Another year

I am glad that this year is almost over. It had it's tears and it's laughs and friends new and old, and a new cat, and lots of books, and even a new toaster oven;)
I am hoping that next year will be better than this one. I wish all of you a good wholesome year to come!

New Inspiration Chihiro Iwasaki

I found a wonderful book. In Japanese. Not a single word of English in it....It is some woman Artist that does the most wonderful watercolors. I have scanned in her portrait and a few images from her book (may be someone who knows Japanese can tell meher name?) To make a long story short--I loved what I saw in that book. The gentleness, the softness, the magical transparancy and the delicacy with which she paints children is amazing! Children are hard to paint without falling into one of thestereotypical cliches of "cuteness". Her work is full of life and light.Below are a few watercolors I painted afterlooking through the book. I am so inspired!

Movie Monday For No Particular Reason

Yes, for no particular reason...One of my childhood favorites

Happy Holidays!

Just a quick peek to wish you all who celebrate Christmas on the 25 --Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

In our household we have another celebration today--Andrei has turned 7. According to our faith he has passed from being an "infant" to being a "youth". A very important development in his life, since now he is considered old enough to answer for his own deeds. He is very proud to be a "youth" :) As a gift he received a much wanted Swiss Army Knife with a bunch of instructions of "what to do" and "what NOT to ever ever ever do" with it:) So far all the pencils in the house have been sharpened and that is good.

2010 has been a difficult year for us and I am glad it is almost over. I wanted to thank all of you for visiting my blog, supporting my Etsy shop and most importantly inspiring me and keeping me motivated to make more Art. Thank you! And I wish you all a blessed, peaceful, happy year!

Where is our snow?

Any ideas?

I am waiting for it...

Movie Monday PreHoliday

A marvelous creation by Ukrainian anemators. Taking the true spirit of Christmas and bringing into the modern word. Thank you Vira for the great link!

We are back

And we are cold. I can uderstand when it is cold and snowing, but this kind of weather is a perfectly wasted cold, to which I personally do not see any rhyme or reason. Not that anyone has asked me to moderate the weather...Just complaining

Painted 3 new ACEOs today.After a break I usually have a bunch of images that need to be painted, or I will explode.

And here they are the winter bird, Neptune and the Moving Snail. (all listed on Etsy)

San Diego through my eyes

No words today, just pictures. I don't like analyzing a thing while it is still happening:) But there are amazing colors here, I can assure you.

Missed Monday

I got a bit carried away on our vacation. We are currently in California staying with some dear friends of ours. I completely forgot that it was Monday yesterday:) Trying to make up for it now:)

Blue sheep and bird

Inspired by the success of the bells I have painted these two bluish creatures. And have thoroughly enjoyed myself:)

Movie Monday Winter Days (Yuriy Norshteyn)

They say he is the Shakespeare of animation

IF: Savour

Breakfast is something we always savour.

Bells and Trees

Wishing bells and wishing trees
wishes come to life through these


And the rest of this poem of mine got lost somewhere in the November wind. I am trying new techniques with hand painted Christmas ornaments, and as always painting little things. The good news this week is, my neighbor from upstairs is away. And it is sooooo quiet! I am almost content with the city :) Almost

Movie Monday Krokokot

On youtube it's tagged as an "insane Russian animation":) Make your own conclusions

Little by little

Little pieces of Art little by little taking over my head , hands and table. While working on a big custom order I find it very helpful to create little pieces , so I do not get bored with the big one and I can let my wintery creatures out.

All listed on Etsy.

Movie Monday Wind Along the Beach

A new animation from Ivan Maximov. I love all his work, but this one especially!

I feel winter coming

The air is getting colder, the wind is getting stronger. It is becoming harder and harder to convince to sit for hours at the playground. The benches are freezing! And I am feeling the wintery feeling coming. The feeling that makes a hot cup of tea extra desirable, and the warm pair of shoes a must. My wintery creatures are coming out of their summer hiding. These and more coming in my Etsy shop.

Movie Monday Pony

The pony has hair soft as silk

It pulls the cart to places

Where Mommy went, and Daddy went

When they were as little as I am now.

IF: Afterwards

Afterwards--was the rainbow

New Designs

Yesterday I received a new batch of pendants. Some have my old favorite designs, and some are brand new. Just in time for the holiday shopping. Please check them out in my Etsy shop and let me know if you like the new ones:) I always have a very hard time photographing them , even though I set up the lights and the background etc..For some reason photography does not come easy to me.

Movie Monday Kolobok Investigating

A detective story at it's best.

IF: Spent

Time spent making your loved one happy is priceless.

Deep in the woods

Dedicated to my favorite Tree that was killed by the last tornado we had about a month ago. It was a very old oak Tree with huge roots. We would sit under it and have lunch on nice days. It was blown out of ground completely and lay like a huge whale tossed onto the shore...We miss you Tree!

Russian Animation "Маленькая Hочная Cимфония" Дмитрий Геллер

Saying Good Buy

It is very hard to write about this...

I will use this blog post to say good buy to my 3 unborn babies. Two of them I have lost this year, one very recently. I have not been blogging well this year, and I have not been painting well this year. I have not been doing many things this year.

I will never see them smile, and I will never be able to hold them. I will not know what color their eyes were. I will not know if they were going to be good at math, or drawing, or dancing....I will not get to watch their first steps, and I will not be able to watch my older kids become big brother and sister. But this is life, and it keeps going. I am blessed to have 2 children, who could have easily not be here as the rest of them. Sining a lulluby to the little ones, I know that they are being taken care of. However for me pictures always spoke better than words. The one above was painted today.

Movie Monday Japanese Lulluby

With love to all my babies.

IF: Spooky

Spooky dreams are afraid of dream catchers.

Movie Monday Wait just a little please

Another animation by Elizaveta Skvortsova. The movie is without subtitles, so I will briefly tell the story here. The main hero (black with the white face) is death. Once there was a very cruel king, who lost the war. When he was coming back he noticed a couple that was kissing and seemed very happy. The king got mad. He thought that since his fortune was bad everyone should be in sorrow. He took the girl and threw her into death's hands. But the girl was very much alive. She asked death to let her go for one night, to see her beloved. Death agreed, and fell asleep. A long time passed until she woke up and went to find the girl. But the girl kept saying "I can't go yet, my beloved is asleep, I can't wake him up". And death waited, and waited...

IF: Transportation

Long dogs as means of transportation can be very handy for a family.

Something old

It's horribly grey and rainy here these days. The kids get to be extremely annoying, and I get to be very irritable if we stay all day inside. Out of boredom and desiring to recapture some of the old ideas I go digging in one of the "boxes" filled with my old works, half finished and waiting for a day like this. This creature has been waiting to come out into the world for some years now. 8? 9?10? She got a facial lift and a bit of a makeover, and I am honored to present to you this old friend of mine.

Movie Monday Rain

One of the most beautiful animations I have seen lately!

IF: Beneath

Beneath lay cities, town and roads that seemed toy like.

Movie Monday Wings, Legs and tails

Sorry about this, not Monday but Tuesday....but better late than never:) Enjoy

IF: Old Fashioned

Bringing letters the old fashioned way.

Thinking about Winter

Thinking of winter, love and little pleasant surprises that it may bring. Listing this one on Etsy as we speak

Movie Monday 86 Icarus

A hilarious take on the Icarus myth

Movie Monday 85 A Mathematical Romance

Really enjoyed the concept of this one!

IF: Proverb

An apple a day keeps a doctor away.

Movie Monday 84 Rubik's Cube

A box of colored pencils is filled with inspiration.

IF: Dessert

A dessert dryad in waiting.

Dirty hands and feet

It was a good summer.

We lost 2 teeth, tried riding a horse, learned to swim, taught a Art class in camp, had a first sleepover, started making toys, watched some good movies and spent some nights near a bonfire.

Not very productive workwise, but good. We are ready to start another homeschooling year, and looking forward to it. This year I do not have any doubts about the choice to homeschool (unlike last years sleepless nights--I am positive it is working well for us and I see good results)
I am hoping for many new ideas and new pieces this fall, hoping to finally start contacting publishers and looking for illustration projects.