August Sneak Peeks

Over land, by the sea

He walks silently

Through the ancient forests green

He navigates unseen

Hi!

Today, after scanning some new paintings and removing absolutely all the dust specks from them, I've decided to share a few sneak peeks. They're of a magical, ghostly lynx character. I've decided to go with green colour palettes for these illustrations because I've missed painting with green so much. I've spent most of the year working with blues, whites and purples depicting winter. And now that the warm weather might soon be over - I thought I better get some summery imagery into my projects. Anyway, have a look:

As you might be able to tell - I've used the same pose of the lynx walking. I was playing around with scale and different environments. I painted the lynx in the green and white forest setting first, and then I had an urge to paint him again but TINIER! So, I ended up making a miniature painting that is 2.5 x 4.5 inches. I get a certain kick out of drawing as small as I can. This isn't the smallest I can do, but for I'll save that miniature mindset for another time.

Here is a work-in-progress photo of it for scale. (I have small hands, for the record.)

Media: coloured waterproof inks + watercolour paints + gouache + microns

That's all for now! Thanks for visiting!


All images are ©Mariya Olshevska and may not be used or re-purposed without the artist's consent.

Playing Outside With Imagination and Pride

Happy Saturday!

So, today I'm sharing with you a revisit of some ideas and themes I worked with last spring. My inspiration comes from my childhood memories of enjoying imaginative play-times outside. Currently I'm using those ideas and themes and reworking them into a collection of illustration + poetry spreads which will hopefully turn into a nice book sometime =)

"Little Lilac Ladies"

Ancient myths say mystic powers
Are given to some lilac flowers.
Those having five petals or more
Store magic wishes at their core.

This piece alludes to how my friends and I would comb through lilac bushes in search of 5 petaled flowers because supposedly they had wish granting powers!

 And some process steps:

Inked floral work

Painted floral work

Again, the finished piece

"Helping Hands"

When spring returns back to the land,
Little birds could use a hand
With making cozy, tidy nests
For themselves and for their guests.

This illustration reflects how in the spring my friends and I would build nests out of grass to help the birds out :)

(rhymes + illustrations are all by me)

Size: 11x17"
Media: Waterproof inks + watercolour + gouache + microns