105105magic is soon gone as my head starts
to fill with tasks. Mother of two boys,
I want to be patient and mindful,
but I am struggling every day to get
it right. In the afternoon, I join my
youngest and his class on an excur-
sion to the beach. We paint the sky,
the clouds, the ocean. While all the
kids dive in, I am staring anxious-
ly at my blank piece of paper. I am
convinced I’m not a painter and I
can’t draw. Determined to role mod-
el confidence, I put down a wobbly
line. Hooray, the horizon! The girl
next to me asks: “What colours are
you going to use for the sand?” I look
at the pallet and before I know it I
am mixing some white, yellow, and
brown. The end result is far from a
masterpiece, but I feel blessed living
in the present.
Day four: I feel restless to-
day. There are too many things on
my mind. Everybody in the fami-
ly is coming down with a cold, the
weather is stormy and we’ve got a
jam-packed program of sport and
activities. Between hockey and foot-
ball, I squeeze in some drawing. I
decide to do a profile sketch of my
son’s face. Making him sit still for
five minutes is a challenge in itself. I
start technical, with grid and circle,
to get the proportions right. I draw
the curves of his forehead, nose, and
mouth, positioning ear and eye rel-
atively. I notice my son has quite a
sharp jaw and pointy chin. My hand
glides around and around, brushing
the paper. I draw with quick curved
strokes. His messy hair makes me
smile. The whole family is curious
about the result. My husband says:
“That’s a really lovely drawing, but
it’s not our son.” I agree, but it was
special family bonding and I feel
more relaxed.
Day five: I feel inspired by this
challenge. I love being a creativehuman being. Today I decide to dig
up the paint and brushes I impulsive-
ly bought at the art shop two years
ago. I feel like smudging, splashing,
and dotting colours on the canvas.
My inspiration comes from an art
class my children did; making an ab-
stract painting of a field filled with
colourful flowers. I start to mix the
paint and experiment with differ-
ent shades. It even inspires my son
to come and join me. I feel pure joy.
Thank you Womankind for encour-
aging my creative self. Life is one big
work in progress.we attended her memorial service
yesterday. I couldn’t help thinking,
that day could have been celebrated
with laughter, balloons, and play. I
couldn’t draw that day.
Day two: The morning was
hectic. I finished teaching in the af-
ternoon and thought about spend-
ing a couple of hours of having ‘me’
time. Perhaps distract myself with
the box of pencils and a drawing
pad? I set myself up with a glass
of rosé in one hand and a pencil
in another, gazing at the beautiful
calm water view outside, thinking
where to start... then I realised that
I couldn’t get that little angel’s face
out of my head, the voices in my
head kept telling me I MUST put it
on the paper now! I found a picture
of her from my daughter’s birthday
party and my hand started moving
instantly. My eyes quickly filled
with tears, they were rolling over
fast and dropping onto the paper,
my heart was beating loudly. I felt
despair, anger, and hopelessness. I
kept filling the paper with marks,
keeping my eyes on her angelic
face. I stopped when I saw her look-
ing at me with an indescribable,
incomprehensible questioning. She
was alive - at least on paper, at least
for me, at least for that moment.
Day three: I had my little one
with me all day today. I brought my
daughter a new digital drawing ea-
sel. She likes drawing but like any
three-year-old she doesn’t really
follow instructions. We sat facing
each other; while she was drawing
on the easel I was drawing her on
my pad. It was genius; we enjoyed
the process a lot. My little one was
happy to see her face drawn and
I was happy to see her drawing.
I decided to practise on my hub-
by. When he got home I gave him
a glass of whisky, a bowl of chips,Polina KarlovaDay one: Everything seemed
perfect. It was sunny with a little bit
of chill in the morning. I woke up
with the knot in my stomach. My
eyes were swollen, mouth was dry,
and my face looked 100 years older
than it was three days ago. I thought
about the challenge, remembering
that I’d promised myself I MUST
draw something - it seems a shame
to miss the opportunity to practise
the skills with my master’s degree
in art. But my thoughts were going
back to what happened last week- a beautiful little angel was taken
by the evil virus, she passed away
suddenly not reaching her third
birthday. My daughter was invited
to her birthday party - and instead
105 Womankind Community WOMANKIND’S ART CHALLENGEmagic is soon gone as my head starts
to fill with tasks. Mother of two boys,
I want to be patient and mindful,
but I am struggling every day to get
it right. In the afternoon, I join my
youngest and his class on an excur-
sion to the beach. We paint the sky,
the clouds, the ocean. While all the
kids dive in, I am staring anxious-
ly at my blank piece of paper. I am
convinced I’m not a painter and I
can’t draw. Determined to role mod-
el confidence, I put down a wobbly
line. Hooray, the horizon! The girl
next to me asks: “What colours are
you going to use for the sand?” I look
at the pallet and before I know it I
am mixing some white, yellow, and
brown. The end result is far from a
masterpiece, but I feel blessed living
in the present.
Day four: I feel restless to-
day. There are too many things on
my mind. Everybody in the fami-
ly is coming down with a cold, the
weather is stormy and we’ve got a
jam-packed program of sport and
activities. Between hockey and foot-
ball, I squeeze in some drawing. I
decide to do a profile sketch of my
son’s face. Making him sit still for
five minutes is a challenge in itself. I
start technical, with grid and circle,
to get the proportions right. I draw
the curves of his forehead, nose, and
mouth, positioning ear and eye rel-
atively. I notice my son has quite a
sharp jaw and pointy chin. My hand
glides around and around, brushing
the paper. I draw with quick curved
strokes. His messy hair makes me
smile. The whole family is curious
about the result. My husband says:
“That’s a really lovely drawing, but
it’s not our son.” I agree, but it was
special family bonding and I feel
more relaxed.
Day five: I feel inspired by this
challenge. I love being a creative
human being. Today I decide to dig
up the paint and brushes I impulsive-
ly bought at the art shop two years
ago. I feel like smudging, splashing,
and dotting colours on the canvas.
My inspiration comes from an art
class my children did; making an ab-
stract painting of a field filled with
colourful flowers. I start to mix the
paint and experiment with differ-
ent shades. It even inspires my son
to come and join me. I feel pure joy.
Thank you Womankind for encour-
aging my creative self. Life is one big
work in progress.we attended her memorial service
yesterday. I couldn’t help thinking,
that day could have been celebrated
with laughter, balloons, and play. I
couldn’t draw that day.
Day two: The morning was
hectic. I finished teaching in the af-
ternoon and thought about spend-
ing a couple of hours of having ‘me’
time. Perhaps distract myself with
the box of pencils and a drawing
pad? I set myself up with a glass
of rosé in one hand and a pencil
in another, gazing at the beautiful
calm water view outside, thinking
where to start... then I realised that
I couldn’t get that little angel’s face
out of my head, the voices in my
head kept telling me I MUST put it
on the paper now! I found a picture
of her from my daughter’s birthday
party and my hand started moving
instantly. My eyes quickly filled
with tears, they were rolling over
fast and dropping onto the paper,
my heart was beating loudly. I felt
despair, anger, and hopelessness. I
kept filling the paper with marks,
keeping my eyes on her angelic
face. I stopped when I saw her look-
ing at me with an indescribable,
incomprehensible questioning. She
was alive - at least on paper, at least
for me, at least for that moment.
Day three: I had my little one
with me all day today. I brought my
daughter a new digital drawing ea-
sel. She likes drawing but like any
three-year-old she doesn’t really
follow instructions. We sat facing
each other; while she was drawing
on the easel I was drawing her on
my pad. It was genius; we enjoyed
the process a lot. My little one was
happy to see her face drawn and
I was happy to see her drawing.
I decided to practise on my hub-
by. When he got home I gave him
a glass of whisky, a bowl of chips,Polina KarlovaDay one: Everything seemed
perfect. It was sunny with a little bit
of chill in the morning. I woke up
with the knot in my stomach. My
eyes were swollen, mouth was dry,
and my face looked 100 years older
than it was three days ago. I thought
about the challenge, remembering
that I’d promised myself I MUST
draw something - it seems a shame
to miss the opportunity to practise
the skills with my master’s degree
in art. But my thoughts were going
back to what happened last week- a beautiful little angel was taken
by the evil virus, she passed away
suddenly not reaching her third
birthday. My daughter was invited
to her birthday party - and instead
Womankind Community WOMANKIND’S ART CHALLENGE