Ingela P Arrhenius

Ingela  Peterson Arrhenius is a Swedish designer and illustrator based in Stockholm with an incredibly appealing style which she has used to create ceramics, products for children and children's books. These wonderful characters are created using polymer clay and then decorated with acrylic paint. She is making them for an exhibition in Paris during November.

Marianne Richter I

'Spitz the wandering dog' 1966, by Marianne Richter (1916-2010). Marianne was an illustrator and designer who is remembered primarily for her textile designs, this book has wonderfully observed town and city scenes and beautiful studies of people. 

Ylva Källström-Eklund

Ylva Källström-Eklund (1933-1988) 1958 'Our Songs'  again like Paul René Gauguin's works yesterday, these 1950's illustrations from song books feature the use of blocks of bold colour with complementary and detailed explanatory line work.

Olle Olsson-Hagalund IV

I adore the many portrayals of glass houses in Olle Olsson-Hagalund's work. they seemed to have allowed him to indulge his love of architecture and the colour and texture of the flowers and foliage.

Olle Olsson-Hagalund I

Recently I discovered the work of Swedish painter, Olle Olsson-Hagalund (1904–1972). (Thank you Donatella) Olle's work can be naive, but also exceptionally observed and sensitive, with tremendous use of colour. It is also a window through time to remind us to appreciate simple joys in life. Olle worked extensively on theatre design and in the next few posts I will share more examples of his works.

Above: Olle Olsson-Hagalund in 1956.

Alice Lima de Farias

Alice Lima de Farias's 2017 award-winning book 'The Bird Party'. The Bird's Party is a tale of extinction and the importance of having a friend. The main character is a lonely bat called Flapps, who is always awake while the others sleep. Only Mark is awake and sometimes playing.
But one evening, Mark can't play, he has to get up early, because he is invited to the birthday of the birds the following day. Flapps, has not been invited, and steals Mark's invitation, going to the birthday alone . . .

Alice Lima de Farias is a Swedish scenographer and an illustrator who now lives in Norway with her partner Erlend Loe and their three sons.

Lasse Sandberg I

Lasse Sandberg (1924-2008) was a Swedish illustrator who worked closely with his author wife Inger. This creative couple were prolific publishing nearly every year ( often multiple books) from 1952, when their daughter was born, onwards. This book combines collage with print and line drawing, is called 'Nicolas's Pet' 1979, I love the unusual use of materials and composition across the page.

Kjell Ringi III

The Magic Stick (1968) by Kjell Ringi shows the imagination of a young boy who has found a stick, and what, in his mind's eye, that stick allows him to do. A beautiful concept where the ordinary day of the boy is rendered in line and then his imagination is in full colour across the page.

Kjell Ringi II

Of the Kjell Ringi books that I can find, the main characters always appear to have this pop art style moustache. In this book the illustrations have character focus with lots of  uncluttered space on the page and have the drawing quality of wax crayon. The exchange between characters also takes place across the divide of the gutter on double page spreads and the book is wordless except for an explanation at the start.
These illustrations are from 'The Winner' published in 1968.

Kjell Ringi I

The Stranger: A Modern Fable by Kjell Ringi (1939-2010) was published by Random House in 1968. Kjell Ringi was a Swedish artist, graphic designer, sculptor and writer who published many delightful children's books in the late 1960's and early 1970's.

Brita Granström I

Brita Granström was at picture hooks on Saturday and we were treated to her and her husbands illustrations and books. Britta was initially trained as a painter and her practice involves both painting and illustration.

“I’ve always had these twin careers and they feed each other, the illustrations and the paintings. The paintings are quite separate, a different way of expressing myself. Illustration is an applied art but I do love both.” Brita Granström

Here I have chosen her works from shop interiors.