Lucky Snail Works

AfterEffects CS3 Commonality Vignette

2009-05-19T09:05:00.000-07:00

Bond

2008-06-14T12:49:00.000-07:00

This is my latest work, I finished it today 3 o'clock in the morning. This picture is a wedding gift for a young newlywed chinese couple, they got married today at 10 in the morning. It was a very nice ceremony, though if it were my wedding I would learn my oaths by heart and make the priest learn his part by heart too (^^)

I had two weeks to accomplish this project. The first week I was intensely searching for ideas not only in my own head, but also in the other's: I asked my friends, and friends of mine, and even random people on the street whenever I had the chance "If you were to receive a picture as a wedding gift, what would you like it to be?" The most popular answer was "landscape is a good idea". I started with that, and gave it up. That was too neutral, to unemotional. A wedding is a holy moment, very important and very intimate. I wanted to make a picture that would remind them of that moment, and of the oaths they have sworn, of their choice to be together, and of the destiny within.

The red ribbon tied around lovers wrists is a symbol of destiny in orient culture. The spiral stands for harmony, cycle of life and fate.

"Bleeding Heart" mask

2008-05-30T12:35:00.000-07:00

This is my favorite mask : ) It took me almost a year to finish, because for a long time I could not decide on the final design. I finished the form in Moscow, and brought it to US. Here, I watched the mask for five months: its smooth white surface with soft grey shades and wicked smile, that could only be seen at certain angle, magnified me. I would look at it for half an hour, thinking "What can be added to the from, without ruining the feeling?" After, half a year I finally decided. The result you can see. But the "smile" you can see only if put on human face ; ) ... on this photo it is almost ... smirking?

Anyway, the reason I like "Bleeding Heart" so much is its design. It is just like the original mask sketches I made. It is the authentic original style : )

Dimensions: 7,5x6x3 / 20x15x7,5 cm

Price: NFS (Sample)

Emotions

2008-05-28T11:31:00.001-07:00

I like doing faces. I have hundreds of them in my head. Sometimes I can see a face in a couple of scratches on the table, sometimes they seem to be looking at me from a blank wall. I pay great attention to peoples faces, that's why I think. I think that every nation has a definite number of specific face types, like set, some dozens per each. US also has such a "set": I saw two men in two different airports, thousands of miles away from each other, but both americans. They looked so alike, they could easily be brothers. Twins, even : ) That's why making faces is easy: I just take some common face type and twist it a little to add personality and emotion.

These 3 faces may seem as if they belong to different people, but actually they are all expressions of just one person's emotions. The idea is to show how strong emotions can alter human face. Of course I allowed myself some exaggerations: big mouth for Anger, long nose for Annoyance (don't turn your nose away from things!), large eyes for Curiosity : )

"Emotions" are made of plaster covered with gold leaf and tinted patina.

Dimensions (of all 3 together): 8x12x2,5'' / 20x30,5x6 cm

Price: $40

Rabbit on the Moon

2008-05-27T18:33:00.000-07:00

This picture was an 8th of March (russian version of Mother's Day) present for my mother. She really likes how japanese picture rabbits, in a special, very recognizable way, so cute that every woman falls in love with them : ) I was trying to imitate that way, and the moon was also a part of request. I first tried to do a rice paper picture out of it, but that didn't work out, because of the size of the canvas. Only the rabbit silhouette remained from that stage. I painted the surroundings with acrylic... yet mother insisted on the rice paper, saying it would add more taste to the picture. In the end, rice paper was put around the edges as a frame, which was a perfect solution, I think.

Size: 24x30'' / 61x76 cm

Price: NFS

Calligraphy

2008-04-30T00:44:00.000-07:00

I really like this small picture. In orient it is said that calligraphy and swordsmanship are alike. Both of them rely on steadiness of hand and experience gained through practice, but more importantly none of them forgive mistakes. It is also said that true beauty comes from calm and empty mind, when we don't put our ego into what we are doing, but let the intuition guide our hand. My idea was to blend calligraphy with portrait painting. Ink is an exiting medium. It takes time to master it, and yet it always seems to have a will of its own. And it is that light unpredictability, smth of fate that makes the final work a masterpiece or trash.

Size: 4x6'' / 10x15 cm

Price: NFS (not for sale)

First Eye

2008-04-30T00:10:00.000-07:00

Everyone thinks differently about which part of the human body is the most expressive one. I always though it were the hands until I read somewhere that children with subconscious fear of smth often draw eyes to reflect it. Since that I always paid close attention to the eyes on every picture I saw, and also I started drawing them myself. I don't know, maybe with a time it became a mania, that got even worse after I became a manga fan, but I really do think that the eye can express a lot of emotion. In manga graphics, in the most thrilling moments only the eye is captured. Besides, in my honest opinion, a person no matter how divine can't be truly beautiful without beautiful eyes. And it is not just the color, or shape, it is smth much more essential and fundamental, that is hiding behind the way we look into this world with our eyes.

This picture was the first one where I used rice paper for texture and framing. It is colored with black india ink and sealed with acrylic medium. The folds are the actual folds of the rice paper, and to separate it from the painting beneath, I used tracing paper for the first layer.

Size: 12x9'' / 30,5x20 cm

Price: NFS

Mask unlmted

2008-04-30T00:06:00.000-07:00

...no comments.

P.S. iPhoto rules ; )

Size: 2'' / 5 cm

Price: NFS (sample)

Lady Area

2008-04-29T23:43:00.000-07:00

She is not a real person. I like to do imaginary portraits, you have infinite freedom of creating any character you want. This lady is strong willed and able to command an army should the necessity arise. I guess I was trying to depict the character of my grand mother from fathers side. She is a very artistic and romantic woman, very loving and generous to the beloved ones, but also merciless to anyone violating the family rules, such as holy afternoon nap and time for dinner. A Lord of the House. She is also well known for her merciless judgments and comments on her family members. And the most admirable part is that she tells all these rough truths right into the face of the one concerned. My sister always cries after receiving another "divine judgement", and she does get the most of them since they are living together. As for me I always value her words. Thank you grandma! You are the best!

P.S. She said she didn't like this picture, but I am posting it anyways : )

Size: 24x24'' / 61x61 cm

Price: $50

House on the shore

2008-04-29T22:59:00.000-07:00

My eyes have never seen it, but I have. In my mind I have built it. I designed it on paper, interior and exterior. On real paper. And I think it even can be built it real world, if some pro-architect takes this project. But the main point is that the house can't be taken out of its environment. It has to be a cold stormy ocean shore, with rough plains stretching as far as an eye can see behind it. It has to be, because it was designed specially to be a part of this environment. It is the feeling that is important . The feeling of finding comfort inside a house, that is standing in the middle of nowhere, with cold winds and pouring rains coming upon you, wolves howling at your back, stones wrecking your shoes... This house is the last fortress for a tired, weathered soul. A place where you can spend your days on your own, watching fire in the fireplace, or stormy waters of the ocean, or wind playing with grass on the plaines.

Size: 19x14,5'' / 48x37 cm

Price: NFS

Fantastic landscape

2008-04-29T22:23:00.000-07:00

Enough of realism. Here is something produced only by imagination of your humble artist. My eyes have never seen it, but I have. It is a very deep mountain lake of dark blue water, shaped in a form of a sand clock. The shores are covered with huge pieces of fire colored volcano rock. Wisps of mist float in the shade of high hills, blue and rose in the 5 o'clock light. Some water plants drift silently on the undisturbed surface of the lake that does not reflect the sky, but only shows the depths of cold indigo blue water. So have I seen it.

I said that "Angel" was my thirst picture since childhood, that is not perfectly true. The first picture was a wall painting in the kitchen of my family's moscow apartment. It depicted on the first plane a white mouse and a black cat sitting at a red stone table, smoking pipes. There is a pine-like tree growing to the left of them, a river flowing behind them, and ending in waterfall to their right. In the third plane is a valley, framed by steep step mountains formed of colorful volcanic rock. On one of the steps of the right mountain, there stands a house, and deep down in the valley a man is resting on a stone. The third stone at the red table is reserved for him. The white mouse and the black cat are waiting for the man to join them. What they will talk about I do not know, but sure it will be a pleasant conversation, as it always is among old friends.

The valley ends into the ocean. A peninsula can be seen in a far off distance. Big water is calm in the bay, reflecting the light grey clouds coming from the horizon.

Size:24x20'' / 61x51 cm

Price: NFS (collection of the artist)

House across the road

2008-04-29T22:06:00.000-07:00

continuing the topic of realistic drawing, this is the house of our neighbors, painted this spring while magnolia was blooming. It is my first attempt in painting out door, "plain air". Somehow, I feel I could do more with it. Definitely. But for now I have to let it rest, let the paint dry out more and most of all let the picture take form in my mind. It is only first step to realize a dislike, when you know you don't like smth, but can't say what it is. The second step is to understand what you don't like, and the third step is to find a way how to correct it. You need to know what you are doing, because there is often no way back.

Size: 12x12'' / 30,5x30,5 cm

Price: not for sale yet : )

Still lives

2008-04-29T21:50:00.000-07:00

The first still life I made in 2007, while having summer vacation in Catskill Mountains, NY. I used for it a wide strip of beech bark, a piece of dry moos, a fiery eat-me-raw mushroom and a burdock seed/flower. I like how the mushroom turned out best : )

The second still life has a 'meaning'... what i want to say is that, when I assemble the still lives I usually don't create a message, I just put smth beautiful in front of me. But this one is made of dead roses, fresh mangoes, and a mask - beauty in death, life and eternity.

The third one again has no special meaning. My friend, a florist, brought some left over lilies from her shop. The second day they opened, and I said to myself "it is now or never", so took my brushes and painted it. And because I was so obsessed by the lilies I messed up the composition, so there were hardly any space for delphinium left : P sigh...

Sizes: Prices:

"Still life with Mushroom" 6x4'' / 15x10 cm NFS

"Still life with Mask" 14,5x19'' / 37x48 cm Sold

"Still life with Lilies" 9x12'' / 23x30,5 cm $35

Animation

2008-04-29T21:33:00.000-07:00

: D my brother sent me this link

http: //fco1.deviantart.com/fs13/f/2007/077/2/e/Animator_vs__Animation_by_alanbecker.swf

it is a really funny and well made animation : )

Rainbow Dragon

2008-04-09T21:06:00.000-07:00

A fresh burst of color! Completely anime-inspired : ) It is a rather common special effect in animation to picture a character with its expanded shadow behind it, to give the shot a feeling of mightiness. Dark lines and bright shiny colors create rhythm and flow. Because of them this picture has an interesting 3-D effect: where body of the dragon crosses many colorful lines it seems to be floating in front of them.

Size: 18x36'' / 46x91 cm

Price: $100

Magnolia Flower

2008-04-04T20:14:00.000-07:00

Preserved beauty, for eternity you are mine...

Took some effort though... : ]

This is one of the two pictures I brought to Japan. It is now hanging in cafe "Be Happy" in Osaka : )

Size: 6x6'' / 15x15 cm

Pear

2008-04-04T19:53:00.000-07:00

Not even a month old and already sold. Wow! I didn't know it would become such a hit! It took me two days to paint it, unlike other three 6x6'' still lives. But in the end, that's exactly why it looks as it looks! ; )

Size: 6x6'' / 15x15 cm

Price: sold ($40)

Apple

2008-04-04T19:45:00.000-07:00

The model was a tiny apple 1x1,5''. Tiny and so cute : ) a perfect apple!

It is also my second oil painting after "Corsa", but this time the oil paints were mine, bought with the money earned from selling artwork at Dec.07 Durham Art Walk. Yo!

P.S. This is the second of the two paintings I brought to Japan with me. It was presented to Matsuta-san as a sign of gratitude for taking care of me. The picture now is hanging in his lab at Osaka University. Thank you!

Size: 6x6'' / 15x15 cm

Wizard

2008-04-04T19:34:00.000-07:00

I had an ink pen drawing I made centuries ago. Every time I looked at it I thought "that could be a good illustration". Time passed. I bought five 6x6'' canvases. The first one I painted an apple on. Don't know why, but it had to be an apple - I just had a good feeling about it. On the second one I decided to paint the "Wizard", so that the picture would be finally freed.

Size: 6x6'' / 15x14 cm

Price: $30

The Structure of Mind

2008-04-04T19:19:00.000-07:00

This is an antagonist to "Himura Kenshin". I painted them one after another with exact though to make them nothing alike. This picture is "brush only" which means I didn't use charcoal or pencil to pre-sketch it. I painted it in one breath, without any sketch or reference, though it is certainly influenced by Michelangelo. The idea was to create the face with earthy colors representing passions, worries and desires of everyday life. The mind part, on the contrary, contains only pure light colors of intuition, dreams, and thought.

Size: 14x18'' / 35,5x46 cm

Price: $50

Himura Kenshin

2008-04-04T19:00:00.000-07:00

I wanted to make an anime portrait for a long time, when I while watching " Rurouni Kenshin" suddenly saw a screen shot that was made in a completely different style then the rest. It had a different air, the character looked much sharper and much deeper in it. That was something I wanted to paint. And I did it as best as I could... some animefans might still recognize it : )

The most surprising part is, that the "look" reminds me of a certain person. (my best friends mother aka Rhyzhik :) Don't you think so, Melamori?

Size: 14x18'' / 35,5x46 cm

Price: $50

New Generation

2008-04-04T18:37:00.000-07:00

Two things inspired this painting: "Honey and Clover" & "Fruits". "Honey and Clover" anime series tell life stories of Tokyo Art University students. One of them had a super long red scarf that captured my attention instantly. I liked it. Yeah. It looked like an object from "Fruits" - photo book of Japanese street fashion (by PHAIDON). I thought "Yow! I've gotta do a painting with it!" And as I worked on it the idea of head band came, with "smiley" and puffballs : ) The picture was bought at first glance by my friend, as a Christmas present for her young nephew Sammy.

Size: 9x12'' / 23x30,5 cm

Price: Sold ($50)

Rusty Rice

2008-04-04T17:45:00.000-07:00

The second rice paper portrait. For this one I used a lot less rice paper sheets and a different ink that, when it came in contact with acrylic medium turned rusty brown. The face area is covered with a thin layer of bees wax to give it a mild honey shine.

Size: 9x12'' / 23x30,5 cm

Price: $50

Rice portrait

2008-04-04T17:09:00.000-07:00

The first rice paper picture. I had a sketch of a face that I liked very much. The profile was just a line, but it had individuality. I liked the hair ornaments... everything. It was so simple. And that was a problem. I spent quite a time thinking how to remake it into a painting. At the end I gave up.

After some time I came to the idea of making a picture by layering sheets of ink painted rice paper, making them transparent with acrylic medium. I remembered that sketch. It was perfect for it : )

Size: 11x14'' / 28x35,5 cm

Price: Sold ($100)

Leaves in the Wind

2008-04-04T17:01:00.000-07:00

This is a pure mood picture. I wanted to create a sense of calmness and change at the same time. The person in the picture is leaving.. leaving a place and leaving something behind. The different golden leaves represent memories, that fly in the wind past the person, as she walks away. Forward.

Size:12x12'' / 30,5x30,5 cm

Price: $40

"Hiazinthus"

2008-04-04T16:37:00.000-07:00

I like the flower. I painted it outside in the bright sun. Hyacinth seems to be rich in everything: color, form and fragrance. But because it is so rich, on the painting it seemed almost brutal. To smoothen that appearance I covered it with rice paper (which also created a nice background : )

Size: 12x12'' / 30,5x30,5 cm

Price: $40

Moos and Flowers

2008-04-04T16:22:00.000-07:00

This picture is meant to create space for the viewer, that's why there is no sharp focus point in it. For the painting medium I mixed bees wax with turpenoid. Because of this mediums buttery consistence brushstrokes didn't blur. it was like painting with oil pastels : )

Size: 12x9'' / 30,5x23 cm

Price: $50

Moroh

2008-04-01T17:11:00.000-07:00

This one is called "Moroh", from old russian word "skomoroh" which means "fool". The specific feature of this mask is that instead of paper I used cloth pieces, so the mask became pretty thick and heavy. It also looks very interesting from the inside. Primarily decorative, but could fit to a kid's face.

Dimensions: 6x6x3'' / 15x15x7,5 cm

Price: $100

Jeras

2008-04-01T16:51:00.000-07:00

"Jeras". The name came to me unexpected and has no special meaning : /

The picture is a combination of acrylic and gold leaf: The bright vivid colors of the dragon are balanced with gold leaf glittering on black background. The specialty of this picture is that in different illumination either the Dragon or the gold leaf shines more : )

Size: 24x30'' / 61x76 cm

Price: $150

Africana

2008-04-01T16:43:00.000-07:00

I've made 7 masks so far. "Africana" was the first one I made and it has the most complicated structure of all. It includes 13 layers of glue-soaked paper, 10 layer of chalk/rabbit glue mixture, a layer of linen canvas, acrylic ornament, gold leaf with bitumen patina, 6 layers of red shellac and a thick layer of wax imitating varnish. This mask is larger than human face and has primary decorative purpose.

Dimensions (lengthxwidthxdepth): 9x6x3'' / 23x15x7,5 cm

Price: $200

Corsa

2008-04-01T13:46:00.000-07:00

I wanted to try oil colors but had none of my own, so I took every tube I could open from my sisters and grandfathers collection and squeezed the colors on the pallete. It was a confusing mixture, but I was determined to accomplish a work of art with it. And so came "Corsa".

Size: 15x19'' / 39x49 cm

Price: NFS

Angel

2008-04-01T13:30:00.000-07:00

I've been drawing since childhood, but I decided to become a professional artist just a year ago. "Angel" is my first step in the artistic career. The picture was inspired bu Greek reliefs. I had the idea of an eternal god-like creature, neither man, nor woman, a being that could exist anywhere creating all the necessary space for itself with the wings.

Size: 36x36'' / 91x91 cm

Price: NFS

Welcome!

2008-04-01T12:32:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone! This is a web page specially created to show my artistic work. All kinds of comments are welcomed : )

If you have any questions concerning any of the artwork, please feel free to contact me by e-mail featherstar@gmail.com