Mayhew hand-painted his bench which was positioned near the Tower of London until auctioned off in October 2014. Katie in London was one of 50 books chosen for the Books about Town project in 2014, where books were recreated as benches. A musical stage production of Katie and the Mona Lisa was premiered at the Ashcroft Theatre, Croydon in April 2013, subsequently repeated in a revised production at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2015. In 2014 Mayhew re-illustrated the first title for a 25th anniversary edition.

There are currently 14 titles in the series, including Katie and the Mona Lisa (Renaissance art) Katie and the Waterlily Pond (Monet's pictures) Katie and the Starry Night (Van Gogh) and the non-art-related title Katie's London Christmas. The central character is based on the author's sister, Katharine. This was the start of a series about a girl who explores paintings by climbing inside them. In 1982, a summer as a pavement artist in Lowestoft, recreating famous works of art, inspired this idea, which was subsequently developed at Maidstone College of Art in 1984. Mayhew's first published work was Katie's Picture Show (1989). On leaving school Mayhew studied at Lowestoft School of Art from 1982 to 1984, and then at Maidstone College of Art (now the University for the Creative Arts). He was a founder pupil of the Benjamin Britten High School and later attended the Denes High School in Lowestoft (for sixth form studies).

The son of RAF pilot John Byrne Mayhew and Linda Georgina Mayhew ( née Leighton), James Mayhew was brought up in the village of Blundeston, Suffolk. James John Mayhew (born 1964 in Stamford, Lincolnshire) is an English illustrator and author of children's books, storyteller, artist and concert presenter/live art performer.

Katie and the mona lisa