Magical illustrations by Christina Mrozik

Christina Mrozik (6)

Now and then I stumble across something that hypnotizes me and I end up staring for hours and obsessing over it for days on end. Lately I have been wondering if I should focus more on collecting art. I don’t mean oil paintings of rural landscapes or rubenesque silhouettes, I’m much more attracted to modern (or should I say post-modern) illustration. There’s something fascinating in looking at these drawings, product of such a rich imagination, a little like peeking into the artist’s brain. It gives me a little chill of pleasure. How voyeuristic of me!

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Christina Mrozik (4)

Christina Mrozik is my artist of choice today. Growing up near Michigan’s Grand River, she takes inspiration from nature and fills the imaginary world she creates in her illustrations with birds, plants and animals often found in such a habitat. However, her illustrations mean much more than a first glimpse allows us to see, revealing upon further study many different facets of the story. The underlying motifs are usually related to human feelings and perspectives, subtly hidden in zoomorphic metaphors. To me, her drawings are an opportunity to escape reality, to dream and to take a stroll through this fantastic realm she has created.

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Christina Mrozik (7)

Christina Mrozik (16)

Christina tells the story of her art best, so I will just let you read her own words, without interfering, just as I wouldn’t dare interfere in her art.

Christina Mrozik (8)

Christina Mrozik (10)

“Usually I come up with my best ideas when I’m tired. So when I have  a project I need to brainstorm for, I think about it before I go to bed, and allow myself to dwell in it when I first wake up. I’m not as critical when I’m tired, so creative thoughts enter my mind that I might not otherwise see. Other times ideas strike down from the heavens like lightning, and I’m in the middle of a conversation and someone just says something mundane that summons up a fully rendered piece. There’s not really an entirely consistent pattern to where ideas come from.”

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Christina Mrozik (13)

“Sometimes I entirely make the drawing up. This creates a level of consistency in the oddities, so it looks right. Sometimes I do a lot of research, where I will look up different positions of a wing, or flower, but then put the reference images away, and do it from memory. This allows me to stretch, distort, change colors, and take some artistic license, yet still bring that hint or reality to it. Other times I use a very specific reference photo and draw it verbatim, trying to capture a specific moment that I see happening in the photo. I do go for a lot of walks and try and take photos often enough of different plants and animals, a lot of which I did while recently in Maine. I also like going to the local public museum to draw their taxidermy.”

You can read more about her and see her work at christinamrozik.com and on facebook.

Christina Mrozik (5)

Christina Mrozik

Images, with kind permission, via: christinamrozik.com



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