Shiny Forest Ghost Sticker Series - With a Heart

❤ ❤ ❤ Hello Dear Friends! ❤ ❤ ❤

It's spring! A bit wintery, but still. Perfect time for developing a crush on someone, and so the forest ghosts are now more likely to show up in pairs, whether it's under the mushroom, upon the moss or elsewhere that you meet them :)

I enjoy imagining forest ghosts in their natural habitat, but so far I've portrayed them almost always half-hidden, still, wary and observing only. Now I'm constantly drawing them in relaxed, playful poses. I'm calling that a progress (and also my subconscious is demanding more rest, I guess ;P)

Here's the finished artwork:

Pen and ink on paper, 21x29,7 cm

THE INSPIRATION AND STORY BEHIND TODAY'S GHOST

Well, I think those two forest ghosts have only just met. An instant crush, I'd say, given the big heart over their heads. They're very alike, identical actually, and this might play some role in how much they like each other.

Besides from the anime and emoji inspiration mentioned in my previous posts, as well as fantastic artworks by other artists, this particular piece is I also inspired by my recent findings on the tough reality of sparrows in Warsaw (and other big Polish cities). March the 20th was a World Sparrow Day (also happens to by my name day, hehe), and because I adore sparrows I wanted to find out more about them. I've came by an article describing the constant decline in sparrow population due to conditional changes in the cities. In short, it's harder for these cute little birdies to find food (closed rubbish bins, shortly mowed lawns, lack of natural green areas in cities and towns, less insects), safely function in the city (because of predators like cats, dogs, larger birds like magpies; lack of green areas; contamination; modern building with smooth elevations, or old ones being thermomodernized) and build nests and raise offspring (again, modern urban building with smooth elevations, thermomodernization, predators etc.). This is by no means an exhaustive list describing the plight of sparrows, if you're interested you will find more on the topic in the Internet. I'm aware that nowadays it is a tough call for the majority of wild species, but sparrows have stolen my heart ;) and hedgehogs, too!

Sparrows, JPG made by moi out of my scanned linocut, 18 x 30 cm

Anyway, these findings had a huge impact on me!

Recently I've decided to change my company's policy and to start giving the 3% of our profit (and much more often, our income) from our sales to cats, hedgehogs, birds, dogs - animals in need. We have supported honorable causes and cooperated with charitable organizations before, but we wanted to make a step further to systematize our support. I'm very happy with this new policy and I think I could recommend such initiative to anyone running a business, small or big.

Anyhow, my big, deep and long-lasting admiration for sparrows prompted me to engage in some additional actions, like counting the sparrows (collectively with other sparrow-lovers, of course ;), providing nesting boxes, food, but most importantly- by growing awareness and developing some global urban policy). I know there are many people dedicated to help birds in cities and I'm going to do my best to help grow sparrows population again.

I'm very curious about your experiences, have you been engaged in any sort of charity events or have you been supporting charities financially? Which actions are important to you personally? Maybe you're passionate about saving wildlife or homeless pets? I would really love to know, guys!

But I totally forgot to tell you why my romantic post is inspired by sparrows!
Well, it turns out that sparrows are some very amorous birds. Potentially, they could be laying eggs over a dozen times in a single year. Did you know that they were taken as a symbol of lust and love in the past? But now they need human help to grow back their population.

And now to say a word or two about the step by step progress of artwork :)