Hi! I’m Zelyss. And despite being around for quite a while on this planet, I long ago decided to never grow up!
Ever since I was a child, I escaped on paper. And through it. Never quite fitting along with everybody else, I was getting lost in fairytales. In magical stories illustrated by skilled artists. Those of the kind who used to spend their lives to travel us places. I guess around then my dream started forming: of one day becoming such an artist myself.
Paper was like my spaceship. First I read the stories, then I started writing them. Nothing fancy, just my troubles and worries on diaries. Next came drawing and painting. And endless collages with magazine scraps.
Growing further, the story continued. Illustrating and writing children’s stories that I have not dared to publish, and painting, painting, painting…! Art school was not an option, so I devoured art books and videos and any online class I could get my hands on, and tried to quench my thirst for knowledge. I’m so grateful it never ends…! My endless lonely hours made my dream come true. Me managing to paint like the mentors of my childhood and my paintings to travel to galleries and collectors around the world. I still ask people to pinch me, cause I think I’m dreaming…
In the last couple of years, my fingers started becoming itchy, and paper was asking to be played with. So I learned how to mold it, and bring my characters into life. It’s another kind of magic to be able to hold in your arms a creature that you made. It takes you back to your childhood instantly. When cuddling a doll felt safe and effortless, and when you didn’t have to worry about a thing. Well, almost…
To be honest, I am in a turn in my life. I’m becoming more purposeful about my art and what I create. We’re constantly being told that surviving as an artist is not easy, but nothing really is. Nothing worthy at least, nothing that can give you so much satisfaction like creating does. So, to me, it is important to transfer that love to others. Not so much my creations, but the love. I am trying to share bits and pieces of my process and my journey. To show you how things are done and that nothing is ever easy to make, but that it can be so much fun. And that you can do it too! My video skills are bare minimum and I am not trying to improve on that, because it will take time out of my creative hours. I just want you to see. And I do show you in my own, peculiar way 😊 Through my newsletters, my Instagram posts and my (sparse for now) Youtube videos.
Whatever you are doing in life, whichever path you’ve chosen , do it with love. And if I am to tell you the one thing that I have learnt and kept since I was little, and which has kept me going, it is this: Never stop dreaming ❤️!
A dream must first exist, before it can be materialized.
Sending you much love,
Zelyss