shadow play take 2.. or 3 or 4..

I love the shadows. Especially shadows that artwork makes. In the last few weeks I have been able to experience such shadows in abundance. MoMA, The Dairy Barn, Kennedy Museum of Art. How lucky am I? Here are a few of my favorites:

edge of a wall hanging by Cecilia Joe at KMA

edge of an art quilt by Danette Pratt at The Dairy Barn

bronze shadow makers by Dorothy Dehner at MoMA

bit of a wall hanging by Lenore Tawney at MoMA

wired orb shadows by Ruth Asawa at MoMA

corner of an art quilt by Sara Impey at The Dairy Barn

corner of a wall hanging by Sheila Hicks at MoMA

edge of an art quilt by Shulamit Liss at The Dairy Barn

floor shadow of an art quilt by Sue Benner at The Dairy Barn

Hope you have enjoyed these shadows as much as I did. I think I might make some art that makes shadows also soon....

shameless commerce

This blog post is brought to you by the shameless marketing division of artbynatalya.com... Just in time for the holiday shopper, here, consolidated into one blog post is what I have to offer for your gift giving....

detail of Nikolsky Cathedral

Original art from the St. Petersburg inspired City Love Affair series and Cathedrals series is available on the Artful Home website.

detail of Spring

Original art and prints from NYC inspired City Lines series are available on the Saatchi Art website.

throw pillow with a print of St. Pete Lace 1

Art prints, canvas prints, framed art prints, phone and iPad cases, tote bags, throw pillows, and laptop skins and sleeves are available on the Society6 website.

On Sunday, December 6th from 12 to 4PM I will showing small artworks, postcards and prints at ART for the Holidays with the artists of Northern Westchester Artists Guild at the New Castle Community Center in Chappaqua, NY.

detail of Urban Perspective

And as always my art is available on my website. Just email me at natalya @ artbynatalya.com ! Commissions for Home Portraits and other artwork are also accepted and encouraged!

Thank you so much for supporting my artistic endeavors! Happy shopping!

back to school!

Are you tired yet at looking at only Wordless Wednesdays here? I am! Summer is very busy around these parts with kid excursions, camps, travel and all other things that summer with children entails... But now it's back to the school routine, the after-school routine and back-to-the-studio routine. Woo hooo!!! As much as I enjoy planned and not, spur-of-a-moment and crazy activities of summer, I also love the dependability of routine.

So back to our regularly scheduled programming here, aside from WW. I have a few blog posts planned to share some delightful sights that I saw over the summer and I'll also fill you in on the goings on in my studio.

If you are ever in upstate NY, north of Albany, I highly recommend a visit to this little gem of a museum. Located on the grounds of the Russian Orthodox Holy Trinity Monastery, (which makes you feel as though you are in the Russian countryside) it's actually geared toward the non-Russian speaking visitor. The museum contains wonderful artifacts of representing four centuries of books and art in Russia. I thought I'd share with you the few that really captured my attention.

a detail from the Book of Gospels circa 1575...handwritten....

Book of the Twelve Great Feasts from 1825, also handwritten...

Gold-work detail from a Regimental Standard 1875

more gold-work from the Standard

Gorgeous cover of a book titled The Tzar's Hunt 1896

detail of gold-work from an Epigonation from the late 20th century

exquisite gold-work on a Shroud from the late 19th century

Hope you enjoyed this little tour of Russian history..

a little diversion

Sometimes you have to mix things up a bit and do some "art-lite" among the heavy duty stuff. Lately I've allowed myself a bit of a beading obsession.. It started with let's do a fun experiment for a day and led to a week of "I can't stop, someone pass the Advil..." I find this craft is more stressful on my right hand than any amount of hand stitching...I wonder why? But oooh! Look at how pretty it's turning out, let me make just another part or two, and the next thing you know....

I'll be participating in another Russian Festival right before Thanksgiving on Saturday November 23rd, if you're in the area come take a look! Meanwhile I'll be exercising my left hand in an attempt at being ambidextrous...

here we go!

Another challenge for moi, and I do love a good challenge. I have another home portrait commission and the choices are tough here. The home belongs to an artist with a strong point of view. She sent me a box full of treasures, tons of pictures, fabulously patterned fabrics and papers and books.. We belong to the mutual admiration society, I love her work, how do I not let it influence me on this home portrait when I know she wants my artwork...

There is the beautiful home

The gorgeous gardens

The lovely studio

and the ephemera, oh the ephemera....

fabrics with tons of color, patterns, papers and notebooks..

graphic card stock and jeans

old leather work gloves

precious handwork details

How will I ever winnow this down? How will I make a decision when I love everything? Lots of pondering shall take place.... I do know that the color choices have been made for me and that's a good thing!

gifts!

Just a quick note to tell you how delighted I am that two of my projects are in the latest Quilting Arts Gifts issue. Do check it out, it's available as a real paper magazine and as a digital download. It's just the right time of the year to start on those holiday crafts!

winter wonderland vignette

This morning's gift from nature was so stunning that I could not pass up a chance to take my camera for a walk.... Enjoy!

wordless wednesday

candy?

decorative arts

Russian decorative arts have a long and storied tradition. There is weaving, embroidery, wood carving, ceramics... the list goes on and on. Just the decorative painting alone can be broken down into quite a few different styles, here is a small list from my book shelf: khokhloma, zhostovo, permogorskaya, mezenskaya, and gorodetzkaya. A scholar I am not, thus the links to each of the styles. Hard to find detailed information in English, so if you'd like more and want to play at translating online, here are more links in Russian: khokhloma/хохлома, zhostovo/жостово, permogorskaya/пермогорская, mezenskaya/мезенская, and gorodetzkaya/городетская. By the way, most of these styles break down into even more styles.

I am currently fascinated by the decorative painting inside Russian churches. Not the icons, but the decorative paintings on walls. Right now restoration efforts are in full swing in many Russian churches, especially those that were desecrated during the Soviet rule, which are innumerable. So there is quite a bit of new eye candy to look at. Unfortunately not all allow photography, so here my meager findings:

This "little" cathedral is a symbol of Moscow and has been in the restoration process for most of it's life.

I adore the before and after details at St. Basil's.

the vine motifs are supposed to replicate the glory of heavenly gardens

sky at St. Basil's

leafy swirls at St. Basil's

door trim at St. Basil's

This is a brand new wall in a St. Petersburg church that had NONE of it's paintings left, it was actually a skating ring for a long time. Now this is where the icon embroiderers work.

Another detail from the same church.

I also could not resist a few stone details, these are from St. Basil's

newly restored Kazan Church at the Novodevichy Convent in St. Petersburg

more from the Kazan church

and for comic relief the Russian Buddy bear painted in the Khokhloma style

my personal little Russian decorative collection: Khokhloma and Mezenskaya

If you'd like to read more about Russian decorative traditions the Museum of Decorative-Applied and Folk Arts in Moscow has quite a bit of information. You can see the influence this tradition has on my work when you look at this piece here.