Counting Sheep

Finally I have something new to show.
A piece of a story that is forming somewhere inside, but from time to time showing itself in the form of random images.

Small piece of 4x6" is waiting for it's new owner in my shop now

Movie Monday 25

A story of either two sisters or two best friends. I think they are sisters...

A story of a 22 year old doll

The doll in this picture is about 22 years old. I might be off a year or so, but it is still very close.
Where we lived owning a German made doll was the biggest happiness for a girl. They had soft stuffed bellies, their eyes had real eyelashes and they had faces that looked almost real. This is all compared to our native made Ukrainian/Russian dolls. My family could not afford to buy such a doll for me. They were expensive. But how I dreamed of one!
At that time I was about 7 or 8 years old. I was attending drawing and sculpting lessons for several years, and our teacher taught us how to make sculpey figures. Little funny looking creatures, that you would bake in the oven to make them hard and then you could put a lace in them and wear around the neck.
And I had my first business idea. A whole bunch of kids from our street made many many figurine necklaces and went to sell them to the nearby park were there were lots of tourists.
We did it on weekends for several weeks in the summer, and made money. Real money that seemed huge at the time. At the end of the summer I had almost enough for the doll. My parents added the rest--and here she was! A true beauty! With golden hair and beautiful blue eyes. I adored her. Dressed her, washed her, made clothes for her. Brought her to the USA when we moved. One of the few things that travelled across the ocean with me.
Anna , my daughter is her new Mommy. She takes good care of her and tucks her in at night. I am so happy that this doll has such a long and rich life. The first money I made back than made me feel that being an Artist can be a real job. And I still tremendously enjoy using sculpey clay.
Is it a coincidence, or is it my imagination that Anna looks like her?

IF: Poise

The 3 old men see off those who leave the forest forever. They stand poise at the edge of the forest solemn and quiet and sad to see another one go.

Still looking for inspiration

Just a few quick peeks at various fun things on Live Journal . These are by Ovtsina Yulia
Those bunnies look like they need to be in an animation

Movie Monday 24

NOT an animation this time, but rather a great short film 12 minutes long. Both me and my husband enjoyed it last night

Digging for Gold on live journal

and finding this amazing Artist!
Arseniy Lapin

IF: Subtract

What happens when you subtract the flower from the garden and add it to a princess?
You get double the beauty!

Making your Own Sunshine

I read this phrase on one of my favorite blogs today and loved it! What makes spring real?
Is it spring yet? In my mind it is!
Everything is growing:


I see sunshine, and I see greensI see animals wide awake after their winter sleep:
It is spring all right!

Done with all the custom work!

Finally finished today the two last custom pieces that I had lined up. Now I will take a break from them, and try to do something for myself. It is funny how the image that I first painted about 2 years ago keeps being very popular and I repainted it several times. I can play the game find the differences between these two. Can you guess which one is the older version and which one I finished today?

something fishy is in the air

or may be it is just me craving some fish?
It is the Great Lent after all, and I will not have any until April 19, Easter. Which also happens to be my Birth day:) That happens once in a while ever now and then.

So until my B-D no fish, no meat, no animal products as food. Only drawing:)

Movie Monday 23

The evolution of a daisy into a horrid looking predator

IF: Legendary

A phoenix is a mythical bird with a tail of beautiful gold and red plumage (or purple and blue, by some sources ^[1]). It has a 500 to 1,000 year life-cycle, near the end of which it builds itself a nest of myrrh twigs that it then ignites; both nest and bird burn fiercely and are reduced to ashes, from which a new, young phoenix or phoenix egg arises, reborn anew to live again. The new phoenix is destined to live as long as its old self. In some stories, the new phoenix embalms the ashes of its old self in an egg made of myrrh and deposits it in the Egyptian city of Heliopolis (sun city in Greek). The bird was also said to regenerate when hurt or wounded by a foe, thus being almost immortal and invincible — it is also said that it can heal a person with a tear from its eyes and make them temporarily immune to death. The phoenix is a symbol of fire and divinity.^[2]

2 New Works

a brief update
I have a new kitty ACEO in my shop


and I finished another custom portrait! I am getting good at these:)

The Carousel of Life

sometimes spins too fast for my taste.
Where is Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday for that matter? I am not sure. It is almost 9pm Wednesday evening, the kids are in bed (finally!) and I am supposed to be ready to do some work. I have a custom portrait I need to finish, and 2 other works that have been ordered that are half way done.

The day is over so soon, that I can barely account for the hours that were in it. Breakfast, homeschooling work, soccer in the city, library, swimming class, grocery shopping, dinner, bath, bed time story...PAINTING...sleeping....and from the top again.

I don't mean to complain, I am just sometimes totally amazed at the qualities time has. It tricks me into thinking that I still have it (time), but instead I don't .I need to visit that Mad tea party, where it was always 5 o'clock.:)

P.S. just wanted to share this shot with you. Mommy paints, and the little butterflies works hard to cut as much as she can. (she is cutting the "oops" prints)

Movie Monday 29

Medieval Love and hardships of meeting the right One in the world where are just two men the Black Knight and the White Knight (somewhat appropriate for kids, but not entirely)

There is a boy..

As many of you already know I teach Art on Saturdays in an after school program that my friend organized. It is actually more like a school after school. I teach kids aging from 3 years old to 7 years old.
Today I wanted to tell you some stories from my "teacher life".
No, not stories, more like short sketches...

There is a boy who used to cry every time he would walk into the room. He is a big boy, in one of my older classes. First I was at a loss what to do. I tried talking to him, but he would close like a sea shell and not let me in. He would draw tiny tiny pictures in the middle of the sheet of paper. He refused to use paint at first. Then he painted a little tiny thing ...And yesterday he Painted! It was like a door had opened and he let IT out. Whatever it was. But the boy was painting. And I did not want to disturb him, so involved he was. I was happy . I am most happy when I see something change. Good change.

There is a boy who would always say "NO". Do you like to play:"NO!" . Would you like to make a snow man? "No! I will make a Big Bad wolf and he will eat the snowman". The boy has the sweetest face with big blue eyes. He looks straight into my eyes and says his magic word "NO". He is 3 years old. Our last class he did not say it. We sculpted a family of dinosaurs , and he played along...He helped us make the legs and the tails, and make their home cozy and warm to live in. It made me feel warm and fuzzy and very proud of my teaching skills;) Even though, it is mostly the fact that he started attending the school twice a week and got used to all of us.

But seeing thing happen, seeing kids become loose and start making things--is a high for me. I will keep writing about my students, there is still a boy who drew a horse (worth putting into a Museum of Modern Art) and a girl that mixes colors like the impressionists (5 years old), but that will be next time. I have to get to bed and ready for another Monday. Hopefully it will be spring tomorrow.
The painting in the beginning of the post is by another student of mine, virtual student actually(I write lesson plans, and her Mom sends me scans for review). I have never met her, but her Mom found me on Etsy and we have become pen pals. This girl has the most wonderful imagination! This is her take on my "green" lesson. The giraffe seems perfectly at peace in this lively happy place.

IF: Intricate

The princess loved to fly intricate handmade kites. The princess designed the kites herself (and the whole country was very proud of her skills ) and spent countless afternoons in the field near the castle

Flickr Rulezzzzzzzzzzzz

Flickr is a wonderful place to find inspiration! How did people live without the internet? I know it would be super hard for me
A few of my favorites click to get to the detailed image

Sketches in the book, sketches in the mind

It has been a long winter here!
Long in many senses...and i am very tired of the cold, and of many layers of clothes one has to put on to go outside, and even worse to put all those layer on the kids (each outing becomes this huge THING that needs to be done). Tired of the heat in the apartment --our building know no such thing as moderate heating--it is either freezing cold, or burning hot. Mostly burning hot during the winter. Tired of the dark in the evenings, and of not seeing the Ocean.

On the happy side I am loving staying home with the kids. I love how Andrei is blossoming as a student, I love seeing him become smarter day by day. I love seeing Anna copying everything after him and making wonderful progress herself. (I do believe she will be a good Artist some day)

After a dry spell in creativity for a week or two, I took my old sketchbooks out and looked through them. It always helps, old ideas are reborn and new ones are being born.

Here are a few thing I found. These will make their way into my Etsy shop very soon, so make them feel welcome;)

Movie Monday 23

A beautiful interpretation of Bulgakov's world famous love story. Exquisite drawings!