Bingert, and his two close friends, Rami and Mauish, have been part of the Gauvin household for over thirty years. They came to life in drawings that our children created in a long family drive on the inland trip from Melbourne to Brisbane, where the vast plains of western New South Wales held little attraction for young children. Later, the characters became Fimo creatures skilfully moulded by our daughter Sarah, and the initial drawings gave rise to many pages of antics and adventures that the three amigos ‘experienced’. Later still, they made their presence at some rather fancy parties my wife and I threw for the children’s special occasions.
Throughout those three decades and more, the three little creatures became part of our family lore. So when it came to writing, which I undertook later in life than most, it seemed natural that we would choose to introduce our beloved characters to the wider world of children. To be honest, the stories almost wrote themselves – it was their adventures and I went along as an observer, faithfully recording the events as they occurred. I found it to be a most enriching experience, and my admiration for them grew as they showed me their bonds of fellowship, their kindly and caring attitude to others who dwelt in the forest, their resilience in the face of difficulties, and their good humour through it all. I finished the series a better man than I had started. Bravo our Trio!
- HARRY
Meet the Author - HARRY LOUIS GAUVIN
Meet the Illustrator- JON WEBER
Jon Weber is an award-winning illustrator from Brisbane, Australia. Working professionally in the industry for over ten years, his largely traditionally tendered pictures surround the fantastical, the fun and the weird. Produced in everything from pencil to oil paint, his work has found its way into every nook imaginable - from children’s books and animated film clips to heavy metal covers, comic art and gaming concept design. You might find his work popping out at you from film projects, Augmented Reality animations, or upon the stage where one such effort earned him a QLD theatre Matilda Award for his projected watercolour illustrations in Shake and Stir’s rendition of Roahl Dahl’s classic story, “Fantastic Mr Fox”. Jon has grown to call the characters of the “Bingert and Friends” series family.
His working materials for the Bingert and Friends series includes, pencil, ink, coloured inks and gouache mediums applied to Arches HP watercolour paper.
Meet the Creators…
Although Harry has written and compiled the lovely stories of Bingert and Friends he did not actually create the trio! Here’s an account of how they came to be:
The Gauvin family were driving from Melbourne to Brisbane, in their homeland country of Australia, taking the inland route. The country was flat and uninteresting for the children – Sarah (11), James (10) and Peter (6) - the eldest Harry-David was out of the picture at this point at boarding school.
The whole Gauvin family were creative in some way – Harry’s father was an artist and author, his mother hosted a TV cooking program, his eldest sister was a journalist and author, his next sister was a portrait artist and author and Harry created bedtime stories for the children when they were little. It was not surprising therefore, that Harry and Trish’s children were artistic in various ways.
Sarah set to entertain herself and her brothers on the “boring” car trip and suggested that they each create a character. Sarah created Bingert, James created Rami and Peter created Mauish. Then came a book of the scenes they drew of their characters on that journey. Over the years since then those characters have become part of the Gauvin family and feature in themed birthday parties.
When Harry retired from his business he was encouraged by his wife, Trisha, to write children’s stories for his younger grandchildren and those yet to be born. His terminal health condition was diagnosed not long after he started writing and the only way some of his grandchildren would know the kind of man their grandfather was, would be through the stories he wrote.
As these three characters belonged to three of the four children Harry wrote stories around them. He brought to life the children’s inventions. To incorporate Harry-David as well, the personality of Bingert was based on Harry-David. Rami and Mauish are true to the personalities of James and Peter. The books reflect the values of the Gauvin family, the kind of holidays they took the children on, a love of the bush and the sense of humour and fun-loving ways aligned with their family.
Right: The Creators of Rami, Bingert and Mauish - James, Sarah and Peter Gauvin.
My wife, Patricia Gauvin, deserves very special acknowledgment for all she has contributed to my world of writing. It was she who has encouraged me for many years to commit my stories to writing. Having done so, Trisha has edited my books and undertaken the layout of each; she has made numerous helpful suggestions that have improved the final results, also liaising closely with my illustrator, Jon Weber. Trisha has driven the marketing of the Bingert and Friends series as well as being the initiator of the Three Cool Critters series. I am deeply indebted to her for the way she has wholeheartedly embraced each of these projects.
