31 July 2025
Some traditions endure because they simply work — because year after year, they continue to offer something genuinely valuable to those who take part in them. Among the Polish publishing house's most cherished traditions is its annual painting workshop, held each year in a different corner of the country, bringing together mouth and foot painting artists for a week of focused creative growth. This year, that tradition led the group to one of Poland's most breathtaking destinations: Zakopane, nestled at the foot of the Tatra Mountains, where the workshop took place from 8 to 12 June 2025.
A Setting Made for Inspiration
Few locations in Poland could have provided a more fitting backdrop for this year's workshop than Zakopane. Known as the country's winter capital and a beloved gateway to the Tatra mountain range, the town is famous for its dramatic alpine scenery, dense forests, and distinctive highland culture. It was against this stunning natural backdrop that the workshop's theme took shape: nature itself, explored and reimagined through the eyes and brushes of 17 dedicated mouth and foot painting artists.
The choice of setting was far from incidental. Surrounded by mountain peaks, meadows, and forests, the participating artists found themselves immersed in precisely the kind of natural beauty their week of work was designed to explore. There is a particular kind of creative energy that comes from painting a landscape while standing, quite literally, within it — and by all accounts, the artists drew deeply from the inspiration offered by their surroundings throughout the week.
Guided by an Experienced Hand
Leading this year's workshop was artist Mariusz Drohomirecki, whose guidance shaped the direction and spirit of the week from beginning to end. Under his instruction, the 17 participating artists turned their attention to capturing the natural world around them, working with a level of commitment and motivation that spoke to just how meaningful this yearly tradition has become for the community.
Throughout the workshop, Drohomirecki offered the participants many valuable suggestions and tips, drawing on his own artistic expertise to help each painter refine their technique, sharpen their eye for composition, and deepen their engagement with the natural subject matter before them. Importantly, these suggestions were not simply handed down as rigid instruction — they were enthusiastically embraced by the artists themselves, who approached the week with genuine openness to new ideas and new ways of seeing the landscapes and natural forms surrounding them.
This dynamic — an experienced instructor offering thoughtful guidance, met by a group of artists eager to learn and grow — created exactly the kind of collaborative, generative atmosphere that has made these annual workshops such a valued tradition within the Polish mouth and foot painting community.
A Week of Dedication and Discovery
Over the course of five days, the seventeen participants immersed themselves fully in their work, each bringing their own distinct style and perspective to the shared theme of nature. Some may have gravitated toward sweeping mountain vistas, capturing the grandeur of the Tatras in bold strokes and colour; others may have found inspiration in smaller, more intimate details — a single flower, a stretch of forest light, the texture of stone or bark. What united them all was a shared commitment to using the week fully: to learning, to experimenting, and to producing work that reflected both their individual artistic voice and the lessons offered by their instructor.
This kind of sustained, focused creative time — away from daily routines and distractions, surrounded by natural beauty and like-minded artists — offers a rare and valuable opportunity for growth. For many participants, workshops like this one in Zakopane represent not just a chance to produce new work, but a chance to reconnect with the deeper joy and purpose behind their art, supported by the camaraderie of fellow artists walking a similar creative and personal path.
Pride, Reflection, and Anticipation
By the workshop's conclusion, the results spoke for themselves. Everyone was proud of their work — a simple but meaningful outcome that reflects the true purpose of these annual gatherings. Beyond the technical skills sharpened and the beautiful new paintings produced, the workshop offered each participant something equally valuable: a genuine sense of accomplishment and creative fulfilment, earned through a week of dedicated effort and openness to growth.
Fittingly, the week closed not with a sense of finality, but with anticipation — the participants are now eagerly looking forward to the next workshop, wherever it may take them next. This forward-looking spirit captures precisely why this annual tradition has endured: each workshop leaves its participants not just with new artwork, but with a renewed appetite for the next opportunity to learn, create, and connect with fellow artists in a new corner of Poland's varied and beautiful landscape.
Carrying the Tradition Forward
The Zakopane workshop of June 2025 stands as yet another chapter in a tradition that continues to enrich the artistic lives of Poland's mouth and foot painting community year after year. By taking the workshop to a new location each year, the publishing house ensures that each gathering offers something fresh — a new landscape, a new source of inspiration, and a new opportunity for growth, guided always by the shared pursuit of artistic excellence.
As the seventeen participants returned home from the mountains of Zakopane, they carried with them not only new paintings inspired by the natural beauty around them, but a renewed sense of creative confidence and a warm anticipation for whatever destination — and whatever new lessons — next year's workshop might bring.
Source: VDMFK News