Снегурочка (Snow Maiden) Holiday Card

Happy last day of November!

I have some new work to show today, finally. This is my holiday card this winter. It's inspired by my Ukrainian and Russian heritage by way of stories of the Snow Maiden and the traditional Slavic headdresses. Hope you enjoy! Below is the creation process.

2. Detailed pencil sketch.

3. Ink drawing with micron pens.

4. Work in progress; painting with (diluted) waterproof coloured inks.

5. Nearing completion; further painting with the (diluted) inks and also gouache accents.

7. Printed holiday cards, almost ready to be mailed. I'm considering adding some flecks of silver, to make them really pop!

Some close ups.

For the original painting, here are the specs:

Size: 6 x 8 inches (paper size)
Materials: Micron pens, Koh-i-noor waterproof coloured inks and water soluble gouache on Strathmore Mixed Media vellum surface paper.


The cards I had printed are 4 x 5 inches and are now available on my Etsy Shop {here}.
Other assorted prints and products are now available on my Society6 and RedBubble pages.

MeticulousMadness Etsy Shop - Original Paintings For Sale!

Hello and happy February!

I'm now selling original paintings and illustrations on Etsy.
So, if you've ever wanted to own one of my original, hand painted pieces - now's the chance! =)

I've got a small selection available currently, but more works and close up photos will be added soon!
I also plan on adding other merchandise, like signed prints, postcard packs and more!

Please check out my shop {here}. Hope you like it and stay a while.


Have a great week!

Playing Outside With Imagination and Pride

Happy Saturday!

So, today I'm sharing with you a revisit of some ideas and themes I worked with last spring. My inspiration comes from my childhood memories of enjoying imaginative play-times outside. Currently I'm using those ideas and themes and reworking them into a collection of illustration + poetry spreads which will hopefully turn into a nice book sometime =)

"Little Lilac Ladies"

Ancient myths say mystic powers
Are given to some lilac flowers.
Those having five petals or more
Store magic wishes at their core.

This piece alludes to how my friends and I would comb through lilac bushes in search of 5 petaled flowers because supposedly they had wish granting powers!

 And some process steps:

Inked floral work

Painted floral work

Again, the finished piece

"Helping Hands"

When spring returns back to the land,
Little birds could use a hand
With making cozy, tidy nests
For themselves and for their guests.

This illustration reflects how in the spring my friends and I would build nests out of grass to help the birds out :)

(rhymes + illustrations are all by me)

Size: 11x17"
Media: Waterproof inks + watercolour + gouache + microns

Meticulous Maiden - Fair Flora

Hi!
It's been a while since I've posted some art along with my steps.
After acquiring a hand injury this piece was particularly challenging, especially since it's likely my most detailed illustration thus far.

I present to you my vision of the goddess Flora. This piece was inspired by various interpretations of flora I've seen throughout my life, and from quite recently a description of the Welsh goddess Olwen. In my version though, she is adorned with red clovers (for stylistic purposes) and she her hair is made from spring flowers. (Flowers include: clovers, dandelions, crocuses, camellias, magnolias, periwinkles, catkins, bell flowers, baby's breath, hyacinths, hydrangeas, lisianthuses, daisies, snow drops, lilies of the valley, morning glories, and perhaps some more flowers which I've forgotten.)

Oh, and this piece was for as set of promotional postcards.

Here's how it all came together:

The humble, little thumbnail

Rough sketch

Loose pencil. Really, if I penciled in all the flowers at once I would have gone bonkers.

Colour study. Ended up taking a different approach in the end

Inked line-work, stage 1. (I worked in chunks penciling and inking, one right after the other)

Inked line-work, stage 2. I decided to try out a method less familiar to me - 'silhouette inking' certain vines and leaves

Here, I coloured most flowers. (Still needed to paint her face and add more depth to certain sections)

(click to enlarge) Finished piece! Front and back of my postcard

close ups

Materials:
`Bristol Smooth Paper
`Micron pens
`Koh-i-Noor waterproof colour inks
`Gouache
`Watercolour

Approximate Size:
7.5 x 10.5 inches

Patterned Pottery II

Well, there was a second plate from that ceramics workshop I mentioned in my previous post. We used the mold method to create plates in shapes of flowers, picture frames, or as in my case - a seashell. Unfortunately, when I got this plate back, it wasn't as nice and smooth as when I left it in the shop to be fired in the kiln...It had small bumps and scratches, especially on the bottom side. After being melodramatically grief-stricken (just kidding!) I realized that pattern ornamentation just happened to be the best solution for disguising these imperfections. Just a happy coincidence, which has nothing to do with my detail addiction, of course.

Originally I was going to paint this seashell using red, black, or blue. However I ended up being seduced by some of the promises my craft paints displayed on their packaging. A bottle of Gallery Glass paint proclaimed it would give me a crackled effect if I applied it to another Gallery Glass color. The only other bottle of this brand I had was green - so voila - I ended up with green. Sadly, when I applied the crackle medium, it didn't fulfill it's duty, even though I followed all the directions on the bottle. What a shame! Oh well, you win some, you lose some I guess.=)

Here's what I ended up with though:

My patterned bowl now has a friend!

Patterned Pottery

So, a long time ago a couple of my friends and I went to a ceramics workshop to make and paint plates. Due to my scheduling difficulties I was only able to go and make my pieces, but was unable to paint them. In turn, when I finally had the time recently I painted them at home. Since I don't have a kiln at my disposal, I just decided to use regular acrylic paints and varnishes to decorate. I decided to let my pattern-crazed tendencies to take over the design of this piece, and I'm pretty content with the result.

I'll have to scout out some ceramic acrylic paints later though - because I can absolutely see ceramic plate painting becoming a new hobby!

inside

I wish we didn't have to carve out our names when making our bowls...but oh well

And that's what the bowl is supposed to be used for - as a hat, clearly

One plate piece down, one more to go!

"Violet Hour" - Patterned Meticulousness

"Violet Hour" by Mariya Olshevska

So here is the final illustration I did for the Decorative Illustration class, a.k.a my favourite class this semester. For this project we were particularly encouraged to go crazy with details and embellishments...and so I did. This piece didn't turn out to have as much compositional complexity as I originally wanted, but I still like it quite a bit. Originally I wanted Celtic knot-work in the background, which would then have finer patterning inside. So I guess I'll fulfill that musing in my spare time in the summer. I love swirls and patterns!

Anyhow here's the final piece and some of the process below:

thumbnail sketch

rough sketch

line work

Final Piece!

close up

another close up

 Info:
Image size: 15 x 10.3 inches
Bristol type paper
Line-work done with black micron pens ranging from 0.05 to 0.2, and a violet prisma colour pen of 0.05 width
+ a little bit of diluted waterproof ink for the pink blush in the cheeks and lips
Time: unknown, but far longer than 1 hour

P.S. - The title of the piece is inspired by the song "The Violet Hour" by The Civil Wars, a song which I love and imagine this illustrated woman listening to as her hair sways in the wind.

Hawk of Achill

Here's the 2nd project of the semester.

The objective was to create two illustrations based on a piece of text that relates to a culture. The two pieces also had to relate to each other.

So..due to my love for all things Celtic. I illustrated the following pieces on the Celtic Hawk of Achill.

The information I used I found on this Celtic Symbols page which said:  

Celtic tradition lists the oldest animal as the Hawk of Achill.  As with many other birds, the hawk is a messenger of the various worlds. However, it is noted as being more skillful and stronger than most others of its species. To hear the cry of a hawk during a journey is an indication that it would be wise to be alert to upcoming situations that require boldness and decisiveness in order to keep from being thrown off-balance.  The hawk was considered a noble bird that brought the sun within his feathers, and enabled recollection and the ability to progress.

size: 8.5 x 11 inches | colored inks & watercolor

size: 8.5 x 11 inches | colored inks & watercolor

some detail

another detail shot

 How much time did I spend on these? Well...let's just say they were my priority and sleep was not an option, haha