Some Inspiration

I came across these while browsing live journal. These are great, aren't they?
Ladies and gentelemen--Andy Kehoe!!!

I am in search of something new these days. It feels like I am shifting gears, and need to find something different . A different way to paint? A different way to see life, myself and my family? Not sure what it is , but there is change in the air.

Movie Monday 47

Another great short film by Ivan Maximov. It only takes a minute to fall in love.

IF: Pattern

Pattern is an important element in rabbit's folk clothes.

Digging in the Closet

I found an old folder with some works, that I did back in 2001-2002. They look like someone else painted them, but they are mine. From the earthy-elvish-fantasy period that I went through. I put a couple of them on Etsy, and hope that they find a good home with someone who will enjoy these little windows to my parallel world.

Movie Monday 46

Beautiful Sand Animation. The white eyes are my favorite :) I really enjoyed the subtle expressions of the birds that the Artist was able to achieve.

IF: Infinite

When you are in love the time runs so fast, yet it seems infinite .

A stork on the way

Not to me, at least not yet

But may be to your house? Or to your friend?

Getting Personal

Photos above: chess and guitars are the usual attributes of our camping trips, climbing trees with a friend (Andrei), Anna is posing with a new ribbon, and last but not least I am playing badminton and looking surpsingly slim (thank you Andrei for the blurry photo:))) )
I have not wrote anything personal in a while, and that is because I was going through a major "I-can't-decide-what-to-do" phase. Making decisions about someone else's lives is the most difficult thing to do, even if they are your very own children.
I have committed to another homeschooling year with Andrei. Anna stays with us of course.
Trying to decide if I can /want/will home school this year, was very very very difficult for me. Having been brought up in a very "schooled" environment I am still battling with the stereotypes of strangeness of not attending school. I have met lots of wonderful families who home school,and are very comfortable with their life style and confident in their decision. I wish I will get to be that way at some point. We even attended school for one day in the beginning of the year (I could hardly sleep the night before). That turned out to be a very refreshing experience. After spending the day with Andrei the teacher told me that he has nothing to do in first grade, and he should be tested on weather he needs to be in second grade or possibly higher. No way. He is 5 years old. Some day --may be, but not now. So now I have an official excuse why I home school him. I do not think he is ready to be among 7 and 8 year old kids.

Also we have been camping last weekend. The last outing for the season, and it was wonderful as usual. I will post some photos of that, since that was the last time I really photographed anything. But I promise to get better with my blogging, and will even try to systematize it. May be something like Inspiration Tuesday, Family Wednesday etc...Not sure if it is a good idea or not, but I need something to motivate me to keep going. The business so far had slowed down to a scarily slow speed, and I need to do something about it.

Movie Monday 45

A Russian version of Vinny the Pooh. I grew up watching this, and not quite realizing how wonderful the graphics in the cartoon are!
The snails in the beginning are priceless in my opinion.

IF: Welcome

Welcome to the planet of pink elephants. They do not get too many visitors, so they are delighted to see you!

Movie Monday 44

Sorry for being a bit late today with my movie Monday post. We just got back from our annual camping trip. Here is a beautiful animated version of Alice in Wonderland with subtitles for your full enjoyment.

IF: Strong

Luckily for the cats this dog had both a strong back and strong character. She gave them a lift home without barking even once.

Happy Together

They are indeed very happy together, sharing secrets and playing games. They are best friends.

Summer is Over

And it was a great summer!
We have finally decided where we want to live in the long turn perspective..and that is a BIG deal. That's not going to happen for a while , but I think we finally know where we want to be! (I can not say WHERE, but hopefully it will happen and then you will know)

1. Aquarium, 2. DSC_0226[1], 3. cozy reader, 4. Izbushka, 5. puddles, 6. Andrei july 09, 7. It is so hot today..., 8. it's so hot today 2, 9. New camera same model, 10. My one and only Cat, 11. Green Summer, 12. horizon line, 13. red, 14. in the field, 15. us again, 16. *, 17. mom and daughter and Dog, 18. This is my portrait by Anna, 19. Summer is for Lions, 20. Sushi

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