Ann initially had the opportunity to illustrate children's educational books when the original artist commissioned by the publishers let them down at the last minute. "I was given a weekend to illustrate the book the previous artist had several weeks to complete. This opportunity was worthy of spending literally day and night on the project and led me to illustrating many more books for this company. I would be given a brief from illustrating a sumo wrestler on a donkey ( I kid you not !) to men digging for peat. Before the welcome onset of Google (I'm giving away my years here!!) I used to be laden down with reference books from my local library!
The books I illustrated range from Business Books, Irish and French Language Books,Civic,Social and Political Education Books to Early Reader Books. Consequently I wanted to keep them up to date, quirky, humorous and interesting for the potentially bored teenager! Having children of my own helped me to keep my images relevant and up to date (Thank you Michelle and Heather for your valuable input and inspiration!!)."