How my art is created...

My beautiful friend Skasia (Ksenia Sapunkova) created this movie to unveil a little bit how my illustrations are created.


 Skasia

Blue Moon Illustration

Here is my new illustration, it's called "Blue Moon".

Sweet Gallery Animation!! :)

Words are like delicate petals..

I'm sitting in my room, drinking lavender tea and hugging my poetry journal. It is so beautiful, and it feels like pages are talking to my heart. As I'm turning the pages, I feel that there is a story, there is music and divine lyrics that still have to be written... beautiful paintings that still have to be painted. Words fill our hearts with love like this unforgettable perfume, words are like these delicate petals..

Make it Magical! Christmas Tesco Magazine Issue

I had a pleasure to work with Tesco Magazine team in London. It was such a blessing to illustrate magical Christmas illustrations.

My new animation: Signature Vacations!

My Trip to France

I had the most incredible trip filled with inspiration, romance and beauty. France is my dream place, I love this country and I've been so blessed to spend five weeks there. It is filled with history, culture, amazing people, delightful atmosphere and inspiring architecture. I had a pleasure to travel around French Riviera and it was absolutely fantastic to discover treasures of its beauty everywhere I went. This trip has deeply touched my heart and I am looking forward to amazing things that are in store. I am going to paint more and I feel that my style has been influenced a lot by French culture. I will take pictures of my sketchbook and share with you my story. Sending you lots of love from Canada. 

Divine Appointment

She is sitting on a soft sofa wrapped up in warm pajamas..

She is not here. She is flying with him. 

She is wearing a silk dress. 

... 

Monaco Charm

I haven't had a lot of opportunity to draw from life these days as I've working on my Christmas Project a lot but a few days ago, I had a chance to go to Monaco and indulge its atmosphere and beauty. It is such an incredible place filled with beautiful people, luxurious houses, yachts, museums and gardens. Being there - feels like another world. I wanted to capture that feeling in my sketchbook and this is what I came up with. 

La belle Nice

 I am now having an incredible time in Nice, France. This place is absolutely divine and unique filled with inspiration, elegance and history. What a beautiful place to live in and create marvellous illustrations... Being here is very inspiring.
This week I've been relaxing a lot, working on my Christmas project and drawing a little bit in my sketchbook. Next week, I really want to visit Chagall's exhibition and go to Matisses' villa. I am going to take my sketchbook with me everywhere I go and then scan various sketches and illustrations to show you.

The World of Tiffany & Co.

We all know Tiffany & Co. by its fashionably romantic blue box which carries an unforgettable moment that will last a lifetime... Every time I think of Tiffany & Co., I think of a celebration of love, beauty, elegance and charm... I decided to create an illustration that will kind of capture its essence and energy.

France!

I feel the wind of inspiration coming as time approaches to my trip to France. I am so excited about it.. I am going to take my sketchbook, watercolour paper, coloured pencils, markers, gold, gouache and watercolour with me! I'm also going to take my favourite books that inspire me so much as I'm planning on drawing in my Moleskine so much and taking it with me no matter where I go.. this way I'll be able to illustrate vivid moments and places that talk to my soul. I just created this illustration that shows French Delights as a starter. Can't wait to share with you my upcoming French Illustrations!! :) 

Pure Love

There is only one kind of love, it is pure, divine and holy. It is the highest form of feelings that we can ever experience. Love is the most important feeling that makes our souls alive. Love has the highest vibrational frequency and more we are tuned in to it, more we feel it. There is something so strong that has been happening in my heart this past year, I feel that I am capable of feeling this love on a higher level than ever before.

When you find that special person with whom you want to spend your life with, you can exerience an indescribable feeling of love. This illustration reflects this love, they found each other and are so in love. Life is filled with flowers and their life journey is a miracle.

Travel Illustrations

I would like to share with you my newest illustrations. All these illustrations were created in my sketchbook using coloured pencils and markers. It was so interesting to create them as I didn't do any preliminary sketches. I absolutely love this new technique and I have a strong desire to update my portfolio with this style. I find it more modern and trendy. Your comments are very appreciated!! :))

Love Letters...

If I had to live my life without you near me
The days would all be empty
The nights would seem so long
With you I see forever oh so clearly
I might have been in love before
But it never felt this strong
Our dreams are young
And we both know they'll take us
Where we want to go
Hold me now
Touch me now
I don't want to live without you
Nothing's gonna change my love for you
You ought know by now how much I love you
One thing you can be sure of
I'll never ask for more than your love
Nothing's gonna change my love for you
You ought know by now how much I love you
The world may change my whole life through
But nothing's gonna change my love for you
If the road ahead is not so easy,
Our love will lead the way for us
Like a guiding star
I'll be there for you if you should need me
You don't have to change a thing
I love you just the way you are
So come with me and share the view
I'll help you see forever too
by Glenn Medeiros 

New Wave of Creativity

It is so heart warming being inside a cozy apartment, drinking French Provence tea with petals and dreaming about life. These past days, I've been feeling as if something important has happened in my creative life. As you remember from my previous posts, I've been searching for a new wave, for a new touch. I was looking here and there and yet could not find it. I could feel sometimes this new style coming so close, yet I could not express it on paper. Two days ago, my dream came to pass.
It was a beautiful morning and after having my morning tea, I decided to go to the bookstore and draw with my newly bought coloured pencils. When I got in the store, I had an urging desire to buy a new Moleskine Sketchbook! even though I already had one. I could feel that something very important is going to happen in my life. So I bought it, got some inspiring books and found a quite seat. As I was flipping through the pages of these books, I could feel through the pages this inspiration coming. I started drawing, not like I used to draw before (first the sketch with graphite, then transfer to a good paper) - no, I started drawing with a gold marker! :) It was so new to me. Then colours came to my mind.. I started drawing and drawing. So in these past days, I can clearly see my new style and I would like to share it with you.

My new creative life

My dearest readers, I would like to share with you my newest illustration and also what's been happening in my creative life. I've recently started creating an art journal, it is basically a journal filled with inspiration, thoughts and dreams. As I was creating collages, I was thinking about what's deep inside my heart and I could feel that there is a strong desire, need to work on my style and come up with new ways of expressing myself. As you noticed, all my ladies and gentlemen have their eyes closed... and that's how I used to illustrate for years. Something is happening deep inside of me and I have a strong desire to open their eyes. This is my first illustration that has a lady with her eyes wide open. I think it's very symbolic and spiritual. As if a new wave of creativity and life came inside my heart. All I want is to catch it and express it on paper.  

Bliss

Inspiration

There is water that flows on us from Heaven. It brings us hope, It brings us love.
Then, you fly away and you will never be the same. I am inspired, I am amazed.
When I feel inspiration is as if I touch Heaven. The feelings are so deep.

Sometimes I wonder, if only I could capture this feeling like a photograph, how would my paintings be...

Blissful Moment...

We can find beauty all around us, it just depends on how we look at things. A few days ago, I bought so many apricots and was thinking of baking a pie. They were all scattered around me on a round wooden table and I could feel their sweetness in the air. I could feel inspiration coming while I was drinking coffee and searching for the right recipe.

I think that we can have so many blissful moments in life, we just need to notice them and record in our memory. This way these moments will pile up and create a blissful life.

Nashville Love illustration

I absolutely love divine desserts. I like flipping through the pages of inspiring books and drinking freshly brewed coffee. I like tea with rose petals...

I would like to share with you my newest illustration that I created for a Nashville Magazine. This is going to be the cover page of Nashville's events calendar. I was inspired to make it very elegant and divine.

This illustration reflects romance, seduction and beauty. They are in deeply in love and despite all the crowd around them, they fly away on the wings of love. This illustration reflects their first dance. They barely know each other, yet they are in love. They've been waiting this moment since they were born, dreaming about.

He said: "I've been waiting you all my life."

Books that Inspire

Inspiration

It's already passed midnight and I'm sitting next to my computer, full of inspiration and ideas. Tonight was another beautiful night with my best friend Ksenia Sapunkova. We went to the bookstore together to discover inspiration and we did. We found this amazing book called "Difining Luxury" by Jeffrey Bilhuber. I got so much inspiration and now my eyes are closing but my soul longs to create new illustrations that would reflect that deep beauty contained in this marvellous book. I could not resist and I bought this book so that I could hold it close to my heart and tune in to the flow.  I will create a podcast next week about this book and will flip through the pages to show you its beauty. Stay tuned. :)

Mademoiselle Chanel Illustration

There is this beautiful lady -  mademoiselle. She is very delicate and tender, in other words she is like a flower. When she is walking down the streets of France, there is this mystery that spreads around her like a cloud.

My Process of Creating Illustrations

The Color of Love

Did this ever happen to you that you walk inside a bookstore and right away see that perfect book that was waiting for you for so long? You open it and your heart starts beating with so much excitement while your eyes dance through the pages. This is what happened to me yesterday, after a long day I decided to have a walk. I live very close to a very nice street fool of cafe shops, bookstores and restaurants. While I was walking, I could feel that something so beautiful is waiting for me. I went inside a bookstore (it is a very special bookstore as initially it was built as a theater and only few years ago it has been slightly redesigned as a bookstore but the stage and balconies have been kept as they were.)

The moment I entered, my eyes fell on that special book called: The Color of Love. I was so amazed by the title of this book as Love is something so precious to me, something so deep, something so special that I try to express in all my illustrations and paintings. This book was filled with beautiful poems by various famous poets and writers such as: Rumi, Solomon, Shakespeare and many others. All the poems were describing love in a different way and the text was written by hand with a gold paint. I think that by getting this book, I've been moved to a higher level of creativity. Something so deep inside of me is happening, I don't know if it's the early stage of inspiration or a deep longing to express love. We'll see. I feel that I've been painting so many illustrations on the theme of love and now I'm at this point when I am overwhelmed with love. I feel love everywhere around me, everywhere I turn, I feel love. 

I really liked this poem in this book by Rumi:

Happy the moment when we are seated in the palace, thou and I,
With two forms and with two figures but with one soul, thou and I.
The colours of the grove and the voice of the birds will bestow immortality
At the time when we come into the garden, thou and I.
The stars of heaven will come to gaze upon us; We shall know them the moon itself, thou and I. Thou and I, individuals no more, shall be mingled in ectasy, Joyful, and secure from foolish babble, thou and I.
All the bright-plumed birds of heaven will devour their hearts with envy
In the place where we shall laugh in such a fashion, thou and I.
This is the greatest wonder, that thou and I, sitting here in the same nook,
Are at this moment both in Persia and Khorasan, thou and I.

Promenade des Anglais, Nice, Cote d'Azur - French Riviera

Recently, I went to Nice, France and my heart was touched by beauty, elegance and style. Palm trees, oranges, flowers, aristocracy, history, wine, cheese, sea, French Provence and vacation - these are the
words that highlight Nice.

This coastline was one of the first modern resort areas. It began as a winter health resort for the British upper class at the end of the 18^th century. Nice became the playground and vacation spot of British, Russian, and other aristocrats, such as Queen Victoria and King Edward VII.

Promenade des Anglais is very famous in French Riviera and is lined with cafes and hotels, both modern and Belle Epoque, museums and luxury  apartments, the Promenade des Anglais is a long wide road which runs the length of the seafront at Nice. You walk across it and you're on the beach beside an unbelievably turquoise Mediterranean sea.
 
I decided to create my first illustration of the Cote d'Azur series by showing the romantic side of Promenade des Anglais.  I called this illustration: Rendezvous, Promenade des Anglais. This illustration reflects love at first sight and expresses beauty.

Promenade des Anglais, Nice, French Riviera

Illustration: Rendezvous, Promenade des Anglais created by Daria Jabenko (July, 2010)

New Paintings

My update about my new painting.

All about Love illustrations

So here I am, full of inspiration to create illustrations about love. It's like in that song, lets talk about love and for me its lets illustrate love :)
I would like to share with you my latest illustration that I just finished.
Love is so mysterious, so delicate and tender.

About my new series of illustrations "LOVE"

"I will look into your eyes and say: I love you"

I was so inspired to create a new set of illustrations. Few days ago, I was walking around the city and went inside a small scrap booking store. I could feel something so special happening in my heart. The moment I entered in, I immediately saw this beautiful magazine called: "Art Journaling". I was amazed... I couldn't stop flipping through, it was very inspiring and I could feel that I'm on the verge of a new wave of ideas.

I decided to create a set of illustrations that would capture my feelings, like an art journal where feelings and thoughts are described and a vivid moment is captured.

How to Succeed as an Illustrator

Learn how to succeed as an illustrator because lots of exciting projects are waiting for you!
In these podcasts, I'm sharing with you my experience. I know how hard it is to start a career in illustration when nobody knows about you. But guess what, it's so exciting to start doing what you love! I suggest you to watch these podcasts, one by one and take as much as you can. These steps that I'm sharing are very simple and important. I will post more podcasts about these topics soon. Also, feel free to contact me and suggest a theme that you would like me to talk about and I'll gladly present it to you in a form of an exciting podcast.