Immersed in Reading

 HELLO!

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

fortuneteller

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One day I thought that it might be a good idea to create a collage similar to Melancholy once again. By similar, I mean layering a paper with clipped parts on another paper (or cardboard) with press cuttings pasted on it. 

As for work from today's post I came up with a concept of a collage made on circular media (after among the sunflowers I wanted to do tondo work again) with a horoscope as a main theme. What's the reason for choosing this theme? I've simply gathered lots of cuttings from horoscopes because I saw in them the potential for an interesting dada poem, or collage. I chose the collage option.

So, let's begin.

So, after I prepared a paper circle, and also a cardboard circle, I started drawing a silhouette of female fortuneteller with her crystal ball on the paper one. Above you can see a first draft.

a bunch of tulips

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Spring came, and it is a pleasure to look at a gradual awakening of nature. 

So, in today's post I'd like to show you a drawing of a young woman holding flowers.

a bunch of tulips, watercolour crayons on a watercolour paper, 14,8 x 21 cm.

Snow White's Choice

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Recently an idea of portraying Snow White was tagging along me. It was nagging me quite intrusively so eventually, I decided to make it come true. 

What may seem interesting it's not the first time I drew a work with Snow White. There's already 6th comic strip from the series "the Four Seasons in Four Frames" on this blog.

Below there's a very first draft of Snow White.

My first idea for depicting princess was showing her holding an apple, and looking curiously at a fruit. But as much as I was staring at my first draft of this concept I was feeling a lack of something. 

searching for a wisdom

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In the very last post in this year I'm coming to You with quite mysterious drawing I've made.

It all started with an idea of a woman leaning on an owl (particularly the Eurasian eagle-owl was my main inspiration here).

So, I decided to achieve it but only with pencils.

Below there's the net result of my work.

searching for a wisdom, pencil on a paper, 21 x 14,8 cm.

complicated thoughts

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So, today I'm coming to You with a collage card I've made in Canva.

Once I was experimenting (and I'm still doing that) in this programme.

Below you can see the net result of my experiments.

complicated thoughts, graphic.

It looks quite surreal. I called this card with a floral motive complicated thoughts. 

4 in 4: Autumn's Dress

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Here comes the 21st comic strip from the series the Four Seasons in Four Frames (in short: 4 in 4).

This time the main character of the story is Autumn.

PLOT:

Somewhere in the middle of nowhere Autumn is taking a stroll, 

and suddenly she notices that leaves are falling off of her dress.

As always you will find the translation of bubbles below the comic strip.

ENJOY!

among the sunflowers

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Honestly I've never got a chance to create something on a circular medium. 

And I was really curious how will I deal with that.

So it became my aim - a tondo. Tondo is a term for a work of art created on a circular medium.

And today's the chance to show how I dealt with this chalenge.

I was wondering a bit about what I want to draw, or paint on a circular paper. I came up with an idea of a romance between an acrylic paint and a black pen. It's not the first time I'm doing this kind of experiment (previous works: lost in the dream, At first sight?).

Below you can see the net result of my work.

imagination's swirling exuberance

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So, here comes the new work from the series Wild Fantasy which was developing for a quite long amount of time. I'm not even sure how long this post will be, it definitely will be pretty long (I hope you won't feel bored during reading this).

Before I get stuck in showing the creative process of today's work let me remind You what is Wild Fantasy. This series consists of the black-and-white pictures with colourful accent which were made with pens. All of them happened because of ideas recorded on paper as doodles - ideas showing ladies in outfits with colourful accent with animals, and sometimes with flowers (it depends from the background I chose for the picture - sometimes it's the environment, sometimes it's architecture). So far I've created images with colours like green, blue, red, and violet. Actually, back in 2023 I intended to make a picture with the yellow accent. Due to the certain circumstances, I've reached a conclusion that it would be better to realise a picture with violet accent first, and save the yellow one for later.

So now, let's start the long story about the Wild Fantasy with yellow accent.

Enjoy!

This doodle was the starting point. Here you see long-haired lady with white top, and a full-length skirt with spiral ornament. This skirt was supposed to be yellow. As for spiral ornament - it's supposed to be Klimt's reference. I imagined this particular figure surrounded by an environment in the style of Art Nouveau.

4 in 4: Maple-leaf

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So, it's time for the 20th comic strip from the series "the Four Seasons in Four Frames", which is also known as 4 in 4. There are 2 protagonists of this short story - Summer and Autumn.

PLOT:

Under the maple tree Summer and Autumn met in order to perform a certain ritual.

As always the translation of bubbles is below the comic strip.

ENJOY!

FIRST FRAME

Autumn: ... So, there is just us - Spring is sleeping, Winter's exhausted because of the heat.

Summer: In sum, I'm not surprised about it.

dreaming in the meadow

 HELLO!

Lately I was working on a drawing showing two sitting ladies leaning against their backs. I felt an urge to draw them because of a certain photo which I found in thin book with aphorisms (there are quotes like "Natural abilities are like natural plants that need pruning by study." by sir Francis Bacon).

In the upper part of this photo you can notice a photo in the mentioned book. When I looked at this photo I thought it would be fun to create a picture with two figures sitting like that. But show them in a different way, in a dreamy setting.