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:
- 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)

a memory of a walk I took with my children
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)

had tons of fun drawing this guy, love the colors in his fur

another fun project, feather was a challenge
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

draft sketches, I hardly ever drew a horse before
and an oil pastel illustration

rather proud of how this one turned out
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

I wanted to create a cover specifically and found papercut to be an interesting solution, especially because I missed papercutting a lot
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.

Hansel and Gretel find the gingerbread cottage
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

further and further she goes…
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.

Does it look like her though?
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

my husband’s relatives sent it to him from Ukraine
A few more illustrations
I also participated in a “drawing food” sketch marathon
A couple of “folk style” sketches to finish this entry
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
Great job with the pastels. Loved Hansel and Gretel.
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Thank you so much!
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