Kamila Havlíková

I have been fascinated by nature ever since I was a child. I needed to spend a lot of time in it. Exploring, observing, looking. Quite logically, my path led me to study biology at the Faculty of Science. However, the research there took place under the roof of laboratories and institutes, and I gradually discovered that at heart, I was not a typical scientist.

After the birth of my first daughter, I returned to my other childhood joy – drawing and painting. Artistic capture soon replaced the microscope and the telescope. Drawing and painting became my tools for exploring nature, life, and the world. It is in untamed nature that I feel the greatest connection: with nature, with the elements – and with myself. The brush then moves freely, faster than the mind, which otherwise tends to comment, evaluate, and correct everything.

There is a Sámi word, Mieláhisvuohtá, meaning a state of mind with the intellect disconnected. In this state, I am fully present, my senses are sharpened, and I probably breathe more deeply. And something may arise under my hands that surprises me.

I live in a civilized landscape, so I have to travel to see nature. On the way, I create – most often in travel journals, which become my major source of inspiration. I love long, continuous journeys where the road and the landscape keep changing, as do the people, their customs, and language. In the evenings, I put into words what the pictures didn’t manage to capture.

Each pilgrimage and longer journey produces painted journals – author’s books with many observations, language entries, local poetry, and more.

If there is a budding painter-explorer inside you, join me on my journey. You can browse through travel journals, stroll through a gallery, or sign up for a course. I’d be happy to be your guide.