Kent Iwemyr

Should paintings tell stories? “I can’t say that,” Kent says, “but for me it’s important. I’m not good at writing stories, and I’m not good at telling stories, so I paint them.”  Kent Iwemyr.

I love the visual stories of Kent Iwemyr, they're so dark, but so funny at the same time, and the stories unfurl in your imagination, even without the prompt of a title or description.

Ingela Arrhenius II

Ingela Arrhenius's illustrations fill me with joy because of their nostalgic mid-century design style, and because of the simply phenomenal economy of elements which make up these stunning illustrations, this is visual poetry. 

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' published in1966, written and illustrated 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.