Ana Popescu's idyllic illustrations remind us of the warm summer months that have just passed us by

Whether it's a street corner, the shadow of a tree or the facade of a building, Ana's dreamy work is inspired by everyday observations and slower, leisurely days spent outside.

Written By: Ayla Angelos

5 October 2026

White pier stretching into a blue bay with red sailboats, mountains beyond and palm fronds framing the scene in a minimalist illustration style — Louis Vuitton

A whopping nine years ago, we had the absolute pleasure of speaking to Ana Popescu about her illustration portfolio, which was inspired by Palm Springs villas. They were architectural, distorted, dotty, and filled with light akin to the tones and shadow play of Hockney. Now, not much has changed in terms of her subject matter: she still very much focuses on architecture and her artistic representation of space – "that stayed the same!". But what has evolved is her format and materials. "I've been working in different techniques and mediums over the past years, from acrylic markers, wax pastels to paper collage and I've also done a lot of digital work," she explains.

This is why you'll see a medley of different experiments in her new body of work, which includes a paper collage series that uses block colours – in the most delectable of colour palette choices – to depict building facades, corners and shadows created by pillars in the afternoon sunshine. The ongoing project, named Paradise, began during her second residency in Japan, Paradise Air in Matsudo, and depicts the connection between the "patterns, shapes and light" found in Vienna and Tokyo. "There is something about those surfaces of bold colour, and all of the combination possibilities, which are really fascinating to me," she says. "I also tried to summarise or reduce sceneries to their essential parts only; I can't wait to get back to doing collages!"

Geometric paper collage illustration of a modernist building with an orange funnel structure, cream-coloured facade and railings against a deep blue sky and pink wall — Paradise / paper collage

Abstract paper collage artwork by Ana Popescu depicting geometric architectural forms with pink, blue, brown, black and red blocks of colour with white pillar shapes

Geometric paper collage with blue sky, black stripe, ochre rectangle and pink section divided by thin coloured lines

Abstract geometric paper collage with overlapping rectangular and curved shapes in olive, cream, black and burgundy tones against a pink background

There are also more scenic pieces, like the series of the Italian hotel Ottmanngut. One piece from the project shows the building covered in shadows from the palm trees potted in front of it, while another depicts the perfectly landscaped garden filled with plush cypress trees, and another sees a table setting lavished with coffee, grapes and cheese, the shadows giving the scene an almost cinematic, dynamic quality.

The tones are warm and tonal, oozing with that tasty summer feeling – the kind of ambience that can only be achieved from someone actually visiting the place and absorbing all of its beauty. "I really enjoyed the project of prints for Ottmanngut since I was able to stay on site, visit Merano and choose the scenes I could draw later," she says. "It was really interesting for me to create an atmosphere and have artistic liberty, and I am very happy with the result!"

Illustration of a multi-storey residential building with white and grey facade, green shutters and dormer windows, surrounded by palm trees with red trunks and potted plants along a pathway — Ottmanngut

Colourful paper collage illustration of a Mediterranean courtyard lined with tall cypress and palm trees, terracotta walls and a building with orange roof tiles in the distance — Ottmanngut

Overhead illustration of a laid table with a coffee cup, bread basket, olives, glasses of juice and wine, and cutlery arranged on a beige background — Ottmanngut

Shaded outdoor table and chairs casting dark shadows on an orange ground, with a potted plant and white hat, against a dark green background with yellow sky — Ottmanngut

Ana's inspiration comes from everyday observations – "a street corner, a tree shade, bold colours, architecture and so much more," she says. This is why there's a sense of familiarity that runs throughout her pieces, the kind of feeling that makes you think you've been there before or have envisioned the subject matter in a dream.

In Les Vacances, a series of wax pastel pencil drawings, Ana has created a visual diary to represent the feeling of light and the "strange melancholia" of the end of summer. The universal longing for times spent mooching or relaxing in a park, with nothing else to do but read or look at the passers-by. "I really like to draw on paper, and being busy with client commissions, and now I also have a kid – so it's something that I rarely get to do, and I miss it a lot!"

Stylised illustration of a tree with a bright red trunk and orange branches supporting a luminous yellow-green canopy against a clear blue sky, with simplified rolling hills and shrubs below

Red deck chair casting angular shadows on a yellow and dark patterned ground, with a red pole visible at the top right of the composition

Dark green umbrella leaning against a horizontal wire with bright pink and blue geometric shapes in the background, casting a shadow on the coloured surface

A narrow alleyway with yellow walls and deep shadows cast by palm fronds, featuring a dark wooden door with vertical slats and white lower walls

When she's working on a personal project, she will pluck these beautiful inspirations from her surroundings and take lots of pictures, which she collects as archives and refers back to when the time comes to draw and create something.

This can be a building, the way light hits a surface, a shadow imprinted on an object, or certain colours and shapes – "everything and anything aesthetically appealing to me," she says. The elements are then either combined or stripped to their bare essentials. "What has essentially changed since [we last spoke] is that I only work with material that I gathered or produced myself," she adds. "I still interpret many scenes and elements, but my work became more focused on the representation of details instead of a whole."

Minimalist illustration of two tall cypress trees beside a modernist building with a pink driveway and clear blue sky, in bold flat colours

Figure seated on a beach chair beneath an orange tree branch, gazing out at a blue ocean with a boat and forested islands under a clear sky

Silhouetted figures relax beneath a red beach umbrella on sand with the sea beyond, illustrated in flat colour blocks by Ana Popescu

Colourful illustration of a school locker room with open lockers, clothes hanging, a desk with stools and a fan mounted on a coral-pink wall

As autumn knocks on our doors here in the UK, and we all start to dream of splashing in the sea once again, Ana's work is a reminder of the warm summer months that have just passed us by. "I try to convey a feeling for certain atmospheres, the sunlight by the end of August, how the shade from a tree feels like – more than a concept," she says. "I try to recreate the sensations I had while observing different scenes. If I'm able to convey those feelings to someone else, or at least in their own way, then I would be happy!"