Golden Lilies for the Twitter Art Exhibit

Updated 6/6/17: My Golden Lilies are now coming back to their new (hopefully happy) US home because somebody saw them online and in their words, could not resist. Funny how art travels sometimes 🙂

Yelena Shabrova ~ Golden Lilies ~ gel pens on colored paper, 6.3 x 4.7 in (12 x 16 cm)
Golden Lilies ~ gel pens on colored paper, 6.3 x 4.7 in (12 x 16 cm)

An experiment with gel pens. It will be a part of the Twitter Art Exhibit that this year supports Molly Olly’s Wishes. Mailed it to UK today and hope it will get there safely.

This is my first semi-serious drawing in gel pens. I did sketches before, but they were line works, never pointillism. Turns out it’s more enjoyable to stipple, I just need to get a better grasp of color and opacity changes as gel inks dry and remembering how different pens interact when placed on top of each other.

Four Eights an Artists Challenge 2016 update

Sadly, I missed the reception for this show because of the trip to Russia and didn’t have time to see it before leaving, so had to check it out after coming back. This was one impressive show, and not just because I love small works of art. It’s fascinating to see what different artists can do with the same set of four square canvases, how different their styles and subjects are, and how beautiful the walls covered with 8″ x 8″ squares look.

All my creatures were sold. Hopefully they all are sharing the same happy home now.

Yelena Shabrova ~ Oregon Wildlife. Opossum ~ mixed media on canvas, 8" x 8"
Oregon Wildlife. Opossum ~ mixed media on canvas, 8″ x 8″
Yelena Shabrova ~ Oregon Wildlife. Least Bittern ~ mixed media on canvas, 8" x 8"
Oregon Wildlife. Least Bittern ~ mixed media on canvas, 8″ x 8″
Yelena Shabrova ~ Oregon Wildlife. White Pelican ~ mixed media on canvas, 8" x 8"
Oregon Wildlife. White Pelican ~ mixed media on canvas, 8″ x 8″
Yelena Shabrova ~ Oregon Wildlife. Gray Fox ~ mixed media on canvas, 8" x 8"
Oregon Wildlife. Gray Fox ~ mixed media on canvas, 8″ x 8″

Sharon Orella, the show coordinator said that my artworks were very popular and sold very quickly. That’s very nice to hear; I hoped that my creatures would connect with people and be appreciated for their beauty and character.

A sketch a day: textures in colored pencil, with a horse

Yelena Shabrova ~ A sketch a day: textures in colored pencil, with a horse ~ Staedtler colored pencil on Canson drawing paper, 6" x 4"
A sketch a day: textures in colored pencil, with a horse ~ Staedtler colored pencil on Canson drawing paper, 6″ x 4″

That’s my sketch on the go from earlier this week finished. I wanted to see how much texture could be built on Canson drawing paper with pencils only, without any other tools. To my surprise, the paper let be create quite a few nice subtle patterns. I especially like those crossing lines on the horse.

Four Eights an Artists Challenge at the Sherwood Center for the Arts, October 21 – December 8, 2016

I am going to be a part of an interesting show at the Sherwood Center for the Arts. Artist are challenged to create and complete four 8”x 8” painting canvases which are provided by the Center.

Because I do not paint, my entries are drawings attached to tissue paper collages that are attached to the canvases. The collage part is messy but beautiful and freeing. This is where I do not have to pay attention to details and can let pastels and rubbing alcohol do their magic on pieces of torn paper.

Yelena Shabrova ~ Oregon Wildlife. Gray Fox ~ mixed media on canvas, 8" x 8"
Oregon Wildlife. Gray Fox ~ mixed media on canvas, 8″ x 8″
Yelena Shabrova ~ Oregon Wildlife. White Pelican ~ mixed media on canvas, 8" x 8"
Oregon Wildlife. White Pelican ~ mixed media on canvas, 8″ x 8″
Yelena Shabrova ~ Oregon Wildlife. Least Bittern ~ mixed media on canvas, 8" x 8"
Oregon Wildlife. Least Bittern ~ mixed media on canvas, 8″ x 8″
Yelena Shabrova ~ Oregon Wildlife. Opossum ~ mixed media on canvas, 8" x 8"
Oregon Wildlife. Opossum ~ mixed media on canvas, 8″ x 8″

The show will run from October 21 to December 8, 2016. The Opening Gala will be on October 21.

The Sherwood Center for the Arts is located at 22689 SW Pine St, Sherwood, OR 97140.

Beaverton Arts Mix! 2016

I am happy to announce that Plum Blossoms will be a part of the Beaverton Arts Mix! four day art show and sale.

Show lacation
Beaverton City Library, 12375 SW 5th Street, Beaverton, OR

Open
Thu – Sun | Oct 5 – 8 Art Show & Sale
Open during regular library hours

Yelena Shabrova ~ Plum Blossoms in Los Gatos Creek Park ~ Prismacolor colored pencil on Bristol paper, 16" x 20"
Plum Blossoms in Los Gatos Creek Park ~ Prismacolor colored pencil on Bristol paper, 16″ x 20″

More information about the show can be found on the city’s website

Daydreaming included into Ann Kullberg’s CP Hidden Treasures – Volume III

Very pleased to have my little drawing in Ann Kullberg’s CP Hidden Treasures – Volume III.. The magazine-style publication features over 160 incredible colored pencil artists from around the world.

Daydreaming - colored pencil on drawing paper, 8.5" x 5.5"
Daydreaming – colored pencil on drawing paper ~ 8.5″ x 5.5″

Some artworks are featured in Ann’s video below, all look much better as you go through the book (yes, I have a copy!)

“Muncher” was selected for the Special Merit Category of the International Animals Art Exhibition

Yelena Shabrova ~ Muncher ~ mixed media on canvas panel, 8" x 10" (original drawing of a squirrel)
Muncher – mixed media on canvas panel, 8″ x 10″

Got notified today that “Muncher” was selected for the Special Merit Category of the International Animals Art Exhibition held by Art Space & Time Online Art Gallery.

The gallery received 900 entries from 24 different countries from around the world. The final selection features amazing creations in all kinds of different media, and I am happy to be a part of it.

The winning entries will be featured on the Light Space & Time website for the month of June 2016 and then will remain online in the Light Space & Time archives.

Hello… (horse head in colored pencil, 11″ x 14″) – in progress

Updated: January 5th, 2017

Yelena Shabrova ~ Hello (work in progress) ~ colored pencil on Strathmore watercolor paper, 11" x 14"
Hello (work in progress) ~ colored pencil on Strathmore watercolor paper, 11″ x 14″

Decided to make progress with the horse first and with the window frame later. Both are going to differ a bit from my reference, and because the horse is more important I am going to figure out where his colors end before touching the window. I am now debating between natural wood and old paint that would compliment the horse.

Updated: April 26th, 2016

Yelena Shabrova ~ Hello (work in progress) ~ colored pencil on Strathmore watercolor paper, 11" x 14"
Hello (work in progress) ~ colored pencil on Strathmore watercolor paper, 11″ x 14″

So it was a good idea to use graphite first, then continue with color on top of it. Maybe a softer grade like H6 would be more efficient, especially on a textured paper like this one. The disorganized colors that are already there are from different kinds of strokes I tried to see what works better.

Updated: December 10th, 2015

Yelena Shabrova ~ Hello, in progress~ colored pencil on Strathmore watercolor paper, 11" x 14"
Hello (work in progress) ~ colored pencil on Strathmore watercolor paper, 11″ x 14″

Back to the unfortunate horse who is now ready for color! I am done with the graphite underdrawing (if this is not a word it should be) and securing it with a workable fixative. Let’s see if that speeds up adding darks with colored pencils. Rainy shooting conditions made it look like there are at least two different tones of graphite, but in reality it’s the same tone.

Original post: Feb 21, 2015

Yelena Shabrova - Hello, drawing of a horse head in progress - colored pencils on Strathmore watercolor paper, 11" x 14"
Hello (work in progress) ~ colored pencil on Strathmore watercolor paper, 11″ x 14″

I don’t think I have ever been this excited to see a rough drawing of a horse head finally appearing on a piece of paper as planned. There were at least two iterations that were not to my liking at all, but finally everything is where it should be, the sketch is transferred to the final watercolor paper (it’s a Strathmore one with nice slightly uneven surface), and I can move on to preliminary shading with graphite.

The horse is picking out of a barn door window, but it is barely visible right now. I need to decide whether to keep it white like in the reference photo or make it natural wood. The horse is going to be light chestnut with a lot of color nuances in the face, and even weathered white seems to be too stark next to all that, so most likely I will use some kind of amber or light wood for the window.

Making friends with Zen Brush app

Yelena Shabrova ~ A sketch a day: eye ~ digital art ~ eye
eye ~ digital art

Zen Brush is a beautiful little app with only one step of undo and no way to save anything in its original format. No layers, the eraser is very primitive and does not help much, so best to leave it alone and pretend it’s not there at all. One black brush, two translucent gray brushes and an option to change the brush size. All brushes are round and look more and more like painting wet on wet as their sizes grow. That’s it. The app would be almost like a Zen board where your creating is gone forever unless you were quick enough to take a photo. Similarly, Zen Brush has an option to export the drawing as a PNG file.

Lovely thing for quick sketches.

A sketch a day: snow landscape

Yelena Shabrova ~ A sketch a day: snow landscape ~ digital art ~ winter, snow, bushes, twigs
snow landscape ~ digital art

My first semi-serious attempt to do a more than a rudimentary sketch in ArtFlow app. You know what’s the best part of working in it? It saves all changes automatically and seemingly in real time, at least I haven’t lost anything yet. And I think if I ever hit the limit on the number of layers in the file it will be my phone’s fault, not the app’s.

A sketch a day: Frozen ~ pen and ink, graphite pencil on Canson drawing paper, 6″ x 4″

Yelena Shabrova ~ A sketch a day: Frozen ~ pen and ink, graphite pencil on Canson drawing paper, 6" x 4"
pen and ink, graphite pencil on Canson drawing paper, 6″ x 4″

It started with a reference photo of majestic icicles which I managed to lose shortly after mapping some details in pencil. Not willing to dig through my huge and badly documented collections of shots taken over 15+ years, I decided to continue on my own and see where it ends. Somehow it ended in an abstract that has little to do with icicles or anything else of that kind, but it was fun to work through it without much commitment to the end result.

Forgotten flowers

Yelena Shabrova ~ Forgotten Flowers ~ colored pencil, 3" x 5"
Forgotten Flowers ~ colored pencil, 3″ x 5″

It seems that the impending move to Oregon only leaves me time for quick sketches. My poor horse stays practically untouched since I defined main features of his face, several other serious drawings are also stuck at whatever stages they were when the decision was made.

Sorting out and getting rid of stuff (and now packing) is the exact opposite of fun, but sometimes nice discoveries happen. As I go through shelves of books I find all sorts of things in them: bookmarks made by kids, old postcards, images from copiers, and as of recently, dried flowers.

I am not even sure what kinds of flowers those are. They were very discolored, and as soon as I tied to remove them from a book promptly fell apart…

Paradise – a miniature on canvas

Yelena Shabrova ~ Paradise (Miniature) ~ colored pencil on canvas, 3.5" x 2.5"
colored pencil on canvas, 3.5″ x 2.5″

A kind visitor at the third weekend of recent Open Studios came up with the title, not me. I often draw during SVOS. People like to see how art is created, and whatever I am working on easily becomes a conversation piece. Sometimes I get a free benefit of getting stuff named for me.

The original miniature ($35.00) is available in my online shop as a part of the “Miniatures” collection.

Silicon Valley Open Studios 2015

I will be showing on the first three weekends of May along with many wonderful artists. Two of my newest pieces were completed just in time for SVOS, and I can’t wait to share them with you. Hope you will join us!

WEEKEND ONE: MAY 2ND & 3RD
Site 339

30 Sunrise Court, Menlo Park, CA 94025

11am to 5pm

With Amanda Krauss, Krishna Mitra, Slava Shabrov, and Teresa Silvestri.

WEEKEND TWO: MAY 9TH & 10TH
Site 111

1510 Oak Avenue, Los Altos, CA 94024

11am to 5pm

With U. Q. Livd, Vaishali Sanghavi, Slava Shabrov, and Sarah Soward.

WEEKEND THREE: MAY 17TH & 18TH
Site 149

10300 Torre Avenue, Cupertino, CA 95014

Sat, May 16th – 10am to 6pm
Sun, May 17th – 12am to 6pm

With Janki Chokshi, Denise Howard, James Lee, Jessica Liu, Reynold Alex Martinez, Krishna Mitra, Slava Shabrov, Michele Smeulders, and Isabelle Stachnick.

Or see all sites in one place on my SVOS page.