“Nosek” or Maple Whirlybird (2025) Original Oil Painting by Eliza Kołodziej

“Nosek” (lit. “little nose”) — that’s how we called a maple “whirlybird” or “helicopter” in Poland when I was a child. There’s something tender about that small gesture — letting your inner kid win over the anxiety of being seen as weird or immature, and stamping the little seed (or more precisely, the “fruit”, as I recently learned) onto your nose. It makes the world feel a little less scary.

The idea for this painting came to me while working on my Master of Fine Arts degree. I was searching for a way to capture the lonely, liminal character of urban spaces. During one of my walks, I came across this small “nosek”, lying wet and decaying on the tarnished copper surface of a miniature model of Warsaw’s streets. It struck me as a quiet symbol of lost joy and freedom. The fruit was no longer the bright green of my memories — it had withered, just as my own sense of ease living in the city had. Warsaw had pushed me to my limits, and eventually, I left for a smaller town, far from the noise of big metropolises.

Thin layers of oil paint overlap to form the reflective, rain-soaked surface. The buildings fade into fog, slightly out of focus, reinforcing the atmosphere of distance and ambiguity.

The painting is ready to hang and will be delivered in secure, multi-layered packaging, insured and tracked to ensure its safety during transport. Each work comes with a hand-signed Certificate of Authenticity, confirming its originality.

Materials used:

Oil paint on canvas

Details:

• Oil painting on Canvas
• One of a kind artwork
• Size: 30 x 40 x 4cm (unframed)
• Ready to hang
• Signed certificate of authenticity
• Style: Expressive and gestural
• Subject: Architecture and cityscapes

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