Welcome to MalinArt.de! This homepage takes you on a journey through my illustrations & photography.
As a child, I was always close to some kind of pen and created tons of pictures. As a teenager and young adult, school, university and other engagements kept me from this activity, but in 2015 I finally found back to this old love. I mostly draw with a pencil and fineliner and I color with Copic markers.
I believe that my travels to many places in the world and the pictures I took there played a big part in reviving my passion to draw. Therefore, I decided to include my travel photography as a blog on my homepage, which will hopefully give you a complementary picture of my cultural and environmental encounters. Short stories will further complete the images.
This homepage documents my work, but is also supposed to give you the opportunity to get in touch with me if you have any question or enquiries! I would love to assist you if you wish to receive an original or a copy of my pictures, or work on an idea that you have. Please refer to the contact page or use my email in the upper left corner.
A short intro about me: I am from Hamburg in Germany but I have lived a few years in Berlin. After residing in the North and East of the country, I now live in the very West. I hold a degree in Urban and Regional Planning (Hamburg and Berlin); my studies took me to many places around the world (you will see). I love my family and friends, I love to play volleyball, I love to hike and – of course – I love to draw.
Thank you for your time and interest, enjoy!
Malin Praktiknjo
Gallery
If you are following me, you know by now that I’m always drawn to draw plants and flowers. For a long time I thought of finding a blossom to draw that has a lot of bright yellow, orange and red in it. Parakeet flowers are all over Singapore and were the perfect model to realize my idea. © malinart.de / Malin Praktiknjo 2019.
This is the central tower of the Museum of Popular Arts and Traditions, Sevilla. The whole building is a lot bigger. It is another beautiful example of oriental elements in Seviilas architecutre. The Museum for popular arts and traditions was built in the course of the 1929 Ibero-American exhibition that took place in the city. It is located in the beautiful gardens of Parque de Maria Luisa, where the more famous Plaza de España is located, too. Plaza España was just too big to draw so I found this little gem to draw instead. Drawn 2018. © malinart.de / Malin Praktiknjo 2019.
In front of the Grand Copthorne Waterfront hotel was a lovely spot to capture both the river, old and new Singaporean architecture. My proud moment was when the hotel actually shared my sketch on their Instagram page! © malinart.de / Malin Praktiknjo 2019. See the hotel’s post here: https://www.instagram.com/p/BqJ-oRdh1vd/
A weekend trip to the tea fields near Nyeri took us to a gorgeous green and hilly area. The owner of the guest house took us on a little hike along the river, which was the only noise I heard when falling peacefully asleep in the tent. Drawn 11/2015. © malinart.de / Malin Praktiknjo 2019.
Sevilla has many beautiful buildings and architecture, thanks to the moorish era and a couple of buildings exhibitions in the 20th century. In particular, the excessive use of colorful tiles was something very new to me. It made so many buildings look even more appealing. At the same time, the tiles became a very challenging factor to draw. While Plaza d’España is a prime example for tiles, I had to start way smaller and decided to go for the Pavilion of Charles V in the Royal Alcàzar Garden. Drawn 11/2016. © malinart.de / Malin Praktiknjo 2019.
Isla de la Cartuja: Behind the museum for contemporary arts is a beautiful calm park with hundreds of bitter orange trees. At that time of the year, in November, they were still quite unripe, so that they almost looked like lemons. Very convenient: I sketched the image in the garden and could refine the lines in the museums coffee shop while soaking in the sun. Drawn 11/2016. © malinart.de / Malin Praktiknjo 2019.
One of the hardest but most rewarding physical challenges I went through was a three-day hike up Kenya’s highest mountain and Africa’s second highest mountain (after the infamous Kilimanjaro): Mount Kenya. We waded through the jungle, beautiful highlands and mars-kind-of landscapes. I saw the most breathtaking night sky you could imagine. Yes, but also tens of hours of walking and climbing, a night so cold and altitude so high that I almost had to give up, fear of heights, and drenched clothes and shoes when it was pouring rain for many hours. I got back safe and happy to conquer 5,000m, overcoming myself, and immersing into the beautiful nature. Drawn 12/2015. © malinart.de / Malin Praktiknjo 2019.
This pictures shows the woman from the well with her husband insider their one-room apartment. At that time, her husband could barely stand up. He spent most of his day on the matress. The area is often flooded, so that most of their belongings are regularly soaked during the rainy season. Picture taken in 2015, drawn in 03/2016. © malinart.de / Malin Praktiknjo 2019.
VIsiting the Botanical Garden’s a couple of times I was fascinated to see all these different shapes, blossoms and colors of the displayed plants. One afternoon I just sat down to process these impressions and was drawing a few of these shapes on one sheet. In the midst of German winter, suffering from a bad sinus, I revisited this sheet and decided to brighten my mood by using as many colors as possible. Obviously not all plants are displayed with their natural color (e.g. some palm leaves), some resemble their original (such as the cannonball blossom). This drawing is a bit experimental and differ from many other drawings I made. I hope it brightens your day as it has mine when I colored it! Drawn 2018. © malinart.de / Malin Praktiknjo 2019.
Do you know this feeling when you freak out leaving your save and comfy home for a new adventure, and you wonder: why did you do this?!? Well, this is exactly how I felt the first day in Nairobi. Then I took a pencil and started drawing the beautifully blooming bottle brush tree that was situated in the garden of my new place. Such a great method to calm me down. Drawn 08/2015. © malinart.de / Malin Praktiknjo 2019.
Apple Tree, Aachen-Soers © malinart.de / Malin Praktiknjo 2019.
I met this man on one of these very hot Bali days. He was preparing chicken for dinner. He is a gardener at the local university. His wife sells small goods in a kiosk that is attached to their house (on the left side). Picture taken in 2014, drawn in 02/2016. © malinart.de / Malin Praktiknjo 2019.
Poppies, Aachen-Laurensberg. Drawn 2018. © malinart.de / Malin Praktiknjo 2019.
One of my interviewees: This woman is the wife to her aids-ridden husband and a mother of two children of which one is already deceased. Her work place is the local market, working as a carrier. In this picture, she withdraws water from the groundwater well. In the background are the two washrooms which the family shares with the nine other parties that live on this plot. Picture taken in 2015, drawn 01/2016. © malinart.de / Malin Praktiknjo 2019.
Puente de Isabel II: The bridge of an Eiffel architecture student that connects the inner city with Triana, a neighborhood that comes alive at night! Drawn 11/2016. © malinart.de / Malin Praktiknjo 2019.
The rainy season was always a great reason (or excuse?) to get comfy at home on weekends and draw whatever motive I could find, like these pink flowers from the garden. Drawn 10/2015. © malinart.de / Malin Praktiknjo 2019.
I always called my Nairobi home the little paradise. Not only did I live with great people, but also we had this spacious garden where all kinds of trees, flowers and even herbs, fruits and vegetables were growing. Among all those plants was this huge banana tree. Drawn 10/2015. © malinart.de / Malin Praktiknjo 2019.
Flower from the socculent house at Hamburg’s Botanical Garden. Drawn 2018. © malinart.de / Malin Praktiknjo 2019.
My first Safari trip was to the Aberdare National Park! I loved the green and mountainous landscape – however that did not make it easy to spot animals during the tour. I was even more happy when we finally spotted a family of elephants close to the road. Drawn 12/2015. © malinart.de / Malin Praktiknjo 2019.
Nairobi turns violet in October! And so did my work campus thanks to all the wonderful Jacaranda Trees. Drawn 11/2015. © malinart.de / Malin Praktiknjo 2019.
Denpasar only has little green space left. This picture shows a monument which is located in one of the few public parks of the city during sunset. The traditional Balinese architecture is a very fine art and still very important to the Balinese. Picture taken in 2015, drawn around 06/2015. © malinart.de / Malin Praktiknjo 2019.
An impression of the High Venns in the Eifel National Park. Drawn 2018. © malinart.de / Malin Praktiknjo 2019.
A co-worker took us to his home neighborhood in Mathare, where he plans to add a rooftop bar right along the bustling Thika Road. From up there we had a great view on various scenes and interactions between people. Drawn 12/2016. © malinart.de / Malin Praktiknjo 2019.