New member

Our daughter was devastated by her pig's death. So we decided to go to the pet store and have a look. Just have a look.
And we returned with a new family member. He is quite an opposite of Afanasy - smooth, silky, quick and adventurous. When I saw his prominent curved nose in the profile I immediately said - Cyrano! And at hearing this everybody decided suddenly that we should take him.
For all of us it was a certainly comforting not to see the pig's den empty.

Our piggy

I haven't been writing here for a while. Our guinea pig Afanasy has passed away. Those who don't have pets can't understand how much grief brings the death of such a small creature. He didn't make it just a little to be 7 years old. It's a lot for a guinea pig! He traveled with us from country to country, sometimes by a separate plane, lived with us in the hotels, apartments, houses, always cheerful, always purring...

Stones home

Now all my stones ( OK, most of them:)) are living on one shelf in the bookcase. I lowered the upper shelf and now they have a cozy little place among my children's illustrated books.
Click to see the whole picture.

Mouse with a basket

I'm a very methodical person. As I'm working on children's book illustrations now and still has not decided on technique for it I have bought samples of several different papers and am playing with them.

This was 2-ply Vellum paper. Pencils go on it very smoothly but texture of paper still can be seen. It is something silicon-ish for me in this paper.

The costume was inspired by lovely children from Kate Greenaway's books.

Hand painted rock. Orange guinea pig

This little guy is also a prize for a guinea pigs show. He has the cutest red eyes I ever painted.

One more with the close-up of his face:

Painted rock. Calico cat.

It was painted a year ago for a man who wanted to give little cat and bunny stones to some women he knows for Christmas. The Calico Cat is my favorite. So I brought her to a photo session . A tiny wicker chair and a little pillow made a perfect entourage.

Hand painted rock. Silkie guinea pig.

I painted a bunch of guinea pigs for some cavy show prizes. I would love to have such a prize myself!
Though an old piggy we own is not of show quality but we just love him.
This one painted is Silkie or Shelty guinea pig. They have long beautiful hair.
More pictures of the stone:

Painted vinyl record. A Raven Combing a Wind

I've repeated one of my older pictures on a vinyl disc.
The Raven flies through the tangled winds leaving them combed behind.
Love the idea - it gives me the soothing feeling.
That record is in the Rome gallery also.

Painted vinyl record. Butterflies 2.

One more of my painted vinyls. Using silver pen on the records is very tricky - ink goes into the grooves and makes lines furry.
I love that red queen butterfly! Have painted it several times on rocks.

Old record - new life

Last year the owner on NY APW gallery invited me to take part in the show featuring paintings on the old vinyl records. I bought a bunch of old discs in a thrift store and began to experiment.
The idea with butterflies sprang immediately to my mind, but I painted several other discs and a lot of try patches on spare records before came with a result that I liked.

It can be hung easily by putting a push pin through the middle hole. I especially love the fact that it can be hung in any position - the symmetry of the butterflies make the composition perfect any time.

Now it went to Rome to another exhibition of vinyl records - VINYL FACTORY Group Show (VINILIFICIOCREATIVO VOL.2) at the MondoPOP International Gallery.