"A few pens, brushes, ink and watercolor like the flow of time… white paper like the breath of space."
Franck Rollier Born in ‘Bourgogne’, France in 1969, Franck Rollier trained at the Dijon School of Fine Arts before taking an unconventional path. It was during the 2000s that he rediscovered working with water, ink, and watercolor, and his true calling fully emerged.
Nature is his primary source of inspiration. He wanders through the Dombes region, along the banks of the Loire and Rhône rivers, the Atlantic coast, Brittany, and anywhere else in France or Europe the wind takes him—sketchbook and camera in hand—before revisiting these captured moments in his studio.
His works evoke movement and the fluidity of a wing in the wind… Yet Franck Rollier rejects the label of "naturalist painter": he does not view his subjects scientifically, nor does he focus on narrative detail. While form and color provide inspiration, for him, the animal represents, above all, movement and psychology; his work is the calligraphy of the image.
Through his technique—a blend of ink and watercolor—one can sense the brush gliding across the paper and perceive the sure, precise strokes of a calligrapher capturing life in motion. The interplay between water, paper, the passage of time, and the immediacy of the moment creates a blend of risk and pure joy. A woman once told him that he "wrote the birds"—in any case, he seeks to convey the liveliness and energy of the animal world, and of life itself.
Featured at numerous international watercolor fairs and wildlife art exhibitions, his work has crossed borders, reaching places from Taiwan to Liverpool, as well as Sweden and Belgium.
Sennelier Ambassador
He is the author of two books:
« Nuit » aux éditions De Terran
« Cheminer avec l’arbre » à paraître aux éditions Sang de la Terre
Works by Franck Rollier
