Valerio Vidali IV

Valerio Vidalis' wonderful cathedral series, a lovely exploration of glass houses.

Cecilia Valli II

Cecilia Valli also has a love of creating cat characters.

Francesco Marzetti II

Francesco Marzetti

Italian artist Francesco Marzetti is one of those wonderful people who sees things where they are not supposed to be, an assembler and mischief maker, with infectious creativity.

Francesca Cerutti

I have been in the forest in the last few days an Ancient Oak, Scotts Pine and Birch they are small, the trees depleted by annual storms, development and 'management', they need individuals to fight their cause to add new tree stock and spread them. The forest is us we cannot survive without it, and yet the world is getting stripped of it all constantly. This illustration is by Italian illustrator Francesca Cerutti.

Guilia Pintus I

Harvest time and having been gifted wonderful home grown carrots which we have eaten, cooked and baked, it seems an appropriate time to share this fun vision of growing carrots by Italian illustrator; Guilia Pintus.

Gaia Stella I

Two images to introduce Italian illustrator Gaia Stella from her book Chez-Nous. Gaia uses tiny blocks that may be rubbers to print her characters.

Alessandro Lumare

A small introduction into the world of Italian illustrator Alessandro Lumare via his culinary illustrations the top four images are from  'Au Fond Des Bois' and the bottom two from 'La storia che Avanza' 2012. Alessandro has a great energy and humanity and leads dynamic, creative workshops for children which you can see examples of here.

Victoria Antolini II

Candid sketches of Bologna Flea market by Victoria Antolini, with a great use of limited colour ad wonderful gestural mark making and observation.

Liuna Virardi II

Above is Liuna's contribution to a collaborative work about 'Home'.

"This is my small contribution to this big project, a sincere and visceral illustration that meant to lay bare my concept of home, an abstract concept, a feeling experienced in front of an inner landscape, intimate and profound." Liuna Virardi

Liuna Virardi I

Liuna Virardi is an Italian illustrator who lives in Toulouse France. Liuna has a bold graphic style and she has been working with simple stamps and a palette of just three colours to create a great variety of  characters for her book 'ABC of people'. I was lucky enough to meet Liuna and see her exhibition in Bologna last Tuesday.

Massimiliano di Lauro

These are the works of Massimiliano di Lauro for another edition of the wonderful; 'Encyclopedia of Gianni Rodari' published by Editori Riuniti in 2013, each book comprises of seven of Gianni Rodari's fables illustrated be a different illustrator.

Daniela Tieni II

Speeding to my third 'Bologna Children's Book Fair' this morning. This illustration by Daniela Tieni made me think of 'a wing and a prayer', a wonderful collage of print, assemblage and digital work, this piece was selected for Ilustrarte 2016, Lisbon.

Irene Rinaldi

Irene Rinaldi is an illustrator based in Rome who specialises in woodcut and hand made printing techniques. I found her work when I arrived in Bologna on Friday in a book called; 'Favole per bambini mannari'  published by Editori Riuniti.

Marianna Coppo

This is Italian artist Marianna Coppo's charming rock through the ages.

Beatrice Cerocchi I

Beatrice Cerocchi is an Italian illustrator who lives in Rome. Today I would love to step into her imaginary world and take a hyacinth onto the swings, maybe . . . I will.

Gek Tessaro II

Italian illustrator Gek Tessaro's creative expression is boundless as is visible in his live projected storytelling performances. By painting on the glass of an overhead projector with acrylic, watercolour, sand and ink and intercepting these scenes using simple puppets, Gek Tessaro is able to bring his imagination into the reality of everyone in his audience, like a magician or a conductor.

This master storyteller is able to transport you away into his own fantastic imaginings with. fluid improvisation and constant creation, creating giant illustrations in theaters, onto buildings and in the minds of those who are lucky enough to be his audience.

Gek Tessaro I

Gek Tassaro's work came to my attention in Bologna this spring through a book about The Ark; 'Quando Noè cadde dall'arca'.
The colours and textures of some of Gek Tessaro's spreads remind me of Brian Wildsmith's work. But also in his compositions and use of collage of Eric Carle's.  This Italian illustrator has published many many books in a multitude of styles. Foremost he is a great story teller and his storytelling crosses the genres of children's books into the theater.

Felicita Sala

Pages of redheads from the sketchbook of Italian illustrator Felicita Sala. I love the mix of materials and different linear effects that Felicita achieves in her drawings. Felicita has a wonderful blog full of her work and photographs.

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.