Presentation

Who am I?

Woman painter, portraitist, freelance illustrator, my trump cards being portraits and illustrations.

I like to put down on paper, cardboard, canvas, rock, everything that relates to life.
But in addition, woman, mother and grandmother, the same person as the one above.
Weren’t you told? It is a full time occupation, fulfilled by my four children and seven grandchildren.

My career
A classical education in high school, a year of architecture in Bordeaux, after which I moved up to Paris, working for one year in the studio of painter Joachim Ramo, who taught me rigorous observation and accuracy of values in drawing. A real pleasure and, at the end, the prerequisites for getting me into the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Rue Bonaparte, Paris. Three years of action-packed student life, high-quality teaching, and fellow students from all over the world, all provided a fountain of knowledge.

Photo de profil de Brigitte Comby avec fond en couleur

Lithography
I was particularly passionate about one subject: lithography. In the workshop, there was an industrious and magical atmosphere, with that very special smell of inks, mingled with turpentine, in the creaking and slamming of the old “hornèd beasts” – our name for the lithographic presses – manipulated in a very physical and nimble ballet by students printing their works.
I’ve always kept this passion, and I’m lucky enough to have my own lithographic press more space-saving than a hornèd beast, but big enough for good sized prints.

Childhood
I’m still today resolutely in the world of childhood. My illustrations reflect this, maintaining a dialogue with a spontaneous, unconventional and ever-shifting world that never ages.
Maybe, the incredible elasticity of childhood, as well as its insatiable appetite for recording everything, and its innate sense of symbolism, continue to fascinate me.
I am in constant communion with my child spirit, the one that makes me draw with my left hand while writing with my right hand.

I also work on a lot of different subjects.
When desire sharpens and becomes urgency, I put down my pencils and brushes, and write for three days with no interruption, or put a hat on and go gardening, like going on an adventure: taming (a little), planting (a lot), observing (passionately), and being in harmony with my little garden of flowers and vegetables.
A recipe comes to mind, add a bit of this or that, the urgency comes into focus, and I’ll make an experiment on the stove. I straighten my apron, and the kitchen becomes the theatre of a 3D creation for the taste buds.

Coming back to Mary Poppins’s famous word: “supercalifragilisticexpialidocious”, I give it a wink from Superbabalicious, who has more than one creative trick up her sleeve.

My customers

Presentation

Photo de profil de Brigitte Comby avec fond en couleur

Who am I?

Woman painter, portraitist, freelance illustrator, my trump cards being portraits and illustrations.

I like to put down on paper, cardboard, canvas, rock, everything that relates to life.
But in addition, woman, mother and grandmother, the same person as the one above.
Weren’t you told? It is a full time occupation, fulfilled by my four children and seven grandchildren.

A classical education in high school, a year of architecture in Bordeaux, after which I moved up to Paris, working for one year in the studio of painter Joachim Ramo, who taught me rigorous observation and accuracy of values in drawing. A real pleasure and, at the end, the prerequisites for getting me into the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Rue Bonaparte, Paris. Three years of action-packed student life, high-quality teaching, and fellow students from all over the world, all provided a fountain of knowledge.

I was particularly passionate about one subject: lithography. In the workshop, there was an industrious and magical atmosphere, with that very special smell of inks, mingled with turpentine, in the creaking and slamming of the old “hornèd beasts” – our name for the lithographic presses – manipulated in a very physical and nimble ballet by students printing their works.
I’ve always kept this passion, and I’m lucky enough to have my own lithographic press more space-saving than a hornèd beast, but big enough for good sized prints.

Childhood

I’m still today resolutely in the world of childhood. My illustrations reflect this, maintaining a dialogue with a spontaneous, unconventional and ever-shifting world that never ages.
Maybe, the incredible elasticity of childhood, as well as its insatiable appetite for recording everything, and its innate sense of symbolism, continue to fascinate me.
I am in constant communion with my child spirit, the one that makes me draw with my left hand while writing with my right hand.

I also work on a lot of different subjects.
When desire sharpens and becomes urgency, I put down my pencils and brushes, and write for three days with no interruption, or put a hat on and go gardening, like going on an adventure: taming (a little), planting (a lot), observing (passionately), and being in harmony with my little garden of flowers and vegetables.
A recipe comes to mind, add a bit of this or that, the urgency comes into focus, and I’ll make an experiment on the stove. I straighten my apron, and the kitchen becomes the theatre of a 3D creation for the taste buds.

Coming back to Mary Poppins’s famous word: “supercalifragilisticexpialidocious”, I give it a wink from Superbabalicious, who has more than one creative trick up her sleeve.

My customer

Who do I work for?

  • Portraits: individual commissions
  • Religious illustrations and childhood illustrations: commissions from individuals and publishing houses.
  • Publishers:
    • Editions Rupella
    • Bayard Presse
    • Editions CRER
    • Hachette Livre
    • Les Editions Abordables
    • Editions Pastel en scène-Lavaur
Interesting comments received

Recent posts

Testimonials

The testimonials of my clients, whether they are professionals or individuals, are invaluable

portrait bébé sanguine

“Bonjour Madame, je suis sous le charme ! Bravo pour avoir si bien capté sa malice et sa vivacité ! Merci encore, la galerie des portraits des cousins-cousines est une vraie réussite grâce à votre talent. Bien à vous.” Anne. Paris

portrait-garçon-crayons-de-couleur

“J’accuse réception de vos mails et vous remercie pour ce très très beau travail. Cela me convient… Merci beaucoup, les portraits font l’unanimité…” Yann. Brest

portrait sanguine frimousse petit garçon Jean

“Dear Brigitte, Thanks for your email and portraits. Very well made. I have passed them on to the IRCAM. With best wishes.” Bettina. Vienna | Austria

portrait-Adèle

“Bonjour, nous sommes ravis de ce portrait ! et attendons avec impatience de pouvoir l’encadrer pour qu’il rejoigne les 3 autres. Il est plein de douceur et de subtilité, à l’image de votre talent. Merci encore.” Aude. Orléans

portrait crayon petite fille

“Chère Brigitte, vous êtes vraiment très douée ! Je nous “retrouve” complètement dans ces portraits. Ils sont parfaits !” Catherine et Albert. Bruxelles | Belgique

review1

“Nous venons de recevoir votre envoi, nous sommes ravis merci infiniment pour votre travail délicat.” Elisabeth. Paris

Testimonials

The testimonials of my clients, whether they are professionals or individuals, are invaluable

review2

“Bonjour Madame, je suis sous le charme ! Bravo pour avoir si bien capté sa malice et sa vivacité ! Merci encore, la galerie des portraits des cousins-cousines est une vraie réussite grâce à votre talent. Bien à vous.” Anne. Paris

review1

“J’accuse réception de vos mails et vous remercie pour ce très très beau travail. Cela me convient… Merci beaucoup, les portraits font l’unanimité…” Yann. Brest

review2

“Bonjour, nous sommes ravis de ce portrait ! et attendons avec impatience de pouvoir l’encadrer pour qu’il rejoigne les 3 autres. Il est plein de douceur et de subtilité, à l’image de votre talent. Merci encore.” Aude. Orléans

My studio

My studio has its place in a big house. There is limited space. But I found the answer by stocking canvases and books using vertical space. I have to admit that my lithographic press takes up a lot of room. And as I’m the handyman in the house, my workbench and tools are next to my rolls and lithographic inks. The studio is also filled with many tables, as the portraitist and illustrator also need to find their place. A jumble of odds and ends resembling a workshop, my den for creating “potions” made for happy creations and good humour.

My studio has its place in a big house

My studio

My studio has its place in a big house. There is limited space. But I found the answer by stocking canvases and books using vertical space. I have to admit that my lithographic press takes up a lot of room. And as I’m the handyman in the house, my workbench and tools are next to my rolls and lithographic inks. The studio is also filled with many tables, as the portraitist and illustrator also need to find their place. A jumble of odds and ends resembling a workshop, my den for creating “potions” made for happy creations and good humour.

Few pics from my studio

Chinese portrait

01. If I were a plant: an ancient rose

Deliciously perfumed, not one of those heady perfumes but subtle and strong. Between the peony and the rose, with a thousand and one petals, bordered with dark pink while the heart is paler. I love that flower that you take in and breathe in, that opens your heart and emotions, and lets you slide into your imagination if you only close your eyes… It’s the dream I caress for my art: to find these same sensations.

02. If I were a landscape: a seaside landscape.

I was born by the sea, and all the different places of my childhood were beside the ocean. The sea calms us, the surf is a powerful yet calming rhythm, the intoxicating smell of the ocean air regenerates us; these are things I never tire of.

My very first watercolour, which I made with the ancient colour box of my great grandmother was the representation of a regatta on the sea. I experienced – and I still do – great joy in seeing the colours mingle, giving unexpected and surprising results.

03. If I were a monument: a big and charming family mansion.

With numerous windows, open onto a big garden full of flowers, hornbeams and arbours, with trees more than a hundred years old, an orchard and an old-fashioned vegetable patch.

Old houses delight and charm me, their previous life can be read both inside and out. I had the chance as a girl of spending summers in an old family house, full of laughter and children. That house is rooted deep within me, with its unforgettable smells, its charming bouquets on the fireplaces, its vast yet cosy rooms, its big and wonderful garden… All those memories patiently collected remain a source of inspiration.

04. If I were a famous woman: Hildegard von Bingen.

An exceptional woman for her time in the 12th century, visionary, Mother Superior, physician and botanist, musician and composer.

This woman is a real reference for me, with her multiple talents that she managed to practise. An example for me, who find myself spoiled by the fairies who watched over my cradle and gave me the arts of seeing, smelling, feeling, and listening. And to express them in a thousand ways. Hildegard’s love of nature is a shared passion, and I’d love to have more time to give to the flora that I so love drawing.

05. If I were a child of today: the little five-year old that I was

I would be that little girl of five, singing and dancing, with a pencil in her hand, discovering the world with wonder. Especially the world of reading, that opened up a whole new universe of fantastic imagination for me.

Today, I’m the one telling the stories, I invent and express them in my illustrations.

06. If I were a piece of music: Schubert’s Fantasie in F minor for two pianos.

A beautiful theme, a dash of the soul, happiness and melancholy all in once.

The whirlwind of feelings expressed in the power of two pianos, here running at full speed, there in the expression of a liquid and sweet song.

I love music. My parents used to listen to it a lot, and my lullabies were the music of Purcell, Bach, Beethoven and Schubert. It is an eternal companion, that continues to stir and inspire me.

07. If I were a work of art: The Jockey of Artemision in the museum of Athens.

A child riding bareback on an immense galloping bronze horse, the child jockey is one with the animal, power and grace all at once. I find this beautiful sculpture, fixed in movement, incredibly touching.

The child, frail but firm, and the animal dashing forward, provoke my imagination, bringing in their wake all the illustrations on the relationship between child and animal that I have fun working on.

My studio
Would you like us to work together?

I am waiting for your email.

Let’s Talk

You have a portrait project in mind, a personalized illustration to offer, I am at your service.

If you’d like to undertake an artistic joint venture, let’s meet live on the social networks.