Jonathon Xavier Coudrille was born at the end of WWII, the son of the artist, Francis COUDRILL, at Landewednack on the Lizard, Cornwall. For half a century he has been a painter, leaving Cornwall in his twenties for London, where he worked both as an illustrator and a writer.

He established the Holmesdale Studios in north London where he both wrote and illustrated A Beastly Collection (1974), Farmer Fisher (1976 Children's Book of the Year) and The Vulgar Frog (1986). In 1990, returning to the family home at Cadgwith, he set up his studio and began to create his surrealist paintings.

He works directly with the Penzance branch of the Society of Authors, and designed the logo for the Inaugural Penzance Literary Festival (2010), also offering solo performances of some of his writings during the August event.