ABANDONED. Almost too-real illustrations of toys in attic

[Hilary]

A friend wants help remembering the title and author of a children's book she describes as follows, any guesses? I guessed The Invention of Hugo Cabret, but she thinks that is wrong. Here is her description: " It's a children's book. I forgot the title, author, and illustrator. What I do remember, is I bought it for my boys who are are now ages 17 and 19. It's a picture book. The illustrations are in color, realistic, and mostly at night or an interior like a toy workshop. The illustrations are FABULOUS! I seem to remember a scene with a ship with sails (or a large balloon) floating in the clouds. The main characters are a boy and an old man (toy maker?) Perhaps one picture has something like a rocking horse in an attic. (I could be wrong about that). But I also remember that each illustration was actually a painting. And at the end of the book there was information about ordering prints/posters of some of the pages. The illustrator may be British but I am leaning toward American. I was impressed with the level of detail in each illustration. The realism is in the same family as Maxfield Parrish and his color palette, but the lighting in the book was often candle light as in the workshop scenes."

[Tab]

Hmmm...the first thing that popped in head was author, Chris Van Allsburg. While his illustrations aren't as realistic, they do have a glow. His illustrations tend to have a dreamlike quality to them.

Does your friend remember what year she bought the book or when it was published?

[Pamela]

Kind of a stretch, but possibly Imagine a Day or Imagine a Night, both by Rob Gonsalves? Imagine a Day Imagine a NightActually, someone named Sarah Thompson is listed as the author, but the books center around Gonsalves' art, in which a picture of one thing shades into one of something else, such as a ship on the sea turning into one flying through the sky.

[Jaye]

Pamela,
The descriptions she used reminded me of Rob Gonsalves and the book you mentioned. So I don't think it's a stretch in mentioning them.

The painting you mentioned about the ships is here:
http://rusart.ca/history/gonsalves.html

[Michele]

Perhaps Masquerade?

[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

Hilary, is your friend still looking for this book?

[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

Lobstergirl wrote: "Hilary, is your friend still looking for this book?"

No response in 3 years. Moving to Abandoned.