1 month

Time truly flies these days for me.It's been almost a month since I posted last. The month was full of burping, changing, feeding and teaching with some occasional sleeping and very very occasional painting. I did manage to squeeze in a few hours of painting and as a result a few new pieces have been added to my shop.

Here are a few glimpses into our life . Sorry for being so brief, but the little man seems to be needing me almost all the time. I need to grow an extra pair of hands .

The excellent photo is by a friend Nataja Katsaga, who did a wonderful photo session in our living room. She needed a baby model and we were happy to help out. In return we got these wonderful photos.

All the best in the New Year

Happy New Year my dear ones!

I am sorry I have disappeared for so long....The past month my brain was elsewhere and my body was not doing so great.

I want to wish you all a very Happy New Year! For those of you who celebrate Christmas--I wish you a wonderful Christmas or Rozhdestvo which is the case for us.

My big news is that my third born --Ilya Alexander is here. He was born on Jan. 5, after a very short but intense labor. My first natural delivery (which I am extremely proud of). I thought I would die, and I never knew I could scream like that. But--it is all over and the little guy is here. He seems to be doing well, eating, sleeping and doing the rest of the important things babies his age are supposed to do.

I am reopening my Etsy shop today, and will be happy to see any of you there!

Not even a Monday

I know it's not Monday, and I know I have skipped a few week here...(I can not think of anything, and am barely moving around the house at this point, counting days till the baby is here. Those who were pregnant know the feeling) BUT
I think this one is too fun not to share. Hope you all are getting into the holiday spirit!

IF: Brigade

A family is a brigade that needs to be able to work their way out of the most difficult situations. These two were custom family portraits using Chinese zodiac signs,

Movie Monday Simon's Cat

Start your Monday with a smile! I am trying to:)

Another week has started

Weeks fly by. They truly do. I still have 5 more weeks before the baby is due, and am trying to make the most out of it. My newly discovered passion--painting with glass paint is developing into an obsession. Last night I was baking an oven full of cups:) Good thing they have places to go, otherwise my house would be filled with painted cups rather soon.

Anna and Andrei are keeping themselves busy and happy (and I am very thankful for that). Even the cats are at peace with life and each other. Here are a few glimpses into our Monday morning .

Trying out something completely new

I have been wanting to try this for a very long time now. Finally I got my glass paint and 3 white cups from the kitchen cabinet and started experimenting. To tell the truth, the first cup was a disaster. For some reason I thought one can use brushes with these things...But once I got past the first one, I started enjoying what was taking place. And here are a few images to show off my creative efforts. (I wonder if this is how my nesting instinct is coming out?) . I got a wonderful response on Facebook and a few orders right away, so now the big plan is to get more good cups and start a new line of products.( I just like how it sounds;))\

Movie Monday : Cloud Creations

It's getting harder for me to find animations I really like, so this was a nice surprise

IF: Stripes

Yellow , orange and red stripes fly so nicely!

Movie Monday Death Buy Lemonade

Simple and to the point

Good News

I got very good news several days ago. I will be working on a book project with one of the UK publishers! This is going to be my first BIG project in 5 years or so. I am super excited! It will be a book about Holidays around the world. So now I am living in the world of Chinese dragons, Leprichons and Mardi Gra parades. And it is fun, I have to admit. The only this is that the baby is due in less than 2 months, and I am getting a bit anxious since there are still plenty of things to be done. But ....still....I think it is absolutely wonderful to be doing such an interesting book. The project seems perfect for me.

Here are a few glimpes into our Autumn life. And the trial watercolor that (I think) got me the job:) In the first photo Andrei is "helping" me to cook dinner. I think this photo is so him!

Movie Monday and Give Away

A clip from the animation festival from Kiev Krok. Simple yet very tasteful.


Also today is the last day of my give away on my facebook page. Please stop by!!!!

Movie Monday Log Jam

I found a new one

Movie Monday

Pure magic! I am in awe.

Slowly moving towards winter

The weeks are flying by very quickly at my house. The days on the other hand get longer and longer. Is that possible? I notice that each day I think several times of how many weeks I still have left till the baby comes...And then before I know it-the whole week is over.

I am not posting any photos of myself at this stage, since I can barely stand the way I look and feel this time around. Getting bigger and slower day by day. The homeschooling is moving along better than I expected. Andrei being in 3d grade now, has much more work than last year. Anna is in Kindergarden and is the easier student to work with.

I am trying to paint and sketch daily, despite the fact that I am hardly inspired at all. At this point I think it is persistance that matters. That and just keeping myself in the habit of working daily. I have listed a few new small originals and ACEOs in my etsy shop. Struggling not to turn into a couch potato is the hardest part now. Will be meeting with my agent to discuss the possible book project that we have been working on next week. I wonder if it will turn into a book, and if it does, WHEN am I going to do it?

IF: Boundaries

Imagination has no boundaries.

Custom Lullaby Book finished!

My biggest project of the past year I must say. Very happy that I got it done despite the fatigue and total lack of creative juices. It is good to have a back up "creativity battery" somewhere deeper than I even know existed.
As for the rest of the life, I am going on 24 weeks , expecting a very active baby(judging by his behavior in the womb) before the year is over. Feeling big and clumsy and unenergetic, but still very happy that this little one did not leave me. A few glimpses from the lullabies that I have been working on.

Movie Monday Martynko

An oldie, but with a great sense of humor

Movie Monday Oh, Talking Fish!

Borrowing the wonderful translation by Jura11

I'll try to translate.

So old man catches talking fish and sets it free, and now he has no food. He sits on a rock and sighs "e-eh". And Acid Monster named "E-eh" appears. It gives him a magic table - when you knock three times on it - food appears. But there is a catch - monster will come at midnight to ask questions till sunrise, and it will kill them if they cannot answer.

Before midnight young man knocks on the door asking for a shelter, old couple tells about monster but he still ends up staying there. At midnight acid monster knocks on the door. Couple asked "who's there"

Monster answered:

- Its me, generous E-eh, I'm here

Young fellow comes out and says:

- And I'm here too.

- Who are you? Where you came from?

- From the other shore of a sea

- How did you get here?

- I Saddled up crippled flea and came.

- So the sea must be some kind of a puddle?

- Maybe a puddle, but eagle couldn't fly over that puddle

- So the eagle must be a nestling?

- Maybe a nestling, but shadow from his wings covers the city and the night comes.

- So the city is tiny?

- Hare couldn't cross that city.

- So hare must be so tiny?

- Hare like hare, coat came out from his skin.

- Where came...?

- Came out from that city,, where hare run, on which shadow from an eagle fell,, and went before its nose.

- Whose nose?

- Coat's nose, which came out from a hare's skin in the city where night comes when nestling flies over the city on a crippled flea.

- WHAT?

- what, what... On the crippled flea from that shore of a sea, which HARE couldn't fly over and an EAGLE couldn't cross, though sea is not a sea but a puddle in the middle of a town, where shadow from a flea fell on a hare and killed him to death, and coat came out from hare's skin and went before its nose. and then hare JUMPS

ETC.:)

Movie Monday Defective Detective

Don't watch before bedtime!;)