Living Structures

The Living Structures series explores the invisible structures that occasionally reveal themselves and enable connections between living beings, memories, environments, and communities.

Each work in the series approaches this question from a different perspective: through biological, ecological, cartographic, emotional, or symbolic connections. The paintings do not seek to depict nature literally, but rather draw attention to the recurring patterns and organising principles that appear across different forms of life and systems alike.

I believe that empathy begins when we recognise these connections.

Tap to enlarge the picture and read its story or long-tap to see its technical details.

The painting features shades of phthalocyanine green, iridescent ridge bronze and titanium white.

Technical details

Surface: Arches, hot pressed watercolour paper, 300 g/m², 100% pure cotton, acid free, OBA-free
Medium: Caran d'Ache Neocolor II Aquarelle water-soluble wax pastel, Liquitex acrylic inc, Sakura archival ink
Dimensions: 26cm × 36cm
Year: 2026
Status: Available

Interwoven Structures

Abstract composition in shades of mint green, featuring interwoven organic forms and dark graphic outlines that evoke spirals and leaves.

Technical details

Surface: Arches, hot pressed watercolour paper, 300 g/m², 100% pure cotton, acid free, OBA-free
Medium: Caran d'Ache Neocolor II Aquarelle water-soluble wax pastel, Sakura archival ink
Dimensions: 26cm × 36cm
Year: 2026
Status: Available

The Minimalism of Mint

The painting features a scene composed of colorful bursts of grass green, purple, light blue, yellow, and various shades of red.

Technical details

Surface: Arches, hot pressed watercolour paper, 300 g/m², 100% pure cotton, acid free, OBA-free
Medium: Caran d'Ache Neocolor II Aquarelle water-soluble wax pastel, Liquitex Acrylic ink, India ink
Dimensions: 26cm × 36cm
Year: 2026
Status: Available

Smile of a Blackberry

Abstract forest-like composition dominated by ochre yellow and grass green, with organic forms and dark graphic marks suggesting small creatures or forest spirits.

Technical details

Surface: Arches, hot pressed watercolour paper, 300 g/m², 100% pure cotton, acid free, OBA-free
Medium: Caran d'Ache Neocolor II Aquarelle water-soluble wax pastel, acrylic marker, India ink
Dimensions: 26cm × 36cm
Year: 2026
Status: Available

Unity

Abstract composition of interwoven spiral and ribbon-like forms outlined in black. Red, orange, and yellow gradients fill the forms, with white lines and dots creating internal divisions and touches of turquoise providing contrast.

Technical details

Surface: Arches, hot pressed watercolour paper, 300 g/m², 100% pure cotton, acid free, OBA-free
Medium: Caran d'Ache Neocolor II Aquarelle water-soluble wax pastel, acrylic marker, India ink
Dimensions: 26cm × 36cm
Year: 2026
Status: Available
Framing: Wooden frame, UV-protective, anti-reflective glass

Next time it happens...

A mixed-media painting featuring colourful, neuron-like forms with rich, saturated colours against a grey background, creating an abstract, organic composition.

Technical details

Surface: Arches, hot pressed watercolour paper, 300 g/m², 100% pure cotton, acid free, OBA-free
Medium: Caran d'Ache Neocolor II Aquarelle water-soluble wax pastel, acrylic marker
Dimensions: 26cm × 36cm
Year: 2026
Status: Available
Framing: Wooden frame, UV-protective, anti-reflective glass

Out of the Cell

Abstract composition on a white ground, with bluish-lilac organic forms outlined in fine black lines. Diagonal bands of lemon yellow and grass green cross the background, accompanied by small multicoloured dots.

Technical details

Surface: Arches, hot pressed watercolour paper, 300 g/m², 100% pure cotton, acid free, OBA-free
Medium: Caran d'Ache Neocolor II Aquarelle water-soluble wax pastel, India ink
Dimensions: 26cm × 36cm
Year: 2025
Status: Available
Framing: Wooden frame, UV-protective, anti-reflective glass

Revival

Animal Presence

In this series, I reinterpret the traditional animal portrait through contemporary visual means. I approach animals not merely as portrait subjects, but as living entities with their own presence and individuality.

Recognisable animal forms encounter organic and abstract elements, intense colours, graphic marks, and layered surfaces. The tension between realistic details and more freely treated visual elements allows me to preserve the individual character of the animal while moving beyond mere resemblance. The series explores how the animal portrait can express an animal's individuality, its unique relationship with a human, their shared memories, and what animal presence means in a person's life.

I understand the relationship between animals and humans as one of equals, in which the animal is neither a decorative motif nor a substitute for a human story, but an independent living being whose presence becomes the centre of the image in its own right.

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A mixed-media painting of a playful dog holding leaves in its mouth, with an alert, mischievous expression against a dark, textured background.

Technical details

Surface: Fabriano Artistico, museum-quality cold pressed watercolour paper, 640 g/m², 100% pure cotton, chlorine- and acid free
Medium: Caran d'Ache Neopastel extra-fine oil pastels, Schmincke Horadam Gouache, Schmincke Horadam Aquarell, Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Pen fineliner, Sakura archival ink
Dimensions: 20cm × 20cm
Year: 2026
Status: Available for exhibition

Mischief - Szaladin

Watercolour painting of a close-up dog portrait, with the dog’s solemn face emerging from dense fern-like foliage against a mottled blue background.

Technical details

Surface: Fabriano Artistico, museum-quality cold pressed watercolour paper, 640 g/m², 100% pure cotton, chlorine- and acid free
Medium: Caran d'Ache Neopastel extra-fine oil pastels, Schmincke Horadam Aquarell, Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Pen fineliner
Dimensions: 20cm × 20cm
Year: 2026
Status: Available for exhibition

Devotion - Álmos

Selected Works

Tap to enlarge the picture and read its story or long-tap to see its technical details.

A white Parson Russel terrier mix lying on a mossy tree trunk in the forest. The background full of summer lights.

Technical details

Surface: Sennelier Oil Pastel Pad. Acid free 340 gr.
Medium: Caran d'Ache 96 Neopastel extra fine oil pastels
Dimensions: 24 cm × 32 cm
Year: 2025
Status: Available for exhibition

Felhő

Realistic oil pastel portrait of a black-and-brown German Shepherd lying in a grassy forest clearing, holding an orange ball between his front paws. Autumn trees fill the background, with sunlight falling across the scene.

Technical details

Surface: Sennelier Oil Pastel Pad. Acid free 340 gr
Medium: Caran d'Ache 96 Neopastel extra-fine oil pastels
Dimensions: 24cm × 32cm
Year: 2025
Status: Available for exhibition

Rex

This is pastel painting in realistic style. In the middle of the picture we can see a woman. She looks up from the bottom. She's wearing a grey striped sweatshirt. She has a short grey hair and her face is cheerful. She has brown eyes and her lipstick's color is very vibrant red. In the background there is a green circle as an abstract element. It gives contrast to the red color and gives elegant atmosphere for the painting.

Technical details

Surface: Arches, hot pressed watercolour paper, 300 g/m², 100% pure cotton, acid free, OBA-free
Medium: Caran d'Ache Neoart Permanent Wax Oil Pastel and Caran d'Ache Luminance Colored Pencils
Dimensions: 18cm × 26cm
Year: 2025
Status: Available

Self-portrait

An oil pastel painting in vivid pink, orange and pale blue, depicting three faceless female figures with balloon-like forms and leash-like collars, surrounded by grotesque male figures with oversized mouths. Wavy shapes and surreal imagery create a dreamlike yet unsettling scene.

Technical details

Surface: Sennelier Oil Pastel Pad. Acid free 340 gr.
Medium: Caran d'Ache Neopastel extra-fine oil pastels
Dimensions: 40cm × 60cm
Year: 2025
Status: Available
Framing: Wooden frame, UV-protective, anti-reflective glass

Mansplaining - just the first step

Gouache painting of wooden cooking spoons wrapped in baking paper and bundled with dry twigs, arranged like a bouquet with dark branch-like lines extending across the composition. The background is full of small blue, grey, white, yellow, and red tiles.

Technical details

Surface: Ampersand aquabord, clay-coated panel, acid-free, archival
Medium: Schmincke Horadam Gouache
Dimensions: 24cm × 30cm
Year: 2026
Status: Archived

A Bouquet of Patriarchal Charm

Mixed-media painting depicting the interior of a dark cell, viewed from inside. A rectangular opening at the far end is filled with dense rows of red LCD-style digits, while vertical bars line the walls and a grid-like floor recedes toward the opening.

Technical details

Surface: Ampersand aquabord, clay-coated panel, acid-free, archival
Medium: Schmincke Horadam Gouache
Dimensions: 24cm × 18cm
Year: 2025
Status: Archived

Date

Stylised wax oil pastel portrait of a young dachshund peeking from behind a tree trunk. The dog is rendered in shades of blue, purple, and reddish brown, surrounded by floating coloured spots and circular forms.

Technical details

Surface: Fabriano cold pressed watercolour paper, 300 g/m², 25% cotton, acid free
Medium: Caran d'Ache Neoart 100% lightfast wax oil pastels and Caran d'Ache Luminance colored pencils
Dimensions: 14.8cm × 19.5cm
Year: 2025
Status: Archived

Blue Mood

Abstract mixed-media composition featuring a tree with a yellow and deep red canopy, surrounded by dark green linear forms and small irregularly shaped coloured elements.

Technical details

Surface: Fabriano cold pressed watercolour paper, 300 g/m², 25% cotton, acid free
Medium: Derwent Inktense paint, Derwent Inktense watercolor ink pencils, Stabilo Point 88 Fine liner red and black
Dimensions: 10.5cm × 14.8cm
Year: 2025
Status: Archived

Summer Explodes with Green

Abstract watercolour landscape featuring two poplar trees against a bluish-turquoise background. Their vivid canopies combine yellow, orange, and red, with expressive brushstrokes and dark branches extending into the composition.

Technical details

Surface: Fabriano cold pressed watercolour paper, 300 g/m², 25% cotton, acid free
Medium: Faber-Castell Albrecht Dürer watercolor pencils
Dimensions: 10.5cm × 14.8cm
Year: 2023
Status: Archived

Flames of Summer

Stylised ink drawing of a seagull outlined in red, standing on a cluster of brightly coloured abstract forms. A yellow background, scattered coloured marks, and three small heart shapes surround the bird.

Technical details

Surface: Fabriano cold pressed watercolour paper, 300 g/m², 25% cotton, acid free
Medium: Derwent Inktense paint, Derwent Inktense watercolor ink pencils, Uni Posca White acryl marker, Sakura Pigma Brush Pens with archival ink, Faber-Castell Pitt artist pens with India ink
Dimensions: 14.8cm × 10.5cm
Time to create: 10h
Year: 2025
Status: Archived

Viktor, the Hungry Bird

Stylised landscape in wax oil pastel and coloured pencil, featuring a yellow and orange sun above layered blue, red, and purple landforms. A large green-canopied tree stands on the right, with smaller pine trees and a mountain receding into the background.

Technical details

Surface: Arches, hot pressed watercolour paper, 300 g/m², 100% pure cotton, acid free, OBA-free
Medium: Caran d'Ache Neoart 100% lightfast wax oil pastels and Caran d'Ache Luminance colored pencils
Dimensions: 26cm × 36cm
Time to create: 12h
Year: 2025
Status: Available

Where the Desert Ends

Abstract watercolour landscape with a red sun above flowing bands of brown, blue, yellow, green, and red suggesting mountains, rivers, fields, and forest. The upper third of the composition remains largely white, with three small birds flying left and a larger bird flying right.

Technical details

Surface: Arches, hot pressed watercolour paper, 300 g/m², 100% pure cotton, acid free, OBA-free
Medium: Talens watercolor
Dimensions: 26cm × 36cm
Time to create: 7h
Year: 2024
Status: Available
Framing: Wooden frame, UV-protective, anti-reflective glass

Lack of Purple

Geometric watercolour composition built from overlapping coloured triangles, with small detached triangular forms floating in the surrounding white space.

Technical details

Surface: Arches, hot pressed watercolour paper, 300 g/m², 100% pure cotton, acid free, OBA-free
Medium: Faber-Castell Albrecht Dürer watercolor pencils
Dimensions: 26cm × 36cm
Year: 2024
Status: Available
Framing: Wooden frame, UV-protective, anti-reflective glass

Growth

Oil pastel landscape of a birch tree in winter, with sunlight filtering through its branches. A distant forest and church tower appear beyond a snow-covered foreground, with reddish-brown vegetation emerging between the snowdrifts.

Technical details

Surface: Talens oil colour paper, 300 g/m²
Medium: Caran d'Ache 96 Neopastel extra-fine oil pastels
Fixative layer: Talens Varnish for oil pastels
Dimensions: 29.7cm × 21cm
Year: 2024
Status: Archived

Winter Field

Realistic coloured-pencil portrait of a Shiba Inu against a plain background, with red fur and distinctive white facial markings.

Technical details

Surface: Arches, hot pressed watercolour paper, 300 g/m², 100% pure cotton, acid free, OBA-free
Medium: Faber-Castell 120 Polychromos and Caran d'Ache 100 Luminance color pencils
Fixative layer: Winsor&Newton fixative spray
Dimensions: 18cm × 26cm
Year: 2024
Status: Sold

Shiba Inu

It is a graphite portrait of an adult bulldog. He looks at the viewer with all the love and devotion he feels for his owner.

Technical details

Medium: Caran d'Ache Grafwood 2H, F, HB, B, 2B, 3B, 4B, 6B
Fixative layer: Marabu Fixative spray
Dimensions: 21cm × 29.7cm
Time to create: 64h
Year: 2018
Status: Sold

Willow

Graphite portrait of an adult Beagle mix against a plain background.

Technical details

Medium: Caran d'Ache Grafwood 2H, F, HB, B, 2B, 3B, 4B, 6B
Fixative layer: Marabu Fixative spray
Dimensions: 29.7cm × 21cm
Time to create: 56h
Year: 2018
Status: Archived

Álmos

Portrait of the artist and owner of this site: Zita Panyi.

About me

I am a Hungarian contemporary visual artist living and working in Finland, working primarily with mixed media. Creating art became a defining and survival-supporting part of my life relatively early on. Over several decades, my thinking has been shaped by personal trauma, as well as by my experiences relating to social justice, women’s and animal rights, and human dignity.

I was born in a post-communist country, which for a long time had been increasingly evolving into a hybrid regime. Self-expression and existential safety of artists were restricted in many ways. As a result, I lost my connection to art for almost a decade and a half, although writing poetry has been an important part of my life since 2010. For a long time, I worked with the rehabilitation of traumatized dogs. In January 2024, my husband and I emigrated to Finland.

The change opened up a new possibility for me to begin exploring the questions above through the language of visual art. Since 2024, I have been studying drawing and painting independently, developing my visual language through continuous practice and experimentation. The endless pine forests, exploring the Finnish archipelago, and the atmosphere of the harbors fill me with joy and constantly inspire me.

My vision

We all want to belong to others. We want recognition. A life full of dignity and opportunities. I want there to be more creativity, color and free self-expression in the world than oppression.

I believe that art has the power to make visible the connections that we often fail to notice in everyday life. My own experiences have taught me that empathy, human dignity, and freedom are unfortunately not inherent building blocks of our lives, but foundations that we must reinforce again and again.

As an artist, I therefore support the creation and preservation of a world in which every decision concerning our own bodies, our reproductive rights, our education and career choices, our economic security, and our life journeys as a whole is understood in terms of individual autonomy, empathy, human dignity and equality, animal welfare, and a responsible relationship with nature. A world in which these are not separate values, but integral parts of the same shared system.

Through my work, I do not seek to provide answers, but to create visual experiences that invite the viewer to pause, to feel the tension and difference between chaos and order, and to question their own relationship with nature. And to question the "traditional" social arrangements and mechanisms that humanity has constructed in the past, which are not necessarily viable in the present.

Artist statement

My work begins with the observation of nature and with personal experience. Through organic forms, abstraction, recognisable motifs from nature, and the layering of different materials, I explore the forms and structures emerging from living systems.

For me, nature is not merely a subject, but a way of thinking. Its recurring patterns, structures, adaptivity, and continuous transformation inspire my visual thinking. In my work, the coexistence of the organic and the geometric, the realistic and the abstract, the detailed and the loosely painted, the subtle and the intense creates tension. Vivid, high-energy colours, graphic marks, and layered surfaces draw attention not to an exact reproduction of nature, but to its transforming, interwoven structures and the sensations they evoke.

I work with watercolour, gouache, water-soluble wax pastel, and oil pastel, as well as other water-based and graphic media. Consciously utilising the different behaviours of the materials and their effects on one another. Oil pastel is particularly important to me because of its depth and tactile surface presence: it gives my work textural characteristics that I cannot create in the same way with other media. I particularly enjoy working on 640 gsm, 100% cotton, acid-free paper, which is not merely a support for the work but an integral part of the artwork itself. I consciously seek materials and processes that allow me to pursue an artistic and archival practice with the smallest possible ecological footprint. This includes the use of solvent-free, water-soluble materials, as well as avoiding varnishes and fixatives, choosing non-toxic materials, colors, and pigments, and using appropriate framing and UV-protective, anti-reflective glass to provide long-term protection for the works.

My works create visual spaces that simultaneously carry the traces of intuition and conscious decisions, while leaving room for the viewer’s own interpretation and possibility of connection.

Education

  • Rehabilitation Dog Trainer - Hungarian OKJ qualification
  • Dog Trainer - Hungarian OKJ qualification
  • Veterinary Assistant - Hungarian OKJ qualification
  • Dog Massage Therapist - Hungarian programme-accredited professional training
  • 2008 - MA in pedagogy and Hungarian literature, University of Pécs
  • 2003 - BA in Teacher Education, with a minor in Music, The Successor Institution of the Illyés Gyula Faculty of Education, University of Pécs

Exhibitions

Grants & Awards

  • Summer 2025 — Startup Grant, City of Espoo
  • Winter 2025 — Startup Grant, City of Espoo

Contact

Should you have any questions about my artworks, have a commission idea in mind, or be interested in purchasing a piece, feel free to contact me through the form below.