Recent Custom Pieces

I recently finished a couple of custom pieces, and as I usually do I will share them with you here.
The first one was a book commissioned by a Grandmother for her granddaughter. A very sweet lullaby that I had to illustrate. Here are a couple of images from that book.
And the next one was a piece I did for a day care. The lady who ordered it has been a wonderful client of mine for some time now, and now I dare say she is more of a friend, even though I have never met her in real life, but I hope to do so eventually when I make my way to Boston.
These are three princess friends at their day care:)

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:)

a work in progress

I don't think I ever have shown one here...since this is all I've got going now I will show it off.
A custom portrait in the making for a fellow etsian from Canada (Hi Tanya!)

listening to Russian rock and eating sunflower seeds to keep the energy up and the creativity afloat

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

I finished it!!!

It took me forever this time. I am not even sure why..The sketch did not form as fast as usually, I could not get the idea together. But, after several revisions --it is here!
Another custom portrait of mine, for a beautiful couple of fellow New Yorkers! I wish them happy happy holidays and many years of love and joy!

Cheers!

Moon Huggers and Custom Illustrations

I just finished working on a custom sequence of 5 images I did, illustrating a song that someone wrote for their son. And you probably have already guessed that it is about the Moon.
Custom work is the most challenging for me in turns of fitting the idea that someone has into an image I grow inside my head. But what I have noticed is that the harder the custom work is, the more growth happens afterwords. So I enjoy a good challenge once in while:) And besides, some customers (like the one I did this order for) are just a pleasure to work with! So cheers and THANK YOU to all of you, that bring your ideas to me and make me grow !!!

Today I will tell a story...

About how the Cheshire Cat learned to play the piano, and how I almost quit painting and an Internet miracle to top it off.

About 2 years ago I was going through some kind of quarter-life-crisis (if there is a thing like that, I think there has to be) and all kinds of crazy ideas about changing my career were passing by.

I was a stay at home Mom with a mediocre BS in Fine Art, I was painting for myself , but there was no way I could see this turning into a more or less serious occupation. My husband kept telling me that I should find some artistic group to hang out with, but it was very hard with a cranky 2 year old boy on hands all the time. So I turned to the Internet, once again. It has never failed me before:) It did not fail this time either. I found a site that had open gallery for Artists , just to show off the works and to leave comments. Started posting, getting feedback, and all of a sudden I felt that I am doing SOMETHING and people are seeing it. For all of you Artistic folk, you know how important that is! To know that your work is seen:) And then I joined a Mommy forum to talk about good kiddy books and organic diapers and ways to reward and punish your little bundle of joy/frustration...And then Julia came along:)

And not only did she come along, she started buying my works. She was my first serious collector, and eventually became a dear friend of mine. Julia had the most amazing ideas for custom pieces, and they sort of clicked with me. A Cheshire cat playing the piano?! Perfect, I can already see him. A family walking their cat in Central Park at night? OOOO...delicious:) And I would instantly get the picture in my head. She has excellent imagination and a very harmonious sense of color, which you can see the best in her knitted works. Here is my daughter Anna wearing of them and loving it:) And I must tell you she is a very picky girly girl (have no idea where she gets it from!)

This is how I see Julia :)) Actually this is a combination of how I see her and how she sees herself

To make a long story short, I did not become a nurse, or radiologist, or X ray technician. And the idea that I could seems ridiculous today, but I was seriously considering it;) Luckily for the unsuspecting future patients of mine, I think I am much better off with a paint brush in my hand

P.S. And for the grand finale an exclusive showing of a couple of pages in a book I did as a gift for Julia's son , the-always-beautifully-smiling little Gabi