Meet the illustrator Aleksejs Naumovs from Latvia

Despite the fact that I am known for my paintings 

I have kept the colourful palette 

that has become my signature style. 

Bookbird, volume 59, No. 4. 

Aleksejs Naumovs is a Latvian Postwar & Contemporary artist who was born in 1955.

Aleksejs Naumovs is known as an outstanding artist and educator of young artists at the Latvian Academy of Arts, the author of many solo and group exhibitions in various countries and continents.  Spontaneous, emotional and rich in atmosphere, his paintings reflect the mood of an instant created by natural light and his illustrations render books similar to those on art.

His selected books submitted to the Hans Christian Andersen Jury are Princese Aurēlija un Kokspoki (Princess Aurelia and Kokspoki), Kaķis brīvdienās (Cat on vacation), Ahoi! Plūdi Daugavā (Ahoi! Floods on the Daugava), Pasaka par Tebras bebru (The Tale of the Beaver Beaver) and Pasakas par diviem (Tales of two). 

The book is based on a fascinating story about trees that haunt: at night they suddenly run into late riders, come out into the meadow to play ball and come up with other surprises. The trees themselves are not happy about it, but their fate has been determined by human mischief. The determined, resourceful princess Aurelia begins to study the ghost trees and decides to help them regain their peace.

Tale of the Beaver of the Tebra

The book “Ahoi! Floods on the Daugava ”is addressed to preschool and young school-age children, and the colourful large-format illustrations, supplemented by appropriate text, depict the journey of three heroes close to children - a cat, a dog and a rooster - with a piece of ice across the Daugava through Riga from Dole Island to To the port of Riga. During the trip, readers are introduced to the important objects on the shore - the new South Bridge, railway bridge, television tower, Stone and Vanšu bridges, the future library - Castle of Light, Riga canal with market pavilions, Old Riga panorama, Presidential Palace and Riga port.

You can see more art by Aleksejs in this Pinterest collection.