Artist Paints Exquisite Miniature Landscapes Based on Bike Routes She’s Traveled

Miniature Paintings by Dina Brodsky

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The habits and interests we establish when we’re younger often go on to influence our lives in powerful ways. When artist Dina Brodsky was eighteen years old, she discovered two passions that would become permanent fixtures in her life. “The first was painting,” she writes. “The second was long-distance bicycling.” In her series Cycling Guide to Lilliput, she demonstrates how the two work together to inform her exquisite miniature landscape artwork.

“Long distance cycling tours became my preferred form of travel, a way to gather ideas and information for the next year of painting,” Brodsky explains. “Specifically, I was drawn to miniature painting, studying first Islamic miniature art, then medieval manuscript illumination, combining that with the classical painting techniques I learned through the years.” Each of her small works encapsulates a memory she had while traveling, from moon-lit scenes to snowy roadways to reflecting ponds. Painted with an incredible realism, the circular life-like compositions allude to a larger story in which Brodsky guides the way.

What compels Brodsky to paint at such an impressively tiny scale? “I like to think that the reason my works have gotten so tiny over the years is that painting itself is partially an act of meditation,” she muses, “of being able to hold something still enough in my mind that I can capture an image of it. As it becomes easier to slip into that meditative state, the object I need to concentrate on becomes smaller.”

If you’re local to London, Cycling Guide to Lilliput will be on view at the Pontone Gallery from February 2 to March 4, 2018. Some of the works are also available as limited-edition prints through Brodsky's Etsy shop.

Artist Dina Brodsky creates miniature landscape paintings of places she's rode during long-distance bicycling.

Miniature Landscape Art by Dina Brodsky

Miniature Landscape Art by Dina Brodsky

Miniature Landscape Art by Dina Brodsky

Miniature Paintings by Dina Brodsky

Miniature Landscape Art by Dina Brodsky

Miniature Paintings by Dina Brodsky

Miniature Landscape Art by Dina Brodsky

Miniature Paintings by Dina Brodsky

Miniature Paintings by Dina Brodsky

Miniature Art Painting by Dina Brodsky

Miniature Art Painting by Dina Brodsky

Miniature Art Painting by Dina Brodsky

Miniature Landscape Art by Dina Brodsky

Miniature Landscape Art by Dina Brodsky

Dina Brodsky: Website | Instagram | Etsy

My Modern Met granted permission to use images by Dina Brodsky.

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Sara Barnes

Sara Barnes is a Staff Editor at My Modern Met, Manager of My Modern Met Store, and co-host of the My Modern Met Top Artist Podcast. As an illustrator and writer living in Seattle, she chronicles illustration, embroidery, and beyond through her blog Brown Paper Bag and Instagram @brwnpaperbag. She wrote a book about embroidery artist Sarah K. Benning titled 'Embroidered Life' that was published by Chronicle Books in 2019. Sara is a graduate of the Maryland Institute College of Art. She earned her BFA in Illustration in 2008 and MFA in Illustration Practice in 2013.
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