Hello again, it’s been a while. I’m afraid I’m not most productive blogger this year (yet), must get a bit better. January was a very difficult month for me, but I am trying to keep with my art practice and create more work to offer to the public.

Let’s take a look at the images created in January:

1. Pastel works 

I made some soft and oil pastel art.

Soft pastel is going rather slow, but I consider the painting I’ve done in January one of my best, especially because I managed to make a snow that looks more or less real.  (See all on instagram under #greenrainartpastels2018)

Drew some animals in oil pastel. I find it a very interesting medium, I can be a bit more bold with the strokes, but at the same time since the amount of layers is limited, I have to be more calculating. (see all on instagram under the hashtag of #greenrainartoilpastels)

Next painting was done as a part of year-round illustration challenge. I made preliminary sketches and an oil painting of a horse for Black Beauty illustration

and an oil pastel illustration

But in the end, for my final illustration I went with a papercut, which I then set on a green background and finished with “papercut style” lettering

This illustration project allowed me to create one more illustration in January. I wanted to focus more on background with this one, it is a well known fairy tale and I was a bit nervous since there were so many attempts on this before.

There is another illustration challenge that I follow and the theme of the month was “people”, here are my favorite illustrations from this one : a portrait of Mozart and illustrations for “Pride and Prejudice”

Pride and Prejudice lovebirds are now available on Society6 and Redbubble

Speaking of love, there were a couple of new Valentine Day artworks created

Two “love” designs, an upgraded papercut and a decorated letters illustration. And a pair of funny little otters.

 

There was also another illustration in a “red caped girl” series, I hope to continue this story in February

I am challenging myself to draw more people this year. Which is funny, this is all I used to draw when I was a kid (especially fashion), but it seems to be so hard now. I have begun MATS Bootcamp and the very first assignment was exactly that- a person and contents of her bag. I got Mindy Kaling and the hardest part, the face was actually the most fun.

Bag contents was a mini assignment and this “real life” part was another fun project which I did in watercolor

 

Other “real life” objects that I drew in January include a sketch of a souvenir cup, also done in watercolor

A few more illustrations

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I also participated in a “drawing food” sketch marathon

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A couple of “folk style” sketches to finish this entry

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This was my January in a nutshell. In February I am working on a second assignment for MATS Bootcamp and my Folio Focus assignments are about to start. I am planning to take more Skillshare classes. I hope to continue a little series project I’ve started in January (which can be seen on instagram). Lots of work to be done in traditional media.

Hope everyone has a wonderful February!

Love,

Anya

As always, please find me on Instagram,  Facebook, Pinterest and Etsy