Overslept

Digital painting by Petra Brandström, april 2026

I started working on this piece during the winter while we still had a lot of snow. The long time it took me to finish and the subject both reflect my mental and physical state lately; tired af. 😅

For those who may not know, since beginning of 2025, I'm being treated for Graves, an autoimmune thyroid disease. It's serious if untreated, but fairly easy to treat. Unfortunately, the illness and treatment both can lead to really bad fatigue. Thyroid illnesses and treatments are not very well researched, and some patients (like me) just have to suffer through long periods of just... regressing health, I guess. 

Doesn't help that the world is in shambles, too.

Creativity and arm strength (needed for drawing) have really taken a dive these last months, but I'm slowly chugging along. If you're wondering why I haven't updated you on your request, or why there hasn't been a lot of new art, this is why.

I'm getting better, the doctors say.  I'm feeling worse, when they say I shouldn't, but they're probably right regarding the treatment.
I really feel like a bear emerging from hibernation a season too late. Out of place, weakened and confused, and at a disadvantage to actually making things better. But my immune system has finally calmed down at least. And hopefully the body can repair itself once treatment's done.

Don't get me wrong, I'm really grateful for the support I receive from loved ones, people appreciating my art even if sporadically updated, and friends and coworkers being patient with my low energy.  I'm lucky to live in a time and place where medication is available and affordable, where the violence of the world is almost outside our reach.

Still, I'm just...so tired.(Digital painting made in Krita.)

Cover art for Eon V

Digital painting by Petra Brandström, 2023

			I've been working with Helmgast on the fifth edition of this fantastic Swedish tabletop roleplaying game (release fall 2024).   It's truly an amazing experience, working with such dedicated and creative people, illustrating a world we all love, for other people to explore.  I'm so grateful, and honored I get to be part of it in this way.
I hope my art does justice to the decades of work that  has gone into building the game.  That it, in some way, can evoke the same sense of  curiosity and and imagination that EON has brought me over the years.   I've had so many adventures here.  I hope you will too.

The Doggo, the Dream and the Doorway

Digital painting by Petra Brandström, 2023

		It began with a dog. No actually, a book. Dad  used to read to us when we were kids, and one literary world that  really captured my heart was Narnia. I guess most bookworms remember  fondly the feeling of anticipation, the adventure at hand. The long  evenings of "just another chapter!", whether you were listening to a  story being told, or reading it yourself. Fantasy especially throws you  into a new world in a way that makes the mind soar. Turning the page is  like... opening the door.

We had dogs at home, ever since I was around nine, and until I left to live on my own. I loved them. I still do. After many years, mom and dad decided to get a puppy again. And when I met this little guy, I instantly fell in love with him too. Fenix is a handful, but he's also super smart, and cuddly, and friendly, and so much DOG that your heart melts. He's the embodiment of living in the here and now.  Mom sent me a picture of him waiting by the door one day. His earnest anticipation, waiting to see what's on the other side of the door, reminded me of that feeling. The wait before the adventure.