IF: Flawed

Her assumption that HE was not romantic was FLAWED.
This was the most romantic date She ever had.
(original in my shop now)

Another Custom Portrait Finished

YAY to me!:)
I did another one, actually two more...
This week has been good productivity wise. A beautiful family hanging out in central park, and another family in their cozy happy house.

I deserve to go make myself a cappuccino. And off to draw something little and unpredictable, some ACEOs perhaps.

I found them AGAIN

I found them again! On Flickr this time...I came across these marvelous dolls some time ago on Live Journal, and then lost them:( except for the few images that I stored on my desktop and even used one as an avatar on the forum that I am a regular of (Hey amerimama!):)))

But here they are again. Aren't they fabulous?

A New Series on Pikaland!

If you have not visited the Pikaland blog of illustrated life, do so!
There are tons of great artists , interviews and it has "inspiration" written all over it!
Today there was a new series of blogger questions/answers started, and it is a great read for all of us bloggers. Click the image to get there!

A Tuesday in my House

Tuesdays and Thursdays are my work days. And unlike some of creatures shown above I am usually quite busy:)
The kids go to Grandma and Grandpa for some hours, and I get to work on my custom portraits, do the catching up on the correspondence and do whatever else needs to be done.

I am happily finishing 2 custom portraits, working on 3(!) more...and waiting for some new images to appear in my head.

The give away at Soulemama produced unprecedented results, I've been having 6-15 sales every day for the past 3 days. Which is a lot for me. I am not used to this kind of speed. But it feels very good to be so busy!

Kids are annoying the heck out of me these days. It must be the air, like Dr. Seuss would say.
And speaking of Dr. Seuss, a friend of mine recently introduced me to this book
And you know, the genius of the author never seizes to amaze me.
t crosser and i dotter. what a job! :)

Movie Monday 17

Additional Capabilities of the Snout

Another strange creation by Ivan Maximov. I love how weired it is!

Hosting a Give Away !

On one of my favorite blogs! SouleMama
Come check it out!!!!

IF: Climbing

A rabbit climbing on the back of the Lion? A rabbit riding a Lion?
I live in the hope that one day it will happen

Princeton Oak tree

Another finished piece, finally...
It takes me so much longer now to finish something. I have a great deal of trouble concentrating on my work. Having another 3 custom pieces in progress and one more that I have not even started I need to figure a way to get my focus back on track.
But this one is done. I think.
I had some issues with the composition in the beginning, but then I just filled all the holes with small detailes and that did the trick. What do you think?
The customer wanted the famous Princeton Oak tree, a tiger (who at the same time is a cat on the chain goind around the oak tree, like a hero of a very famous poem by Pushkin), a mermaid on a tree from the same poem (I give her something to do, since she must be very bored up there) and a squirrel...So it's a mix of Princeton symbolism and the poem by Pushkin. Well suited for the Russian Princeton community.
Print available on Etsy

Snow Angels and Chasing Swans

Another fun day of homeschooling!
I am enjoying it for sure:) Reading, Math and Sculpting were on our schedule from 8:30 till 10:00 am. We made a bunch of foxes as you can see below.

We did all the work in the morning and then met up with another family in the park. It was cold, and sunny, and beautiful. But oh boy, was it cold! The kids had lots of fun, played snowballs, made snow angles and rolled down the hill.
And then all of a sudden a swan fell from the tree! Seriously, it was totally unexpected and quite funny. I wish I had seen him in the tree, since I had no idea swans do that kind of thing. The poor thing was included in the game, and had to retrieve as quickly as it could.
and finally we found a snow sculpture by some unknown artist. The eyes of this snowman were made out of pine cones, and up close he looked super cool.

Imaginary Friend

Do you have one? Did you have one? Does your child have one?

I would love to hear some stories...
There was a treasury on Etsy some time ago called "Imaginary Friends", and that got me thinking. I was always fascinated by this subject. Back where I was growing up, there was no such term "imaginary friend". Yet my little brother had 2. And that was my first encounter with this concept. My brother had an imaginary cat friend, who was white and was called Vladimir (just like my absent-from-my-life-father). And the other one I think was a cat too...Petrovas'ka...but somehow I always imagined him as a little dwarf. And my brother would talk about them, and make stories, and I could never quite grasp what was happening. I was much older, and the border between fantasy and reality was already much stronger, but the imaginary world still was quite interesting.
Now that I think about it the Swedish Karlsson-on-the-Roof was an imaginary friend.

Totoro is sure also one of them.
And if I could pick one myself I would want someone like this (click to see more works by this wonderful artist)

Movie Monday 16

Another lulluby this time by Nordstein himself. Never saw this animation before, it reminds me of the old Dutch paintings and Alice in Wonderland at the same time

Art should be wearable, buttons are cool!

Just found a link to this cool site Lollypins

I will upload some of my designs there later. I can see some of my characters as buttons for sure! Plus the cool thing is , if you blog about this site you get some free buttons. And I am super excited to get some of those! I found some super cool images there, and my kids already picked the onces THEY like best.

IF: Pale

After a long and cold winter everyone was very pale and desperately needed the spring sun and the spring wind to give them some color.
The flowers appeared first. Pink and gentle they seemed to attest that spring was surely here and there is no turning back.
The pale boy, the pale girl and the even more pale birds flocked to the blooming tree.

Knitting a Mermaid Tail

A strange idea that I got today as I was painting another watercolor, of a rather plain looking princess...and looking for something to zest it up...A TAIL! she is knitting a mermaid tail for herself.
It must be boring to be princess all the time, and she does love water....So this will be her secret identity!

Homeschooling Week 2

I do not think that I am crazy YET:) As a matter of fact, I am getting used to the idea and finding new benefits as I go.
It helps tremendously to meet other people and other kids!
Today we had our first play date with another homeschooling family. Two boys --8 and 5 years old came over and they played for almost 2.5 hours. And it was great! No fighting, no screaming, and surprisingly the house is still in tact:) I loved meeting the Mom as well, and we had a lovely chat over a cup of tea. This family just came to US after living for several years in Holland, and both of the parents are scientists. The boys were very friendly and even our cat loved their company. Usually he is a bit cautious around new kids (he has his reasons) The first meeting is always a bit more difficult than the others, but I am glad that Andrei will be able to make friends and build relationships with kids his own age without having to spent all day in the classroom.

I am also looking forward to meeting another family next Tuesday. There are 3 boys there, and the Mom speaks Russian. So if all of us get together, it makes 6 boys and my 2.5 year old girl. That will teach her to be less sassy:)

Fridays are reserved for chess playing, and almost every other day of the week we have some kind of sport in the afternoon. So Andrei is busy, and so am I.

And since this post is already completely not Art related, I might as well put the rest of the information I've been meaning to share with you. A few find in the world of games and a few books that I am using now.
First games--we as a family love playing board games in the evenings. A quiet pass time, that does not bother our neighbours, and lets us all do something together. A recent favorite is
Carcassonne (click to see more info on wiki)

And as far as schooling goes, I love these Brain Quest cards. I baught a couple of workbooks by Brain Quest and got the cards as a gift, and they are great! Easy to carry, easy to use. And the best part is, they are seen not as "studying" but rather as a game. I will keep them in my bag for subway rides, lines and some other waiting times.

Same, different...on hats and people

You all probably have already noticed that I have a "thing" for hats.
It turns out it runs in the family. My brother likes strange hats too...As he was visiting with us this weekend before going back to college in Upstate NY, he had his hat with him. And all of us(except for my husband who was working) had to try it out.
And this gave me an idea. A collage of images with a brother/sister theme, and the same hat.
We all look so different in it, it adds to the personality of each and everyone and seemingly changes with the person. I definitely like hats..

The first row is me and my brother ( we are 9 years apart)
and the lower row are my little ones (2.5 years apart)

Movie Monday 15

My Neighbor Totoro, one of my all time favorite movies. Great to watch with kids of almost any age. It is very peaceful and meditative, with a great take on imaginary friends.

This scene where Totoro makes the seeds grow into a huge tree is one of the best in the movie.

IF Contained

Tea Pot fairies live almost in every tea pot. You might not have seen one before, because usually they stay contained. They are very shy and do not like to be noticed. Their main job is to keep the tea warm for longer periods of time, and add a slight taste of jasmine or cranberries, or some other ingredient. Each fairy has it's specialty.
However every once in a while they come out, and children are the ones that can see them.

New work, new year

A brief summary of what am I doing now:

Finishing some works that have been hanging around for some time on my work table...This little house has been waiting for me for almost a month. I am glad I finished it, and listed on Etsy.

Started homeschooling my older boy--so far we love it! Such freedom to live the way we want to live, go to places we want to go, no need to rush, no need to run. I am loving it !

Looking at various homeschooling resources, stocking up with books, reading blogs--it's a whole universe to master.

Starting to teach my younger (2.7) to draw, write and some letters . She is eager to learn, and I will not deprive her of the opportunity. On the contrary!

Planning a spring trip to Poland an Ukraine! YAY! I can't wait...It has been 14 years since I left Ukraine, and ever since I was dreaming of going back. Need to buy tickets, plan the trip and make sure my husband does not get a heart attack while I am at it. He is slightly hesitant about the whole thing, but never the less very supportive. (KISS)

Movie Monday 13

This animation is called Sparrows are Pigeons children.
About a boy and his Mom, and how an ordinary walk turns into a fairy tale.
Great drawings. Simple story, but very wintery:)

A Year in a Cat's Life

Watercolors--same
Water cup---same
Cat--same....but A LOT BIGGER

IF: Resolve

The New Year was approaching, and as the clock ticked in the background marking the last minutes of the year, they felt they had to resolve the situation.
The tea pot was just too big for their small appartment. Aunt N. never could pick a good gift.

Happy New Year!

I want to wish a Happy New Year to all of you who visit me here. I want to thank you for reading and commenting. I absolutely love to read your comments and they mean the world to me.
May your wishes come true and this year bring you lots of pleasant surprises, changes that you want to see and all kinds of happy moments.