Monday Illustrated with Yelena Bryksenkova

Oh, what a wonderful Monday!!
We are back from our camping weekend which was one of the greatest we've had so far (a blissful combination of the right company, the right campsite, and the very right weather). Unfortunately, no photos as I spilled a bottle of water on my camera... I still hope that after a good drying it will come back to life (does anyone have any experience with rescuing wet cameras?..) but in the meantime I'm going to be photographically-speechless...

I feel so refreshed today and with a lot of new energies. The spring shows more and more signs of victory over the 'I-Don't-Want-To-Leave-Yet' winter and that alone brings a smile to my face.
Another reason to smile, was finding Yelena Bryksenkova's art.

There are so many things I love about Yelena's art and aesthetics. Her gentle color palette, the subtle emotions she brings into her illustrations and the East European flair of her works are all magnificent.
Yelena left Saint Petersburg, Russia 8 years ago and migrated to the Great Lakes. She studied for a brief but magical semester in Prague and traveled a lot throughout the world. Many of her trips are documented in her beautiful sketchbooks.
Yelena says about her inspiration: "My aesthetic is shaped by the places I encounter on my travels, nostalgic recollections, traditional Eastern European folk arts, and the Russian “World of art” movement. One of my most important influences is the work of contemporary Japanese authors Haruki Murakami and Banana Yoshimoto."
As I find a lot of similarity in the places we draw our inspiration from, there is no wonder I'm so attracted to her art.

Have an inspiring, happy Monday my friends!

More of Yelena's work on her Portfolio // Blog // Inspiration Tumblr // Shop.