Anna Åström

26 July 2025

A story of capturing nature’s peace, one tiny brushstroke at a time.

Every now and then I come across an artist whose work lingers in my mind long after I’ve seen it. From her studio in Spain, Anna Åström creates miniature watercolours with extraordinary detail and soul, each one no bigger than a coin, yet somehow vast in feeling.

My father had a huge workshop where I was always welcome and as a child I used to spend hours and hours drawing, painting, cutting, gluing, sawing, imagining… Creating.

When I was 14 I had the opportunity to present my paintings in a collective exhibition for the first time and two years later I did my first solo exhibition. At that time I painted with acrylic and large scale, it was a combination of paintings and poems, which was my way of leading the viewer by the hand through the labyrinth of feelings, thoughts and reflections that I wanted to express and share.

Infinite memories that I keep and care for, like little treasures.

The idea of painting miniatures came about later. I hadn’t held a brush for a several years – I had changed country, had my two children and started my jewellery workshop. Everything in my life was going great but for whatever reason I was not feeling very “up” which made me feel guilty. I had the feeling that life was taking me “ahead of myself “– suddenly I was having a hard time seeing the beauty in each moment and enjoying the day to day.

One weekend I was going to Stockholm to visit my little sister who had just moved to a new flat and I wanted to give her something special and it occurred to me that I could paint something. I mentioned it to my mother and she said: “Let it be something small because her flat is so tiny.”

I made a very small watercolour painting and the experience filled me – I suddenly felt that special energy again – so when I came back from that trip I left a fixed space for the watercolours on my desk and a promise myself to always find some daily time to capture a small image on paper; an image giving harmony to me when I paint it, and to the person who’s looking at it.

I have my studio in the shade of old oak trees but the good thing about painting small is that I always find the perfect corner, indoors or outdoors, where I feel the peace to pick up the magnifying glass and the brush and create the perfect little world for someone.

I look for the small but essential details that make the image beautiful, strong, interesting. Transmitting the feeling of peace and balance. All of that in just centimetres.

My greatest source of inspiration is always, always nature.

I grew up in a very small village, in Sweden, surrounded by immense forests of high pine trees, whispering beech trees, animals and myths.

I remember the stream with the invisible bottomless well and the black lake with water lilies where we bathed during clear summer nights and skated in winter. I remember the little orphaned sheep that we had to bottle-feed in the spring and the vast meadows lit up by thousands and thousands of dandelions. Infinite memories that I keep and care for like little treasures that serve as inspiration for my work every day.

My dream is to reach more people – to make them see the big in the small – the magnificent in the tiny.

I use classic watercolour, always with brush, where the paper is the only white and the water is the light.

I feel most comfortable with brushes in sizes 20/0 and 4 (for the background) on fine cold-pressed watercolour paper.

Painting miniature watercolours is very similar to meditation – it requires exceptional concentration. For me it was a challenge not only because of the size but also because of how to think how to paint. With acrylic I started with the background and built up the image little by little – the details, the figures. With watercolour it is the other way around – every detail has to be in my head from the beginning. It requires all my attention because I can’t draw beforehand as the pencil tip doesn’t allow it – it’s too thick. I visualize the image I have in mind and follow the invisible lines with the brush.

I usually make round Tinies in the same size as a 1€-coin (23 mm diameter) or 4×4 cm. Even if they are so small it takes me quite a while to paint each tiny world and at the same time, each exhibition requires a quite a few works due to its size, so the preparation time for an exhibition or art fair is several months. That means that I usually paint for example autumn in spring time and summer during the winter.

Very occasionally, once a year or maybe every two years, I make a very special, exclusive work of approximately 1 meter wide. It is one big crane made of several thousand small cranes in watercolour. Each little crane is unique and measures 3 to 9 mm flying all in the same direction. Depending on the daily time I can dedicate to this work, it takes me between 2 to 4 months to finish it – Instead of counting sheep to go to sleep at night, I count cranes!

The first time I made this work I did it for an exhibition I called “Every little detail matters”. Apart from this crane of cranes I had series of miniatures with themes; “Every starling matters”, “Every drop matters”, “Every grain of sand matters”,..

I think that each and every one of us who walks on this earth has a responsibility towards the planet and towards the future in every small gesture we make.

When I started painting mini watercolours, a new world opened up for me – personally but also professionally – a dream came true. My Tinies have a large audience; I have had solo and group exhibitions in Spain, Sweden and Belgium and I have participated in art fairs all around Europe annually. I’m lucky to be represented at the Spanish embassy in Stockholm.

My intention with the miniatures is to give peace and calm to eyes and soul. At my exhibitions there are always magnifying glasses available for visitors to observe the miniatures with time and tranquillity. A woman once told me “It is so special to see your ‘Tinies’ – I feel as if I am peeking through a secret peephole that only I have discovered.”

My dream is to reach more people – to make them see the big in the small – the magnificent in the tiny. Give to their trees leaves, to their birds feathers and to their feelings colours. Give to their hours minutes, and to their minutes seconds. I think that would help make the world a little better every moment.

Thank you Anna for sharing your work with us. The photographer in me is especially drawn to how you’ve captured light so delicately, quiet, and full of emotion.

Readers can explore more of Anna’s work on her website with links to the galleries.

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