Colombina

6″x6″ (15×15 cm) – oil on aluminum panel

Colombina in Italian means “little dove.” She is a character in the Commedia dell’Arte, a mistress to Harlequin, a clever and funny maid-servant and a wife to Pierrot. She is often the only intelligent person on stage. Venetian carnival mask of the same name reflects heavy eye makeup play character Colombina wears on stage.

This little painting is the 5th in my series Phantasmagoria. I painted it in 6”x6” size as it was meant for Randy Higbee’s 6”Squared show in December 2015, but it never made it there. I had to travel and live overseas for 2 months to be with my family during my father’s illness and passing. The little half-finished Colombina sat on my easel and waited for me to return to her. She was a little trickster indeed, it took me some time to work out her intricacies, curlicues, ribbons and gold.

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All That Glitters

6″x6″ (15×15 cm) – oil on aluminum panel

… isn’t Gold.

Of course this is the main idea behind the title and the painting.

Sometime when I am long gone, and my paintings would command exorbitant prices, and museums would be fighting for them, then art historians will be scratching their heads about what did I mean by this image and coming up with their usual nonsense. To spare them this awful fate, I’ll explain :).

This is a Venetian carnival mask called Medico Della Peste, translated Plaque Doctor. Back then in medieval time they began to realize that medics needs some kind of protection when attending the sick, and a mask of this configuration was used cover a face. A scary thought! Centuries later it transformed into a carnival mask, if a little macabre.

The draped dark silk and upturned goblets hopefully add to the dark carnival mood. But there is more to this fabric, this is a blue scarf that I wore as a teenager back in Russia in Kishinev. God only knows how I still have it decades and continents away, but I do. So when I wanted blue for color composition, I remembered it. Almost every painting I paint has a hidden meaning or a little joke that I keep for myself, for my private entertainment and chuckle. This blue scarf is a reference my own self in a different time and a different world, when I knew frighteningly little and possibilities were so big.

All That Glitters is the 4th painting for my series Phantasmagoria.

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Group Portrait

12″x12″ (30×30 cm) – oil on gessobord

I finally finished it!

This painting was in the works seemingly forever. I painted Noh back in 2011, I think. Ever since then I’ve been looking for doll heads to paint more of them. I finally found a treasure trove of them early this year, 2015. And then, in a way it often happens when the right time has come, the husband asked for a new work for a cover of his new book. I started working on ideas and this composition resulted.

It took two and a half months to paint. It is the most complex work I have ever done to date. Even more complex than Adagio for Three Strings! But then, as my daughter pointed out, I always say this.

We will send Group Portrait to the publishing house shortly and hope that it will get approved as cover art for Phenomenology of Empathy by Lou Agosta. It is also another installment for my new series Phantasmagory.

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Spintop

6″x6″ (15×15 cm) – oil on gessobord

First painting in 2015 – Spintop. It is also the last installment for Unwrapping exhibit that will be opening in Mostly Glass gallery this weekend. I am happy and a little scared. Wish me luck!

Many people ask me ask me how long this style of painting takes? I usually tell them – long. It takes a long time, several weeks. A couple or three months if a painting is larger. But how long is long exactly?!

I decided to time myself and find out. So I painted with a stop watch for several weeks, and now can report to you that this 6″x6″ painting took me 52 hours: 7 hours for composition, prep work and drawing, and 45 hours of painting. I started composition work on November 29 and signed the painting on January 27 – almost two months, but holidays got in the midst and there were literally a couple of weeks that I did not paint at all.

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I painted 6 paintings:

Ok, the last one – working title Turning Time – is still a work in progress!

E is for Empathy will appear on a cover of my husband’s book A Rumor of Empathy, Resistance, Narrartive, Recovery in Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy – Lou Agosta, PhD  (this is a plug, so what!)

Adagio for Three Strings has won a Most Innovative award in National Oil and Acrylic Painters Society (NOAPS) Fall Show. Much too excited about this!

I had work in two shows in 2014:

– Matite in Viaggio, Centro Candiani, Venice Italy – October 2014

– National Oil and Acrylic Painters Society (NOAPS) – December 2014

I participated in my second Sketchpack project

It runs from Cape Town South Africa. Every day for the month of August I drew a small drawing. My 31 drawings traveled to Cape Town SA to participate in a show.

I have started teaching oil painting

and had a number of victims students study with me in my studio as well as online via Skype, gotta love technology!

Urban Sketchers Chicago

Urban Sketchers Chicago, a sketching group I started in 2012, is going strong with its monthly sketch crawls, active Facebook, blog and other online presence. The group now has nearly 350 sketchers and a wonderful unique spirit.

Chicago Sketch Seminar 2014 took place in June 2014 and was a great success. I was privileged to lead a group amazing volunteers and together we created this wonderful event. About 70 sketchers from all over USA and even one international sketcher attended and participated in 8 sketching workshops and 3 sketching activities. And one Dinner, Drinks and Drawing event!

If you are still reading this, I really appreciate!

I hope you had nice holidays so far and wishing you Happy Healthy and Arty New Year!!

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