February 2025 Inspiration: Stunning Art, Sketchbooks and Learning

Hello, friends! The last day of February is here, which means spring is just around the corner and I’m so happy about it! We’ve had a few beautiful sunny days here in Cornwall, and after such a long, grey month, I’m feeling especially grateful for every little bit of sunshine. I haven’t read much this month, but I’d love to share a few things that have caught my interest anyway.

Reading:

The Signature of All Things by Elisabeth Gilbert. This is really the only book I’ve read this month. It’s quite a large 500+ page novel about Alma Whittaker whose exploration of nature and moss took her into a better understanding of evolution and life. This book is written so beautifully and there are so many philosophical themes to think about. It’s a story of our nature, loneliness, exploration, humanity, spirituality. It’s tragic and beautiful at the same time. I haven’t read Gilbert’s books before and I’m glad I read this one.

Everything else:

Fauvism. I was reading some articles about this art movement mostly because I love the works that are related to it. I find it very inspiring to go back to history and look for great artists’ works and read through their stories. Besides my favourite artists Henri Matisse and Andre Derain who were also founders of the movement, I found the works of Henri Manguin and Maurice de Vlaminck which are so interesting and inspiring. I absolutely love how bravely they work with colour and simplified shapes.
Different museum collections like the Bellas Artes, Met Museum or The National Gallery of Art are great ones for exploration and inspiration. I always forget that these amazing resources exist but they’re so interesting to scroll through and find something new each time.
Sketchbook of Stephan Schriber. Amazing sketchbook by a 15th-century monk who was working in South-West Germany.
Tate Museum in St. Ives. I finally visited this gallery and though it’s quite small I felt so inspired there. Their permanent collection includes works by Picasso, Miro, Matisse, and Modigliani, and seeing them in person was such a treat.
Making Sketchbooks. I put together a couple of my sketchbooks this month. If you’re interested, I shared some useful resources here in this post.
Learning. I studied quite a lot this month, trying to balance drawing, graphic design and some other useful materials about self-promotion, video editing etc. If you’re looking for great illustration courses, I put together a list of my top 10 favourites here. I also studied graphic design courses on Skillshare by Khadija El Sharawy. She explains all perfectly and I really enjoyed watching these and working on the final projects.

That’s it for February. It’s been a slow, grey month, but I really hope that spring will bring new energy, fresh inspiration, and lots of creativity and ideas.

Wishing you all a beautiful beginning of the new season!

Anna