My NFT journey has began. I must admit, I was quite reluctant at first due to my lack of knowledge about the whole NFT market, but I thought I will give it a go. To be honest – I would never have started if it wasn’t for Matthew Turner from Regency Wealth Management. It is fair to say that it has been his idea from the very beginning.

I have met Matthew while living in Kuwait and we stayed in touch. Few months ago he called me to ask if I would be interested in entering the world of NFT’s. His passion and knowledge sealed the deal. And here we are – launching our first NFT related project together. Matthew came over to see me in Portugal and we had a very intensive few days brain storming ideas and drinking wine (mostly drinking wine). That is how iNFT was born. The ‘i’ relates both to me as an artist and to the fact that all our NFT’s feature eyes.

It is always interesting for me to mix the world of art with that of technology, but I am aware that a lot of my followers don’t necessarily get the meaning of what NFT’s are. I will try to explain it best I can (yet again Matthew comes to rescue with some simple explanations :P).

NFTS or “Non-fungible tokens” use cryptocurrencies’ blockchains to sell original versions of digital artefacts.

Non-fungible tokens” (nfts) jumped to the forefront of mainstream art in March 2021 when Christies, a British auction house, sold a digital work of art for $69m. What was actually sold was an NFT, a cryptocurrency chit that proves a buyer owns an intangible marker connected to a unique piece of digital art, music or other item.

An NFT is a record or data entry onto a cryptocurrency’s blockchain (an immutable ledger that can record more than just virtual coins) that represents pieces of digital media. Invented only a few years ago, it can link not only to art but also to text, videos or bits of code. This solution attempts to solve the thorny problem with digital art: how to own an original. NFT Creators who freely upload their work or sell it as identical copies, the concept of an original can be difficult to pin down precisely. Exclusivity is impossible to enforce when digital files can be shared freely on the internet. But collectors want the cachet that comes with having an exclusive claim on an artwork. This is where NFTs come into their own.

My cat died.

In fact, it was a pussy, and she did not die, but was put to sleep. Eighteen years together. She moved with me from Warsaw to Kuwait, from Kuwait to Lisbon and then further to the Portuguese countryside.

She was quite a bitch – she did not like people (especially children, to whom she was religiously aggressive), she was a very picky eater and she was always in charge of the rest of my cats and two dogs. I guess that’s why there was such a close bond and a lot of love between us. The dictator cat and me.

Maybe it’s a cliché that animals take after their owners, I don’t know…. To me, there is some truth to this. With Goblin (that was her name), I had a strong relationship based on a code of rules that we both strictly followed.

I still have two cats – Slipper (the cuddly one), LuLu (the ugly one) and two Weimar pointers: Slate (the leader) and Flint (a drama queen). So if I take after my animals it would make me a spastic drama queen who likes to cuddle every now and then. I suppose it could be worse.

I feel much better around animals than with people. People fail on so many levels! They are flawed by nature. An animal, on the other hand, does not have this selfishness, it is loyal and protective. It is not afraid to show how much it loves you, neither it is afraid to show its gratitude for your love. A simple, unpretentious relationship. Also, there is nothing better then a properly warmed-up couch or hiking together in the woods or long-lasting face licking/stroking sessions.

Painting is not only about paints and brushes. It starts much earlier – in my head. It’s weeks or even months when I digest an idea, add various elements, give them up and build them anew. This mental picture matures and macerates in all my previous (and new) experiences. It is influenced by my moods and by an ever-changing world, only to one day unexpectedly explode on the canvas.

At this point I usually realize how much learning is still ahead of me. These weeks of projecting an image in my head are about as useful as a knitted condom! Really, no matter how hard I try, when I start to transfer my thoughts onto the canvas – it never goes according to plan.

This has its advantages. First of all, I realize that I am not as talented as I think I am. Secondly, the painting begins to live its own life and goes in a completely different direction. This allows me to learn something new, explore the technique, express myself here and now, without restrictions. This is probably what I like the most about my job – the unknown.

Over the last few years, I have developed a technique that I use for most of my paintings. It is not a new technique, but it is perfect for me.

I start with acrylic underpainting, which is either very dark or very aggressive in colour. Usually, at this stage, I know that I want to keep some of this base colour and smuggle it until the end. It allows me to build a multilayered image. I make decisions quite early which places I would like to leave unpainted. It’s a bit tiring not to splash paint everywhere, when you are in a fever of creating (brushes flying everywhere, etc). Oh, the life of a painter is so demanding…..😛

I’ve noticed that the most difficult thing for me is deciding which colour to use for the background. The silhouettes somehow emerge by themselves, while a poorly chosen background can reduce the effectiveness of the whole painting. I usually play with the background until I’m satisfied.

There comes a point during work that I know it’s time to quit. I could paint every painting endlessly, change colours, modify the composition and add new layers. The trick is to know when an image is attractive enough to stand by itself, and fresh enough for the viewer.

Personally, I do not like ‘tired’ paintings, where each millimeter is covered in paint. It’s nice to leave some areas understated … Besides, new ideas are already buzzing in my head.

For years my studio has been a borrowed place. A table borrowed from the kitchen, a bed borrowed from a bedroom, a floor in the living room. I have never complained about working at home, on the contrary – you can always check what’s new in the fridge, and when working on less ambitious projects – do laundry, wash windows or even take a long bath in the middle of the day. The truth is that I work a lot and I don’t often take on obligations that are not attractive to me – so the windows were always kind of dirty. In addition, the studio is a workspace  – a place where it does not matter if you splash paint on the wall, where the floor should be in multicoloure, and the bathroom sink does not stay white for long. At the same time, I would like to point out that stains of paint on the floor do not mean dirt – I like to live and work in a clean and tidy environment.

After moving to Portugal, we’ve decided to build a studio separate from the house. These two buildings are only a few dozen meters away, so I could always pop into the house and clean these unfortunate windows …

So I have my own splashing area, built by a fantastic team from JULAR, a Portuguese family-owned company that deals with wooden constructions. The guys came over, took measurements and… it was ready. Bitch, I was gagged!

For the last three years, I’ve been starting my day here with coffee. I work from morning to evening, every now and then letting my eyes rest with the soothing views of the Alentejo hills stretching to the horizon. And when I feel a little hungry, I open the cupboard with a hidden supply of chocolate.

Here the brushes do not dry out and the easels are always ready. Here my dogs are taking afternoon naps, the gramophone plays music in the background and I play with colours. It rarely happens that I don’t visit my studio every day – maybe because I like my job. Even when I have guests, my hands itch to paint something.

Linocut was the first graphic technique I learned in college. It is also my favorite technique when it comes to printing. As a naturally impatient person, I noticed that the process of ‘digging’ in linoleum teaches me a lot of control and composure. Some people enjoy yoga or hugging birch trees under the full moon … I prefer meditation with a chisel in my hand.

After graduating from the Faculty of Graphics at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, I focused on painting, which was never my strongest point. However, paint and canvas were never enough for me and somewhere in the back of my head I felt that I wanted to return to graphics. Maybe out of fondness for my student years, maybe out of the need for a break from the easel, or maybe simply because it was fun and I like to have fun.

So I saved some money and bought a graphic press – a small one, one that would look good in the photos next to me and make me look taller than I really am: P Just to be clear – I have a bigger complex regarding my prominent nose than my height, but photos next to a printing press are more catchy then the ones next to door knobs!

And this is how my adventure with printing began again.

The entire atmosphere that accompanies the process of creating a linocut (from making the stencil, to the choice of paper and up to printing) is – as I mentioned at the beginning – a kind of meditation. For those of you who are not familiar with the technical aspects – a short explanation:

1. Create a sketch on the linoleum.
2. With a chisel, we dig out the linoleum that will not appear on the print – what we leave, all the protrusions will be our drawing. This process is rich in numerous cuts to your fingers (chisels should be very sharp), buckets of coffee (in my case black, no sugar) and a persistent neck pain.
3. After the matrix/stencil is prepared, we open the wine and rest for a few days, convinced of our talent.
4. Now it’s time to print! We put on some good music (bossanova or jazz will do), choose good, thick paper, soak it (I soak it in the shower basin ), dry it (slightly damp paper transfers printing ink better) and gently place it on the press, on top of our paint – covered matrix/stencil.
5. For the next few hours we painstakingly try to make a technically good print – usually after the first few attempts we manage to choose the right pressure of the press and the right amount of ink on the matrix. When we are satisfied with the quality of the print, we go with the flow and print the whole batch at once (if we have time and willingness).
6. Each print is then placed on a cork board and dried for at least 24 hours. Ta-dah 😛

There is a lot of charm in the graphic prints of the linocut technique. Relief printing (the oldest known printing technique, including linocut) leaves deep texture on the paper, visible grooves and chisel marks. It is a relatively simple process, but each use of the chisel is visible in the final print – I think that. is why this technique attracts me so much. The viewer sees the entire history of the artist’s work, every imperfection and every sharp edge of the line.

About WerkShoppe

A few years ago we realized there were so many artists out there doing amazing work but struggling to be seen. It made us wonder; what if we could bring these artists’ work to a larger audience, so they could continue to create? And how can we help people discover all this new art by making it really accessible?

So we decided to create WerkShoppe.

We see ourselves as an Art & Design community first. An online gathering place and ecommerce platform where artistic collaborations with emerging and established artists are turned into creative products.

We help people connect with art and with each other. We’re definitely picky about the art we love but we’re not snobby about where to find it.

Art brings us so much happiness and we want you to feel that way too.

Our first products are beautifully made puzzles designed to help you press pause, featuring really interesting artists. We love it, we love what we do, and we hope we can share that love with you.

Press Pause,

Ann – Marie & Wayne

It’s good to be an artist: P I can work when I feel like it (and I always feel like it), I can take a break and go for a coffee or not take a break and paint, for example, all night long.

Quick paintings are certainly not easier to accomplish. They simply require more precision and are more expressive at the same time.

From time to time a painting is created in one session. This has its advantages, such as the freshness of it, expressiveness or the intensity and continuity of the narrative. It also has its drawbacks – it requires more focus from me and leaves no room for mistakes. I like this quick process because it better reflects what’s on my mind at a given moment.

My friend Łukasz Bozycki had an idea to make a time laps video and try to paint a painting in one go. He set up all his gadgets, set up the lamps and sat me inside all of it with a blank canvas. He turned on the recording and went for a vodka (or some noodles, I don’t know), leaving me in the studio for a few hours in a very uncomfortable position ….

It is so nice that with small communities everybody becomes a part of daily life. Projects like this one also give a chance to younger generations to participate and to express themselves. It was a pleasure to be working alongside them and even my limited knowledge of Portuguese language was not a problem (quite the opposite, they defo taught me few cool expressions and new swear words:P).

Working in the centre of Sao Luis.

It took us almost one month to finish. But it was an incredible experience. Every passer by would engage in conversation, I had older people telling me stories about the well and teaching me history of the town. But my favourite part of the day was when local restaurant owners would come over offering me coffee or little snacks (sometimes full lunches and yes, I do like my food).

I am very proud of the final result and I hope the new Old Well will become a part of Sao Luis for years to come.

None of it would be possible without Fernando and support from CIN, who kindly gave us their best paints.