Interview
Evelina Stenson
Evelina is a Swedish artist that started to draw in 2022, for her mental health and ADHD. Evelina mostly draws with pencils and uses brushes for shading of her work. What she mostly draws is what she feels in the moment and it can be different every time. Flowers, animals, skulls, dragons and much more! Many even see that her artwork can make good tattoos as well. She tries other mediums as well, but her pencils and brushes is where her heart is. She’s still learning and she loves everything about it!
What is your background and how did you start your journey in the art world?
“I picked up my pencils in November of 2022, to cope with my anxiety and mental health. I have struggled with anxiety and with my mental health for many years, I also have ADHD. So, when I picked up my pencils that day in November, I didn’t have a plan. I just wanted to see if I could find a way, to get some peace in my head and calm my anxiety. As time went by, I started to find other people on different platforms. When I was able and secure enough, I started to go live on them myself and draw. So, in my lives I sat, draw and listened to music. I talked to people that joined and sometimes I didn’t even talk at all. I just drew and listened to music. Just to go live and be a "host" on the platforms was a challenge for my anxiety but the more times I did it, the more fun it became! And I also found out, others found it relaxing as well. I drew and they watched. As time went by, I found more people online that was doing art and they inspired me even more and my interest to try different mediums and more things. I still struggle with my mental health and in periods I don't go live and draw, but I draw by myself. It calms me a lot to be able to draw. Even if its just for 10 min or for hours. The days I manage to have time to draw, is always the best days.”
What does your work aim to say? Does it comment on any current social or political issues?
“My work is just what I feel and what I wanna try create. And I also wanna show, you don’t have to be a pro, you don’t have to have expensive brands or anything to start drawing. The important thing is that you just pick up your pencils and start. And do what you wanna do, not what others want you to do.”
Do you plan your work in advance, or is it improvisation?
“Some work I plan out ahead, just because I need to think up a picture and look for inspirations for it. And some, I just decide to do when I finish a drawing. Sometimes, I know what my next drawing will be, sometimes not. It all depends on what mood I'm in, what I feel and wanna do. If I don’t have the right feeling or don’t feel like I wanna do it - I can't create. It comes to a stand still.”
Are there any art world trends you are following?
“I'm looking at all different types of artists. Some are doing oil, some acrylic, others tattoo art or spray paint. It's no end to the possibilities to see different artist and work with different mediums. Every artist uses their medium in different ways and that’s what I love about it! Everyone is special.”
What process, materials and techniques do you use to create your artwork?
“I have tried oil, which was very tricky to me. Acrylic I like, same with color pencils. Watercolor, I love. But pencils and my brushes for shading is what I absolutely love the most. I'm still learning it but I can't get enough how I can grow a drawing with a simple 0.3mm mechanical pencil and shading. That is what I love the most!”
What does your art mean to you?
“My art means a lot. Because every drawing I have done, is with pencils that everyone can afford. It shows that you don’t have to buy the expensive stuff. A pencil is enough. So, no one can say that they can't afford it. And also that this is my way to cope with my mental health and it's never to late to start do what you enjoy. Or at least try. My drawings this past years show how much I have grown as a person and how much it also helped with my mental health.”
What’s your favourite artwork and why?
“My favorite artwork is ELI, it’s a skull with a rose on its head that a friend did in pyrographic and I took it as a challenge to do it on a sketch. It was a real challenge for me but he came out great. Rose-Owl, it's a drawing I put together as I went and it was one of the firsts serious try I did with pencils and shading only. Zephyr and Saphora, my dragons. My first drawing with two things in one, and to make them blend in together on a paper, one over, the other one under. The size, shading, angles. They came out more awesome than I ever imagined.”
Have you had any noteworthy exhibitions you'd like to share?
“I have only been on one exhibition so far where I stood for 4 hours and showed my drawings to people, talked about them and showed my art supplies. And it was in my city where I live.”
Instagram: @Evelinas_Artwork
Other work: www.facebook.com/EvelinaSArtwork
