Art Kaleidoscope

Between art and craft

Vladimir Zhdanov Winter landscape

Vladimir Zhdanov Winter landscape

Gold-dome Moscow. Vladimir Zhdanov Winter landscape

Vladimir Zhdanov Winter landscape
Born in the Siberian city of Omsk in 1959, Vladimir Zhdanov currently lives and works in the town of Pushkin (Saint-Petersburg). The artist is particularly captivated by the life of Russian peasants of the 19th century. Zhdanov works in oils, watercolors and pastels.
From 1980 to 1983 Zhdanov studied at Omsk State University, the graphic arts department, then entered the Krasnoyarsk Institute of Arts, from which he graduated in 1986. Prior to 1999, Zhdanov lived and worked in Siberia (Omsk, Krasnoyarsk, Tobolsk and Tara). For several years he worked in the Siberian taiga village. Drawing landscapes from nature, has developed technology of oil and watercolors painting at low temperatures – to minus 40 degrees Celsius.
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Nicholas Hilliard portrait miniature art

Nicholas Hilliard portrait miniature art. Elizabeth, Queen of Bohemia, daughter of James I, 1605–1610

Queen of Bohemia, daughter of James I, Elizabeth. 1605–1610. Nicholas Hilliard portrait miniature

Nicholas Hilliard portrait miniature art

Son of a citizen of Exeter, Hilliard founded the school of English miniature art, not only among courtiers ostentatiously vying with one another for the “Queen’s picture in little” at “forty, fifty or a hundred ducats apiece”, but among all who desired mementoes of their family or friends. Miniature painting went on at high level in England until the era of Cosway (Richard Cosway (1742 – 1821) – eminent English miniature painter, who portrayed all the beauty and fashion of his day) at the end of George III’s reign, and indeed it was only killed by photography. (G.M. Trevelyan. Illustrated English Social History).
The work of Hilliard was mainly confined to small scale portraiture. None the less he was a complete artist. In the Elizabethan, as in succeeding periods, portraiture was the only branch of art in Britain in which a painter could find a sure subsistence. The demand for miniatures, or liming, was a specialized section of this demand for portraiture. It had grown up in England in the 16th century and drew a part of its strength from the development of interest in jewellery and articles of personal adornment, chains, lockets, fans, engraved stones and so forth.
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Hyper realistic dolls by Alyona Abramova

Doll 'Russian Beauty' author's work, a single copy. Hand embroidery, Vintage. Hyper realistic dolls by Alyona Abramova

Doll ‘Russian Beauty’ author’s work, a single copy. Hand embroidery, Vintage. Hyper realistic dolls by Alyona Abramova

Hyper realistic dolls by Alyona Abramova
Alyona Abramova (nee Shachkova) graduated from Kholuy art school named after NN Kharlamov in 2004. Before that, there was an attempt to get an education at the Russian Academy of tourism in Moscow. But the artist who has always lived in the soul of Alyona – led her in another direction. The fate threw her into Kholui – famous in Russia center of lacquer miniature.

According to the artist herself, she fell in love with this little piece of Russia, who is still in awe of its silence and nature. Indeed, Nature and silence – the best teacher for the artist. No chromatics and composition do not go with it in comparison! And nothing teaches better than a close observation of the world.
Noteworthy, Alyona always drew, and her artistic education is more likely to “tick” in the personal file. The artist – is not a job but a way of life. As her teacher of composition said, “God has given us our profession in a good mood and with his eyes closed.”
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Laser cut layered illustrations by Martin Tomsky

Waves by Martin Tomsky. Layered, laser cut, plywood illustration

Waves. Laser cut layered illustrations by Martin Tomsky

Laser cut layered illustrations by Martin Tomsky
London based artist Martin Tomsky has been recently included in the list of 10 Best Illustrators of 2015. He manually creates his multi-layered pieces with laser-cut plywood, the individual elements stained to create depth within his compositions. Martin grew up in a large family of seven children, where he was the youngest.
The boy spent his childhood drawing and exploring books. Martin graduated from Camberwell College of Arts. Working between art and crafts, he builds a bridge between classic storytelling, traditional sculpture, and illustration. His art, in fact, is a link between books and illustrations.
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Wonderful Felted toys by Natalia Fadeeva

Blowing soap bubbles. Felted toys by Natalia Fadeeva

Blowing soap bubbles. Felted toys by Natalia Fadeeva

Felted toys by Natalia Fadeeva
Textile art, and creating felted toys in particular, has become a natural extension of the creative path that Natalia follows from early childhood to adult career. Russian artist of applied art Natalia Fadeeva is the author of these wonderful toys made of felt or mohair.

The artist creates her works by hand, and each of them is unique, presented in a single copy. All the little creatures have a special character, and even facial expressions. It seems that a cat is just about to jump off the shelf, or a mouse family sitting at the breakfast table are going to run away on their business.

According to Natalia, she has been making stuffed animals for more than 20 years now. Started by her small toy making business has become a family business, in which other members of the family participate – her husband and their son. Noteworthy, Natalia Fadeeva sells her works worldwide. In addition to textile art, she is fond of creating video games, photography, and painting.
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Five cats collectible coins

Five cats collectible coins

The first in a series dedicated to the most popular Latvian fairy tales – Five cats collectible coins

Five cats collectible coins
The Bank of Latvia issued a cute coin series with fabulous cats based on the fairy tale of the Latvian author Albert Cronenberg “Five cats.” Noteworthy, made by illustrator Anita Paegle, the 5 cats have names – Murici, Nyuris, Intsis, Mintsis and Puntsis.

This is the first coin of the “fairy-tale series”. The circulation of the issued coins – 10 thousand copies, and the cost of each reaches 39 euros in the Latvian banks. Those wishing to purchase for a “cat” coin of 925 silver weighing 31.47 grams and a diameter of 38.61 mm will have to pay € 39. Hardly anyone is going to use these coins as payment, and they have become the collectors’ item.

According to the Bank of Latvia, the following year they plan to issue commemorative coins with the image of a cow and stork. Previously, these characters for a long time decorated the Latvian lats. In particular, a lot of atypical creatures, such as an ant, a rooster, a toad, hedgehog, mushroom, and a fairy-tale hero Spriditis. Also, pretzel, oak wreath, cones, snowman, water lily, chimney sweep, harp and even a beer mug.

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Miniature painting by Gracemere Woods

Miniature painting by Gracemere Woods

Decorative panno. Miniature painting by Gracemere Woods (artists Kimera Wachna and Yuichi Watanabe)

Miniature painting by Gracemere Woods

The creative duo of artists Kimera Wachna and Yuichi Watanabe work in their art studio “Gracemere Woods”, in Tarrytown, New York, USA. All their hand crafted art objects – home decor, illustrations, wood burned ornaments, necklaces, and jewelry are inspired by the beauty of nature and spirit of the forest.

The artists work with such materials as Wood, Quartz, Amethyst, Maple, Pine, Cedar and Acrylic Paint. Each miniature painting on a cut down tree is one-of-a-kind, the product of harmony between a man and nature, intimate experience between the artist and the natural world.

“For years I worked long monotonous hours in the city, in front of a computer, and felt like I was contradicting my very existence”, says the artist. According to the artists, not long ago, they left their boring office work to start creating home decorations. Noteworthy, their first works were miniature ink paintings and wood-burned pieces.

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