drawing of the eurasian hoopoe

 HELLO!

So, a few months ago I saw the Eurasian hoopoe (Upupa epops) for the very first time in my life. It was a brief moment during which I noticed how lovely this bird is. It was sitting on the fence, and was folding his distinctive crest like a fan. Quite recently, this memory came back to me, and inspired me to draw this cute orange bird.

As a reference for my drawing I used a photo from "pixabay.com" - here's LINK to mentioned photo.

the Eurasian Hoopoe, watercolour crayons on a paper, 14,5 x 19 cm.

In order to create this picture I used only watercolour crayons. I consider it as an excellent exercise.

That's all.

Let me know in the comments what do You think about my drawing.

Have a Nice Day! 🐦

Immersed in Reading

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Recently, a certain photo of a cat inspired me to such an extent that I decided to draw it. This particular photo was a part of an old calendar (from 2009 but to my astonishment, I noticed the days are in alignment with the days of 2026 - quite cool). A cat from the photo is sitting on a pile of books, and is surrounded by more books. If a librarian or a bookseller were a cat, they would be that cat.

When I was thinking about drawing this cat, I came up with an idea to sort of extend my picture.

Mentioned photo is visible on the left side. Lovely cat, isn't it?
On the right side there is my pencil draft of a cat among the books.

Yes, my vision for this picture is kind of an extension of this photo. It's like asking a question - but what might be happening beyond the borders of this photo? And my answer was there is a lady reading a book so intensely she becomes the one with the floor. Literally. And that floor behaves like water - it's waving, and there's a splash because one book plunges into its depths. 

It sounds quite surrealistically, isn't it?

reaching out to the sky

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It happened again. The very same thing which happened in case of works like dreaming in the meadow, or a ghostly presence's stroll. Once again I got inspired by photo from tiny thin book with aphorisms (e.g., "True freedom is to have power over oneself for everything." by Michel de Montaigne). Well, to be precise two photos were my inspirations this time.

First of the mentioned photos - a landscape with 2 trees.

Second of the mentioned photos shows a laid table 
among the flowers.

the Poetic Graphics: a parting song

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A year ago I was observing with the highest interest how birds (mostly swallows) are gathering on the power lines before their departure to the warm countries. The result of that observation was a poem pożegnalna pieśń which I published on my other blog (HERE You can read a poem if You want).

So, maybe You are wondering why am I writing this? The reason is simple. 

I decided to translate this poem, then create a graphic background for it, thus making it a part of "the Poetic Graphics" series.

Below there is the net result of my work.

the Poetic Graphics: a parting song, graphic.

drawing of Santa Croce in Florence

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Today I'd like to show You a drawing of Santa Croce in Florence. When I saw a certain photo on Pinterest (a Pin described as "Santa Croce, Florence" by user Maro), I thought it might be a good challenge to draw it. And it was. Not only because of my problems with drawing a perspective but also with dealing with the heat (it was so hot I understood how snowman must feel when Spring is near).

So, below, the first two photos shows phases of drawing.

the Poppy Wreath

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Last time a romance between an acrylic paint and a black pen happened was in the end of 2024. So, I thought it'd be great to create another one. I came up with a work showing a woman with a wreath on her head. 

I hope You'll be able to feel the summer vibes from the picture which is visible below.

the Poppy Wreath, acrylic paints and a black pen on a paper, 19,5 x 14.5 cm.

Firstly, I applied colours like yellow, green, and red on a paper with acrylic paints.

tea doodles

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You may find today's post a little bit unusual. 

What's not unusual is my proclivity to doodling on anything. This time I took small cardboards from a teabox. I mean the ones which divide a space in a teabox, so it's possible to maintain the order between teabags. That's why I called this little project "tea doodles".

So far, I draw five of them. I let the pens had the time of their lives on these little cardboards. 

They are below, look at them boldly.

1

a secret, pens on a cardboard, 13,8 x 5,8 cm.

Among leafy ornamentation one lady is whispering something to the ear of another lady. One may wonder why the whispering one is having a green hand. Is she a fairy?

gazing out at the distance

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Here's a woman. Her face remains unknown as she's rear-faced to viewer. She's focused on a landscape beneath her.

This is a vision I draw on a paper recently. Soon I felt a need to do something interesting with it.

By "something interesting" I meant using pastels (both dry and oil), and also watercolour crayons. I craved to experiment with them.

I started with dry pastels. Then I used watercolour crayons for womanly silhouette.

graphics including the rainbow haze

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With the beginning of the March I went on the stroll during which I took a few photos. One of them shows naked branches. It inspired me to create a surreal graphics based on this photo of trees. It was foreseeable. To be fair, it would be strange, if I didn't make one.

Anyway, enjoy!

A mentioned photo showing naked branches. Beginning of the March, 2026.

I cropped the fragment of this photo, and started experiments. Mostly with gradients.

Those experiments resulted in the soft rainbow effect. 

So soft, one may think it's a rainbow mist.

Water Nymph

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For some time I was working on a picture of a lady standing in the vague body of water. In today's post You will see a short story which started from a sketch made with a brown crayon, and ended with a portrayal of a Water Nymph.

Enjoy!

A brown crayon sketch I mentioned.

Summary 2025

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It became a tradition for me to start a new year on the blog with a brief summary. It's about time to remember works I did in 2025, and also consider things which might happen in 2026 on an a-r-tistic blog.

SO, LET'S BEGIN.

Summary 2025, graphic.
In this graphic You may see parts of works I've made in 2025.

Artemis

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In the summary 2024 I mentioned that I'd like to create a picture inspired by Greek mythology. To be precise an image of certain goddess - by that I meant Artemis. Fascinating goddess of hunt, Apollo's twin sister who is associated with the Moon. 

I thought of my future picture as a nocturne showing the mighty goddess standing prepared with her bow and arrows in the moonlight.

Below there are doodles in which I tried various poses.

letting the red crane go

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For some time certain thought was tickling my mind, and it was the idea of drawing a lady wearing a kimono. Maybe it's because I haven't been doing an art inspired by Japanese culture in quite a long time. At first I've got no idea how to compose a picture, or which colours I should choose. Finally I came up with usage of a contrast, and with an addition of something symbolic.

Below You could look at my work - letting the red crane go.

letting the red crane go, watercolour crayons on a watercolour paper, 19,7 x 14,5 cm.

landscape graphics

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I would like to begin my post with a question.

What do You see in the photo below?

I took this photo during the stroll in October 2025.

a figure with a book (Caserta)

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Recently I was working on the drawing. I treated it as a form of exercise. My main model was a photo showing one of the statues from the garden in the Royal Palace of Caserta in Italy. I'm not sure who was pictured in this sculpture (I suspect it might be allegory of something associated with wisdom, or a goddess). The picture I'm talking about You will find HERE.

So, I took a pencil, a brown paper, and started drawing.

Soon afterwards I was not only using pencil but also a white crayon.

the Poetic Graphics: green small plane

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So, You see, in September 2023 I put up a poem on my other blog. A poem was inspired by a fascinating sight - a green toy aeroplane got stuck in the cherry tree in someone's garden.

HERE You can read the poem in my mother tongue, its title is zielony samolocik. I thought it might be a good idea to translate this poem, and then turn it into a graphic being a part of "the Poetic Graphics".

Below there is a net result of my work.

the Poetic Graphics: green small plane, graphic.

As always a translation was quite a challenge for me.

cosy stroll

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Today I would like to present the new work from the series Wild Fantasy. This series consists of the black-and-white pictures with colourful accent, made with pens. 

The ideas for these pictures come from doodles. You see, I like doodling so much, and sometimes I create something which starts living rent-free in my imagination. These doodles depict ladies in fancy outfits with colourful accent, accompanied by animals, and sometimes by plants (it depends from the background chosen for the picture). On the right sidebar of this blog there is a list "My Series", and here You may see the previous works of Wild Fantasy, if You are interested.

So, after this short introduction let's start a story about the Wild Fantasy's new work with brown accent.

ENJOY!

So, one day I draw quite a fascinating rigout - a white blouse with 3 ornamental strips, and a brown skirt with one ornamental strip in lower part.

the Poetic Graphics: with the willowy hair

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This year I created a poem inspired by a view I saw during the stroll in one of the parks in Cracow. I saw a quite lovely pond with a small island. There was a really big willow on this island. 

The original title of mentioned poem is wśród wierzbowych włosów. HERE You can read this if You want to. I translated this poem in order to make it a part of the Poetic Graphics series, and show it on a specially designed background.

Below there is an effect of my work. 

the Poetic Graphics: with the willowy hair, graphic.

a flame of curiosity

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Some time ago I took a brown crayon and sketched a rear-facing lady in a long dress. 

I took a liking to it so much that the next step were pastels.

Mentioned sketch made with brown crayon.

I thought that pastels could nicely help in achieving a fantastic picture. A picture which may be a dream, or a fantasy universe.

Below there are photos showing further phases of a creative process.

peacock graphics

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Back in May 2016 I visited Łazienki Park in Warsaw. There I saw not only beautiful buildings and nature but also lots of peacocks. I'm mentioning this because one of the photos showing a peacock led me to experiment a bit in graphics software.

Peacock strolling in the gardens of Łazienki Park in Warsaw. I took this photo in May 2016.

When I look at this photo it seems to me as if peacock was emerging from flowers, or walking on the surface of flowers. I found this part of photo fascinating.