Swedish artist and illustrator Sandra Blomén Maschinsky creates line art featuring strange characters and abstract objects in her quirky style. Sandra’s studio is in the beautiful port city of Gothenburg, where she grew up.

Her inspiration does not necessarily come from the beauty of everyday life, but from everyday situations that are slightly offbeat or simply very ordinary. She explains: “I find ‘ugly’ illustrations really interesting. Recently, I’ve drawn many illustrations of happy women and everyday things that are funny and quirky in this way.”

Women and the female body are recurring themes and sources of inspiration in Sandra’s creative process. She shares: “The female perspective, body image, and self-perception have been my main sources of inspiration this spring.”

Despite the eccentricity of her style, Sandra’s mode of expression is also quite minimalist. Laughing, she admits that her relationship with color is somewhat complicated: “I’m always working to improve. I really love beautiful color combinations, but I find them hard to create. I often use the same very pale green as a background because I never tire of it,” she says. Yet when she does use color in her work, she uses it lavishly.

In this respect, her artworks are rarely in an “in-between state.” Instead, they emerge from moments of inspiration. “I usually don’t overthink my artworks,” Sandra says, continuing, “I like improvisation, and I like the emotions expressed in the moment. Sometimes I sketch first, reflect, and plan, but that is rare.”