Movie MOnday 43

This animation won the Best Animation Short and I can see why! A brilliant creation by the Canadian animators.
My favorite was the dog

Silly Sunday creatures

Those two are quite silly, but I hope they find their special place in this world:)

Dancing on Saturday Morning

It is grey and rainy outside, but...my little one put on a long dress and asked to put on some dancing music. I put on this:) without the video though...It is a movie by Goran Bregovic Black Cat White Cat, that we have recently seen. Wonderful, absolutely wonderful. Strange, fenominally upbeat, with great gypsy music and a tremendous sence of liveliness in it. The realms shown there are very far from the american way of life, but the contrasts make it more interesting. See if you might like it, and enjoy the music in this preview.

IF: Magnify

What happens when you magnify a kitten? He becomes a big lazy ill behaving cat. At least in my case it does.

Storybird

Invite code --chirpchirp
I have mentioned Storybird before, when they were just doing their trials. Now they have officially launched, and I love seeing how the site is coming to life with new and new stories.
There is nothing like the feeling of seeing your Art being used by people, especially children. When I read the stories that people have made up with the help of my paintings I get that warm and fuzzy feeling of accomplishing something important. Those of you who paint, will probably understand what I am talking about.
And those of you who like to write, or who have kids that might like to write stories, I highly recommend to check out Storybird. I think I might encorporate it into my homeschooling writing class with Andrei:)
My favorite story so far there is this one (the invite code for the site is chirpchirp)

I do have some new ACEOs coming out, and some new ones listed yeasterday, so if you have the time and desire check them out in my shop.

Fishing from a Tea Pot

Fishing from a Tea Pot while looking for a good place to settle down. I feel restless just like them

Movie Monday 43

So innocent, playful and full of life! Will show it to the kids for sure, see what THEY have to say about this. A conversation between two little girls. LOVE it.
John & Faith Hubley combined animation with the voices of their preschool daughters (Georgia & Emily) to make this Oscar nominated short film

IF: Caution

One has to use a lot of caution when carrying a Fire Bird to the King. After all you life is at stake. So one should not get distracted by the Princess who is riding with you.

Red makes it all come together

When I was little and drew I used to think that until I use red somewhere in the picture it does not come alive. Red was my magic color that was used very scarcely and was always the final touch in the drawing. I remember thinking where exactly do I want the color to appear and felt like I had the magic wand in the hand when I took the red pencil.
Red is still a very special color for me. I love it and I hate it. I can never wear red, and I try not to use it a lot in my work. But I save it for the most special places in the painting--like the hat, or the shoes:)
And yet another example of that is this watercolor. Will be in my shop later this evening, hope it finds a good home.

Movie Monday 42(rated R)

My favorite Ivan Maximov with a love song. The song is about a summer love in the country side. The words go something like this (very loose translation) "I fell in love with a girl named Luyba. She was a milk made in the village. She wore a foreign made blouse. The air was French and we we were in love like in France. And then summer was over and the air started smelling like in Russia again"

A few thoughts and some new Pendants!

I have been rather quiet this week, as you probably noticed (or at least I hope you have noticed:))) I was away spending some time with my parents in the suburbs of Maryland. The simple fact that you do NOT have to worry where to park the car can be surprisingly pleasant. Also no line at the post office and a smiling clerk who asks"How are you?" makes you feel like being on a different plantet. Our post office here in the city is unimaginable without a line worth of waiting for 30 minutes.

We are back , the city is hot and humid and overcrowded as usual. But I like being home.

I am currently shooting and listing some new pendants. If you would like to be an early bird for Christmas shopping or just need to stock up with some gifts --now is a good time. I will be listing the pendants throughout the day, and (SHHHH) the prices on them will go up somewhere in september-october, so if you want some --get them now:)

IF: Wrapped

The Hedgehog Wrapped the lights around himself and imagined himself to be a Christmas Tree. He was really wrapped into the scene and did not notice how fast time went by.

Movie Monday 41

Let's have a dog themed animation for a change. As funny as the cat, yet very educational and with a moral "don't overfeed your pup!"

IF: Impatience

Double impatience for me today.
Kids can be synonims of impatience, when they want something.
While waiting for a stork to come one can experience extreme symptoms of impatience.

It's full Moon here

and I am painting Moons, or should I say planets?
A planet of a lonely little Princess and a planet of Cats
these two ACEOs are in my shop now.

Playing with 3D

As summer goes along and I am homeschooling through it, I make sure that on daily basis the kids have a "creative time". We have been into flat modeling lately, and are thinking about making a short animation with those. The beeswax based plastalina has been very good --not greasy and easy on little hands to get soft. The murmaid is by Anna and the Izbushka (Hut on chicken legs a traditional habitat of Baba Yaga is by Andrei)
Learning to take good photographs is a skill that I have yet to learn. My Photography 101 back in college 9 years ago left only a slight trace in my brain, but it is all slowly coming back to me.

I am having tons of fun with the Kokeshi dolls that I am making now, as well as several Matreshkas. Not sure if they will be a popular item, but they are extremely interesting to make. Puting an image onto a 3D object changes the perception a lot.
What do you think of this one?

Movie Monday 41

Early Monday so to speak. And it goes well with the Cat theme that has been my topic lately. Funny and extremely well portraying cat behavior. I think any Cat owner will appreciate it.