Sandra Poirotte

Another treasure that I found in Bologna was Sandra Poiotte's 'Madame Cerise ou le trésor des pies voleuses' is a loving story about a husband's solution to his wife's dementia.  A tender story about a very difficult subject, Mr Cherry attempts to help his wife remember by making a memory dress with pockets to keep the important things safe in.

Catarina Sobral II

I almost removed the hedgehog illustration (third down) from this post but then thought again, as this particular element reminded me of Tove Jansson's Monin illustrations with its bold colour and use of silhouette.
This is the beautiful work of Portuguese illustrator, animator and graphic designer Catarina Sobral. This book anthropomorphised the land and the seas enigmatically and delightfully pulls you into the story of 'La Serena Y Los Gigantes Enamorados' (The Mermaid and The Enamoured Giants). A reinterpretation of  the legend of Praia da Rocha a story that attempts to explain the rock formations at Da Rocha on the Portuguese coast. A lovely story about the sea and the mountain both falling in love with a mermaid. Catarina's works were exhibited at the Bologna Childrens Illustration Exhibition this spring.

Natalie Pudalov I

Natalie Pudalov's illustrations look like they have been drawn on old found books and papers, there is an age and patina to them, they look loved, lived in and inviting with their whispered secrets of layered  pictures and text.
These illustrations are from 'Letters to a Blue Dog' and were selected for the Illustrators Exhibition at Bologna this year.

Martina Vanda

Martina Vanda's work was exhibited at Bologna Illustrators Exhibition 2015 featuring these lively, exciting scenes of crowds at the theatre from her book; 'Tout Les Soirs'.
Below is a further theatre illustration and detail by Martina for 'ROMA SUONA ROM- Teatro Argentina'.

Martina's practice also includes wonderful ceramic works.

Jelena Perisic II

Jelena Perisic's Baltic sea creatures showing us the error and horror of our ways, anthropomorphizing the creatures to look like humans and also the humans to look like the creatures they are mistreating.

"The sea world moves, transforms and travels in a particularly fluid way. Due to the richness of layers and freedom of expression it allows, as well as it's direct connection to water, the medium of watercolour was the ideal choice to visually tell the story about the life of the sea creatures." Jelena Perisic

Jelena Perisic I

Croatian illustrator Jelena Perisic's wonderful project 'Endangered and Protected Species of the Adriatic' was exhibited as part of the Croatian exhibition at this years Bologna Children's Book Festival.

"The project 'Endangered and Protected Species of the Adriatic' educates the public (including visitors to the Croatian Adriatic Coast) about the pollution and numerous organisms that live there, either as an endangered or protected species.The cycle of more than one hundred illustrations shows certain species in the Adriatic Sea ie there permanent living habitats. Also featured are the species that occasionally stray into our sea often to their own detriment." Jelena Perisic

Jelena has used clever and enigmatic anthropomorphism to convey her message about the damage we cause and the conservation and protection we should be providing.  

Kate Harnett

This is a book by Kate Harnett another MA graduate of Anglia Ruskin whose work I saw in Bologna These illustrations are from 'The Ghost in the Greenhouse' a comic picture book "with mild peril and many plants" with lovely use of light and dark and warm and cold colours to lead your eye through the story.

Maisie Paradise Shearring II

Maisie Paradise Shearring's illustrations from 'Susan's School Days' (a comic book that Maisie is developing) were exhibited in the Bologna Children's Book Fair Illustrators Exhibition' this spring.
It is a lovely book of remembered childhood, bringing back memories of the textures and smells of school and the feeling of being small, mixed with the horrors of old fashioned teaching practices and corporal punishment. Maisie has just completed her MA in Illustration at the Anglia Ruskin University she has a wonderful loose sketchy style.
I featured her work when she graduated from Edinburgh College of Art and it is great to follow her career.
I am looking forward to meeting her early next year at the Scottish National Gallery.

Danijel Srdarev

This is a very different impression of bird song by Danijel Srdarev with an enigmatic roughness and a fresh naive quality. Danijel's work was exhibited as part of the Croatian Exhibition at the Bologna Children's Book Fair, it is exuberantly messy; mixing media, fine art, illustration and graphic design in an excitement of illustration that is very compelling.

Alessandro Sanna

Italian illustrator Alessandro Sanna's ABC of the mouth is a fun book where letters form the lips or mouth of the people, to guide you through the alphabet.

Suzy Lee

A surreal and quite scary monochrome interpretation of 'Alice in Wonderland' by Suzy Lee was originally published in Italy in 2002. This book has a dramatic, theatrical feeling created using a combination of photographs, collage and illustration. Masks, mirrors and smoke screens, it looks like a magic show where the audience will be persuaded to believing many strange things. This book reminds me of Sarah Moon's haunting interpretation of Little Red Riding Hood in it's frightening altered reality.

"The book 'Alice in Wonderland' was made when I was staying in London few years ago. During my staying in London, I happened to see Lewis Carroll’s manuscript of ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’ and John Tenniel’s original illustrations at the British Library, and this made me reread this all-time favorite classic. Rereading the Alice book as a grown-up reader was very intriguing: the nightmarish atmosphere and eccentric characters of the story fascinated me. Lewis Carroll’s Alice book is such an abundant resource, which evokes many issues in multifarious ways."

 "I tried to produce a book that reflects upon subject matters like constructed illusions and realities and the dream-within-a-dream structure, which contains a circular regression and self-reflexivity. Like the epitaph of Lewis Carroll, Is all our life, then, but a dream?, these themes have been one of the eternal pending questions for us, and especially for the artists, who, in my opinion, are dealing with visual matters. I may say that Lewis Caroll’s book appealed to me in terms of illuminating the relationship between illusion and reality." Suzie Lee

Ana Pez

It is strange to me how one book can stay in my mind so much from Bologna, but Ana Pez's 'Mon petit frère invisible' has done just that. It is just such a clever book and such good fun watching how a picture and meaning can be hidden, and pictures become changed so dramatically when you put on the magic red glasses that accompany this book. My Invisible Little Brother is printed in just two colours and these bicolour illustrations manage to make two simultaneous stories by using the special glasses that conceal the orange ink, as demonstrated in the Ana's gif.