'DON'T LET THEM FOOL YOU'

My recent solo exhibition and ongoing project dedicated to endangered animals

‘Don’t let them fool you’ is presenting a collection of animal portraits in response to rapidly growing need for sustainable actions.

Usually I create my art to make others smile. However there’s been an anxiety growing inside me and I needed to get it out. Nothing new… It’s about the health of our planet. So what if soon there won’t be anything to smile about? Isn’t nature the basis of everything?

As a mum of two teenagers, I think a lot about the future world that my kids and my grandchildren will live in. Would they be able to go for a walk in the woods, swim in the ocean or trek the mountains listening to the bees and birds in the nearby meadows? These are the moments that rejuvenate me and keep me sane. Will nature be there for them like it is for us now?

Also I've chosen a few charity organisations that will benefit from the sale of my paintings - check the labels below for more info.

Ocean Fashion

acrylic paints on wood, 40x50cm. 2022

WhatS UP? Single Use Plastic drifting in the ocean. If turtles were having a party themed ‘Plastic fantastic’, they wouldn’t have a problem choosing their outfit. Browsing through the ocean of options they could create a great fashion show.

Sea Turtles remember T-Rex and other dinosaurs, as they have been on our planet for over 110 mln years. Sadly at the moment, nearly all of them are endangered, with 3 out of 7 species being critically endangered.

Plastic is just one of many on the lists of turtle’s problems, but it’s the easiest one to approach. So let’s make an effort and avoid SUP as much as possible.

Fun facts about sea turtles:

They breathe air, however they are able to stay underwater for up to 5 hours at a time when they are asleep.

They’re the oceans’ lawnmowers. Without them seagrass would become too tall and disturb other sea animals.
They cannot retract into their shell like other turtles.
Temperature affects the sex of baby turtles. Global warming increases the amount of females.

7% of proceeds from the sale will be donated to oliveridleyproject.org

Lotta wrap riding hood

acrylic paints on wood, 40x50cm. 2022

‘Don’t go by yourself to the forest, or you might get eaten by a wolf!’ – well isn’t that one of the childhood myths? I’m not sure we should be so scared of them as Wolves should be of us

The reality is that Wolves are the guardians of the forests. They ensure a healthy population of wildlife so plants and the surroundings can flourish together. Contrary to the popular story, they are shy and certainly don’t eat people!

What can we do to help them? For a start, spread a good word about wolves to others. Also let’s not mess up their homes with old furniture and other kinds of leftovers. If you are on a walk, help them by cleaning and picking up trash.

Fun facts about wolves:

Wolves are animals who are very similar to our pet companions, dogs.

Afterall they both descend from the same ancestors and they actually share over 98% of the same DNA.

Wolves are hunters and they usually go around in packs ranging from as low as 2 to even 30 wolves. They are fast runners (up to 60 kilometers per hour) and surprisingly good swimmers (up to eight miles).
Wolves mate for life. Wolf packs have a social hierarchy and form around an “alpha” pair of wolves who mate and breed.

7% of proceeds from the sale will be donated to polskiwilk.org.pl

Summer staycation

acrylic paints on wood, 40x50cm. 2022

Ahhh…the classic family summer photo. You know the one, we all have it, mum with the funny hat, wearing the brightest clothes she can find…wrapping her arms around the playful kids and looking serious…straight at the camera

But this shouldn’t be the deal…the Polar bears don’t want to go to Ibiza!

Too much mud and water without floe doesn’t suit its beautiful fur, nor the lifestyle of the Sea Bear. The more the ice melts, the more restrictive becomes their access to wider territories and natural food sources.

Whenever you have the chance, vote for polar bears and reduction of greenhouse gasses. There are multiple petitions gathering votes, which are run by environmental organizations.In the meantime, hop on a bicycle whenever you can.

Fun fact about polar bears:

Polar bear’s fur is not white, but transparent and their skin is black.
They are awesome swimmers, who can go even as far as 100 kilometers in one go.
Their tongue is blue.

7% of proceeds from the sale will be donated to polarbearsinternational.org

Never doubt what nobody is sure about

acrylic paints on wood, 40x50cm. 2022

‘Never doubt what nobody is sure about’ – a quote from ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’, that really makes you reflect. So let’s stop for a moment and think, would Willy Wonka, the famous sugar nerd, accept unfair palm oil in his chocolate?

The hero of this painting is wearing Willy Wonka’s glasses and a hat, but unlike the Roald Dahl story, this is a story of a Monkey and a Palm Oil Factory.

Orangutans are great apes native to the rainforests of Indonesia and Malaysia. Sadly at the moment they can be found only in Borneo and Sumatra, where their habitats are fast disappearing under the chainsaw belonging to timber, palm oil and mining companies.

So shopping responsibly has never been so important. Look for an RSPO certificate or buy products without palm oil. And you might be surprised by the list of products with palm oil, because it includes many unexpected items like shampoo or house detergent.

Fun facts about orangutans:

They share 96% of genes with humans. That’s why from Malay Orang Utan means Person of the Forest

They can tickle each other and laugh.
They can spread their arms up to 2 meters wide

7% of proceeds from the sale will be donated to orangutan.org

A Pollination, A Pollution, A Pollinution

acrylic paints on wood, 40x50cm. 2022

These wonderful little creatures really have a sweet tooth. Give them a bag of M&Ms and they will produce colorful honey. Here in Copenhagen, this happens sometimes to the bees who live in bee hives on the roof of Tivoli Gardens and occasionally feast on flavored popcorn.

Bees can be seen everywhere around the world apart from Antarctica. We all know them for their delicious honey. However it’s the pollination that is crucial and without it, we wouldn’t be able to survive.

Unfortunately air pollution makes the bee job harder, as it impacts the bee’s location skills. As a result, bees find it more difficult to locate and memorize the location of their floral resources, which further affects the pollination process.

Let’s plant some flowers for bees, or create nesting spots. If you really, really have to use pesticides, choose organic ones and apply them outside of bee working hours.

Fun facts about bees:

A bee can fly 15 miles per hour.
20 grams of honey can get a bee enough energy to fly around the planet.
Static electricity of their fur attracts pollen but also other less welcome particles in the air like dust and heavy metals

7% of proceeds from the sale will be donated to bybi.dk

Stop and be slothful

acrylic paints on wood, 60x80cm. 2023

In a fun Ted Talk, sloth researcher Lucy Cooke says that unlike the Ferrari of Animal Kingdom, the cheetah, sloths became the athletes of digestion. So the reality is, they are not lazy or sleepy, they are just busy digesting.

This lethargic lifestyle allows the sloth to grow algae and fungi on their fur, which holds a lot of goodness. Some species of fungi living in the sloth’s fur have been found to be active against certain strains of bacteria, parasites and even cancer!

Unfortunately, while sloths are napping and digesting, we keep ruining the Amazon RainForest, clearing the space to raise cows, or felling the trees to produce furniture and toilet paper…

What we can do to help sloths is minimize beef consumption, start using paper alternatives like products made of hemp and bamboo, and support organizations fighting against deforestation.

Also here is a crazy thought… while life is spinning fast, maybe from time to time it’s worth ‘slothing’ down and focusing on ‘digesting’ what’s around?

Fun facts about sloth:

It can take a sloth up to one month to digest a single leaf
The only time when sloth come down from the tree is when they need to go to the toilet
Sloths are odorless themselves, so with algae on their fur, they smell like a plant

7% of proceeds from the sale will be donated to amazonteam.org

Phytoplankton and other drifters

acrylic paints on wood, 80x120cm. 2023

When it comes to things drifting in the ocean, some are useless or harmful while the rest produce 50% of the oxygen on our planet. It should be an easy guess, which one of the above is phytoplankton.

While it’s not really a plant, nor an animal, these microscopic creatures wandering on the surface of the ocean are critically important for our environment. Phytoplankton, where ‘plankton’ from Greek means ‘a drifter’ take their name from their inability to move but instead drifting and letting the ocean take them.

On top of their ability to produce O2, they massively help in absorbing carbon emission, locking carbon on the bottom of the oceans and turning it into fish food or rock formations like, for example, the White Cliffs of Dover.

All they need to be able to do their job is clean nutritious water. There are a few interesting solutions coming up to start farming plankton. However, let’s hope it’s not too late to clean up the oceans, so they can grow without our assistance.

The biggest thing we can do is ensure that we eat sustainable sources of fish. Overharvesting the ocean is one of the biggest killers of plankton.

Fun fact about phytoplankton:

Some of phytoplankton are bioluminescent and so they glow in the dark. Most of these plankton glow blue, but a few can glow green, red, or orange.
Individually invisible to a naked eye, together plankton can be visible from space. Just wow, right?

7% of proceeds from the sale will be donated to nordicoceanwatch.dk

behind the scenes

Let me take you on a tour around my currently hottest project – my 1st solo exhibition.

It was around the end of 2021, when I came up with the idea for a series of animal portraits depicting the ongoing struggles concerning climate change and biodiversity loss..

Take a look at a few snippets and insights into my work.

first sketches

As soon as I come up with an idea, I roughly put it into my sketchbook as kind of a ‘don’t forget about it’ note.

These ideas sat in my sketchbook for a few months before I dug them out and took another phase. I didn’t even know back then, it was the start of my work for the solo exhibition.

DIY canvas

I don’t like to be limited by sizes of canvas in the shop. Hence I build my own. There is no better workout than cutting a piece of wood on the soft furniture. It’s not a staged photo. It really happened.

design in Photoshop

Digital art helps me with decisions about composition and colour. I start with a very rough draft in Photoshop, which I then transfer onto the canvas. This gives me a good start and a plan for when I get sidetracked…

Apart from that, having such draft, makes it easier to ask my artist friends for opinions. It’s always good to have a second view before wasting tones of paints and time 😉

reference photos

Sometimes I find them on internet, but very often I take my own reference photos. Dyveka was so nice to be my model for the portrait of the wolf 🙂 I also had to take a serious selfie wearing a posh plastic scarf for the turtle’s portrait.

ugly phase!

The first layers of the painting are not my favourite part. One says to stay calm and trust your process. That’s a big challenge for my inpatient nature! It’s a boring but also very difficult phase. This is where painting takes the first shape and composition and it stays on the canvas forever.