Ania Lebiedzka |Student with London Art College – art courses on the web

A few words about me:

More than 10 years ago, when online courses were not so popular as now, my international friend in Scotland told me about London Art College. I kept the name in the back of my mind, not thinking that one day I would receive a diploma from LAC.

As a small girl I was always interested in art and liked looking at picture books.  At the age of eight I wrote and illustrated four small books about Smurfs, Diodes (my father was an electrical engineer) and a Volcano. I didn’t know then that I would like to illustrate books.

In the past I completed an MA in Visual Arts Education in Poland (2002), and then worked for a while as a scenic artist in a music theatre. Later I moved to Scotland where I exhibited my paintings and black-and-white photographs in a spectacular old church, the Roxy Art House in Edinburgh (2005). I have also exhibited by work at the Traquair House (2005) and other places. I received a Special SSWA award from Visual Arts Scotland, and in 2007 exhibited at The Royal Scottish Academy my painting “Space”  and was accepted as a professional member of Visual Arts Scotland.

In the year 2009 I applied to the Edinburgh College of Art and was already starting to think about illustration. I was accepted but due to family circumstances moved to Germany which cut all my artistic connections with Scotland.

Finding myself in a new reality, in a country where I would perhaps have to start over, I was asking myself how I could develop.

A few years later my first son was born and that kept me busy, but art was waiting and calling.

Around this time I received a fantastic gift of professional colour pencils.  It was this that inspired me to sign up for the course “Illustrating Children Books” with Maggy Roberts, and to start to do art again.

My second son was born as I continued the course. During this time I also worked for several years at Dresden International School in parts as an MVP Visual Arts Teacher.

I know that due to life circumstance it took me longer to finish the course than I anticipated, but I finally succeeded and I’m very proud of that.

The course with Maggy was incredible — her open-minded approach to the material and her encouragement to explore new techniques inspired me.

Thank you so much, as well London Art College. I have enjoyed taking part in weekend art challenges. I now like experimenting with new materials, techniques, and scales. I have learned how to work with one image until it is successful, sometimes taking weeks to work on it.

Now I dream of illustrating and publishing a whole book even while my children are still small. I would like to show myself that I can live from art, enriching people’s lives in the process.