Cosmos flowers in my garden.

It is stil november, not quite cold yet. The fall foliage is all there, therefore in my little garden there are still beautiful colours of summer. I am talking about these gorgeous windswept flowers of Cosmos plant. I have just recently learned that the flowers were given the name of "cosmos" by Spanish priests who grew them in their mission gardens in Mexico. They were so intrigued by the exquisite, orderly arrangement of the flowers' petals that they named the plant after the Greek word kosmos meaning “decoration, order and harmony of the universe". I brought mine cosmos seeds form Poland, England and bought them also in a localy garden centre in Spain. I mixed them all together, and sowed in a new made patch. Taking advantage of the the ¨cosmos time¨ decided to drew them, so they will stay for even longer then only now.

To draw this illustration I have used blackwing pencil, various ink pens and Winsor & Newton watercolours, all in my Sacura drawing notebook.

EXPOSITION ¨Mira conmigo¨ in Acida gallery - Valladolid

It was something really special. My first exhibition that I shared with my little-great art students. It was an exhibition dedicated to birding and nature observation. I wanted to enable people to look at nature ¨through my eyes¨. Along with illustrations of my birds. I added some interactive elements to the exhibition. For example, binoculars that could be used to observe the birds in my illustrations placed high on the wall to give an impression of the distance the birds are usually from us. Nearby, I placed some of my quick sketches of various birds that I made during bird watching and research. Another interactive part of the exhibit was a wall where some of my bird illustrations were transformed into collages or cut into pieces and filled with pencil swirls that depict parts of how we see and remember birds. I left some empty frames for visitors to try their hand at depicting how they remembered the birds they saw earlier. My little students' amazing collages were a continuation of this idea. Using bits and pieces of my bird illustrations and adding what they remember and have in their minds when they think of birds that turned into a stunning collection of colorful bird-inspired artwork.

This exhibition is not only about birds, but also about our relationship with nature. It features illustrations of my personal experiences surrounded by symbols and elements of nature.

Many thanks to all those who manage to come to the exhibition! I really enjoyed talking to so many of you! hope you enjoyed my art as much as the kids the interactive part. 🥰🙌🍃

Thank you @acida_gallery_espacio for letting me your space! 😘

@graficartprints Thank you for printing my illustrations so beautifully! 🙌

The exhibition is still OPEN until the 👉1st of December👈 Contact Mónica from the @acida_gallery_espacio to get the opening hours.

'Mira conmigo' ACIDA Gallery

Next Saturday on the 4th of November there will be an inauguration of my exhibition ‘Mira conmigo’ that is going to take place in a NEW place @acida_gallery_espacio in Valladolid. I will show some brand new illustrations but also some that you might recognise from various places, in a slightly twisted way + I will also show some amazing artworks of my little art students. Are you coming?

Looking forward seeing you!

AKP 🍃