2020- a year in review

The awakening series

It’s needless to say 2020 has been a year like no other.

In the beginning of 2020 I knew that I wanted to create a series of large paintings. I had had this idea for a while. I thought that at first I will paint some smaller pieces to get ideas for my series. Then pandemic happened and I wasn’t able to get large canvases from anywhere.
I continued working on smaller paintings and at some point I got so inspired and decided to work on series that was inspired by Spring. The nature had started showing first signs of Spring and I loved how it was awakening from long winter sleep. That’s where the name of The awakening came from.

I love to go for a long walks with my friends in the forest. It’s so peaceful out there. There is a reason why there’s a saying that The connection is better in the forest. I always feel so happy and full of energy and ideas when I return from long walks. I wanted to express this peace and beauty I experienced in the forest through my paintings.

I took many photos and used these for inspiration. I love to take photos of nature.
I feel like Spring awakens something in people too. They feel energized, full of hope and are cheerful. It’s like there’s some kind of lightness in the air. Everything seems so much better during Spring.

With this series I wanted to explore a little bit darker color palette. I had been feeling pull to do this for a while and I’m so happy that I went for it. It was such amazing experience.

After I finished the series I took some time off to fill my ‘creative cup’ by doing other things - worked in the garden, spent time with my friends, played the piano and just relaxed a lot.

I started working on paper paintings. I love to work on smaller pieces because they are so much fun and they are great for experimenting with new techniques and mediums.

Soon I felt like I was ready for my next series which was inspired by Summer. Summer is my favorite season and I felt so happy and excited to express all the beauty and nature through these paintings.

The colors were so much brighter and the overall mood of the series was more uplifting.

The paintings were inspired by the forest, plants and flowers in my garden and of course the beach and the sea. I love to watch the waves at the beach. The sound of the crashing waves is so calming.

Summer state of mind series

After summer series I began working on the Autumn series which had 5 paintings. It was exclusively available for my email list. I love to surprise my collectors from time to time.

I started working on my Christmas series. The series had 6 paintings in size 7,8x7,8. It was the first time I worked in such small pieces. I wanted the overall vibe to be light and cheerful so I decided to use a lot of blues and white in my work. I wanted to express the spirit of the Christmas with these paintings. I added silver leaf to each one of them. I love how they made the paintings pop.

Small Christmas paintings

This year I also wanted to do something special and different for Christmas. I have always thought about doing Christmas ornaments and this year I finally did it. It was so much fun and I fell in love with each ornament.

I made 2 collections. Porcelain ornaments and glass ornaments. Porcelain ornaments were made with acrylics and I added gold acrylic color.

The glass ornaments were made with acrylics and I decided to add gold leaf to them and was pleasantly surprised with the outcome.

Porcelain ornaments

Glass ornaments

I also worked on many small paintings on paper. I will add some of the paintings below.

A neverending dream and Sunshine after the rain

One with nature and Inner peace

Stronger together

2020 taught me to not take anything in life for granted. I also learned that it’s even more important than before to go out for long walks just to keep myself insane. Staying at home all the time isn’t good for my mental health. Self care is so important.


2020 gave me an opportunity to slow down and really think about all the lessons I learned. I feel like 2020 was the wake up call so that people would start to value things that really matter in life.

Happy New Year. I’m sure 2021 will be so much better.