Here's a little summary of two art projects inspired by a month guesting at SIM residency in Reykjavik and travelling around the country.

My favourite thing is getting to know a new culture, a new natural environment and history of a place in general. I go to residencies and visit new countries without knowing what I will find there and what will serve as inspiration source for another one of my projects. 

In Iceland, inspiration mainly came from the abundance of textures, colours and shapes that can easily be found anywhere in the country. The landscapes are alien and unique: lava fields, blue glacier lagoons, black sand beaches with misshapen icey diamonds, steep green cliffs and erupting volcanos. I've put the textures and shapes I collected during my travels into various projects and, in a way, painted the portrait of Iceland itself. 

#1 - The Characters of Reykjavik

I couldn't walk past the capital's colourful buildings, those really shone against the dark icy skies and their vivid palette inspired a set of bizarre characters, sort of 'the spirits' of Reykjavik, one would say.

I began by playing with shapes and seeing what comes out if I just close my eyes and visualise some buildings together with the colours. 

I photographed all of my new town spirits in front of that very town's street colours and put them together into cheerful gifs. Pretty satisfied with the result.

#2 - The Portrait of Iceland

I The country is infinitely rich with textures, and I have collected a big bunch of those having rented a car and explored natural reserves and local spots as well. By the end of my trip I started running out of space on my hard drive - that's how much my photo and video collection was growing, and I knew I would have to tame it by directing it into a painting. That painting started as a shapeless playground full of objects and textures, and little by little it started evolving into something bigger and more important - a portrait of a new friend, a portrait of Iceland itself.

My humble collection of local textures that made it into the final painting:

Some other significant bits of culture made it into the composition, too: 
Hot springs and hotdogs, sharks and puffins, the nation's devotion to art and folklore.

It's a unique place proud of its individuality and full of quirk and character as well as raw power of nature.

I played with shapes and after a while a personality started to appear.

I used watercolor and acrylic ink on thick textured aquarel paper.

The original painting found a home in the states. It was important for me to start the process of creating this painting and finishing it there on the spot, and I didn't want to carry it with me. It was meant to be born in Iceland and find a new family there.

Thank you for scrolling. If you're interested, I created a whole bunch of Instagram stories narrating my travels in Iceland, those are saved in my highlights in several parts.
For those of you whole like to shop for prints, check out my little online shop.

And if you get a chance, visit Iceland - it will leave a special mark on your heart, I guarantee it.