Benjamin Lacombe

Benjamin Lacombe is another French illustrator I discovered in France. I immediately fell in love with his rich, moody, and vibrant stylized gouache illustrations. When we were in Aix en Provenence, I was thrilled to find his children's picture book, "Les Amants Papillons" ("Butterfly Lovers") in a small book shop. The book is written in French, of which I only know a few words, but the illustrations are a sumptuous blend of color, drama, and design. The book is large, 15½" x 7" which is quite large by picture book standards. This allows for the full intensity of Benjamin's gorgeous illustrations with full spreads on many pages. Since this book is probably difficult to find in the US, here are some other titles he illustrated that are available on Amazon: "Lin Yi's Lantern" and " Cherry and Olive". You can see his work at his very creative website www.BenjaminLacombe.com



Check back for more posts on fantastic illustrators and their work!

Star Gazing - IF

I did these little star gazing frogs a while back, but I thought it could work for this week's theme. I'm hoping to make time to participate in Illustration Friday again! Check out the IF site, as there's always such great work each week around each theme.

Grayson's Elephant

Yay!! I finally finished Grayson's elephant painting for his room. I had a great time painting with the Golden Open Acrylics. I really liked how they stayed wet and I was able to work longer in blending colors. Even thought I still love my Winsor Newton oil alkyds, I think I'm hooked on the new acrylics. I bought a whole bunch of colors yesterday at the art supply store and am trying some more "experiments".
I'll post a pic of the painting in Grayson's nursery soon!