstorm dancing, until the storm passes and they all fall down. Then, in the stillness, the girl is ready to play. What will she be, now that the rain has stopped and there's a glimmer of sunlight? Read more here

Now there is an opportunity to own another. Judy talks about our auction in a 13th November blog post and she has generously donated five pieces to our IBBY Australia Mini Masterpiece art auction. Here are two of them:

Faces at the pet parade

Unicorn at the pet parade

Judy Watson illustrated Searching for Cicadas for the Walker Nature Storybook series - this is a book that should be in every Australian library because Cicadas are such a quintessential part of our Australian Summer.

From the few book examples I have shared here you can see Judy Watson is a master of many forms of illustration. Here are more images of her work. Now take a look at another piece she has contributed to our auction (she has five pieces).

"Trent"

Description from Judy Watson: Trent is sometimes gloomy at parties. The music is not to his taste, or the tomato sauce runs out before he gets his hot dog, or the host’s children ask impertinent questions about his feet. (He’s sensitive about his feet.) When Trent is gloomy, he stands beside the door to the kitchen – not inside the kitchen where the lights are bright and people may ask him to help slice celery. It’s better just outside, where he can snatch a sausage roll off the tray at the moment it comes through the door. If someone speaks to him, he points to his beak and makes apologetic munching sounds.  But today Trent is not gloomy. He has eaten two hot dogs with an abundance of tomato sauce, and Madness are playing at just the right volume. Trent has taken over the dance floor in just the way he used to at kindergarten. Back then, the teacher scolded him for waving his wings about with a ‘total disregard for others’. Today there is no teacher, everyone else has shuffled back to the walls and Trent is the life of the party. 

Leonard doesn't dance

Blurb: All the birds are excited about the Big Beaky Bird Ball -- except Leonard. His warble-warble waltz with the magpies is more wobble-wobble, and his caw-caw can-can with the crows is a can't-can't. The puffins are prancing, the rosellas are rocking and you should see the flamingo go-go-go! Everyone is jumping and jiving, but not Leonard. Leonard doesn't dance. Then an unexpected encounter changes everything ...

Here is a new book illustrated by Judy Watson:

Read the Kids' Book Review review

Her newest picture book is Jo and the No by Kyle Mewburn.