Artwork by Anup Saswade
Artwork Review
I recently came across Anup Saswade’s beautiful painting on a children’s book authors and illustrators group to which I belong. There are many beautiful illustrations and paintings that artists share in the group, but this one in particular stood out to me. As a teacher, I always tried to reinforce the idea to my students that good books bring stories to life, as do good illustrations. Anup Saswade’s painting illustrates this idea wonderfully!
Look closely. Upon the bookshelf, blades of grass lie at the girl’s feet as she seems ponder whether to walk upon the path which will take her deeper into the book. As the train seems ready to chug off the page, its steam rises up and out of the pages, which then brings the eye to the title of the book above, The Great Train Journey. What else can you see in this delightful painting? The candy spilling out from a previous page? The Tree Lover book title standing opposite the pine which grows off to the right? This painting makes me want to turn each page to discover what other treasures I might find.
The artist tells me that this particular artwork was “illustrated for a Hindi article. A little girl is so fond of reading books, so she surrounds herself with characters in the book and seeks the address of one of the characters.” It was painted in acrylics on canvas.
About the Illustrator
Anup Namadev Saswade is a freelance artist and illustrator. He works in digital, as well as traditional art mediums of painting, and has completed his fine art education.