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These Drawings Capture What Love Looks Like When Nobody's Watching

These Drawings Capture What Love Looks Like When Nobody's Watching

Love is hiding in the small, quiet moments: cuddling in bed after a long day, passing out in front of the TV or even popping each other’s pimples.

A back rub at the end of a long day makes everything better.
A back rub at the end of a long day makes everything better.

Artist Amanda Oleander captures these moments and more in her illustrations, which she often shares on her Instagram page. She draws inspiration from her own relationship and the relationships of her closest family and friends.

This drawing was inspired by the artist's good friend who recently had a baby.
This drawing was inspired by the artist's good friend who recently had a baby.

“They are all situations that have happened in my relationship or situations my family and friends share with me,” Oleander told HuffPost. “They will be talking and then I say, ‘Hold that thought!’ and quickly write it down before I forget.”

Oleander, who is based in Los Angeles, has been dating her boyfriend Joey Rudman for over two years. She calls him the “sweetest, funniest, most beautiful man in the world.”

The artist and her boyfriend, Joey Rudman.
Amanda Oleander
The artist and her boyfriend, Joey Rudman.

Oleander’s quirky drawings are influenced by artists such as Amedeo Modigliani, Alice Neel, Picasso and Tim Burton, as well as the 90s cartoons she grew up watching, like “Rugrats” and “The Wild Thornberrys.” She also enjoys capturing animals in her work, but she is most fascinated by human behavior.

“I’m enthralled by the way people behave behind closed doors,” Oleander wrote on Instagram. “Intimate moments we never get to see. Those are moments that can’t really be documented because if they were, it would alter the way the person behaved. So I draw them.”

Love is gladly popping your partner's zit.
Love is gladly popping your partner's zit.

The artist told HuffPost she hopes people feel something when they look at her work.

“I hope it brings them back to a moment in their life or that it triggers a memory. But most of all, I hope it makes people happy,” she said.

To see more of Oleander’s work, visit her website or follow her on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook. Or scroll down for more of her relatable relationship illustrations:

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