Current Price: £5.49
Number of Pages: 74
Size: 28 x 21cm
Paper colour: White
Paper surface: Rough tooth
Paper thickness: Average
Linework: Fine
Perforated: No
One sided: Yes
Binding: Glue
Drawings go into the spine: No
Waterbased pen bleed: Yes
Secrets Beneath the Leaves is their debut book, and at first glance contains a tangled assortment of leaves and fronds until you look closer... The 30 hand-illustrated designs conceal some fairly erotic imagery- although very tastefully executed- of couples in various sensual poses and positions. Arto describes the book as "inspired by the nature and beauty of the human body", which is exactly what it incapsulates. Everything and everyone is made up entirely of leaves, camouflaged within the foliage, blurring the lines of where nature ends and humans begin.
I really like this book as the illustrations are undeniably beautiful and flowing; it feels so organic and is truly a joy to colour. Like Johanna Basford books, the designs here are very leafy so you'll definitely need to replace your greens and browns after colouring! If you're into wildlife and have a bit of a kinky side, Secrets Beneath the Leaves would be the perfect Christmas present to yourself or anyone else who appreciates beautiful art.
Here's my work in progress, coloured with Derwent Coloursoft pencils.