This is Vasilisa the Beautiful. A Russian fairytale, from a beautifully animated film I grew up watching and hold dear to my heart.
I love the art style so much, I tried to incorporate it into my piece here, while still adding my personal style and flairs to it!
I really loved mimicking this style with all the shapes and details. It was really relaxing just throwing in whatever I felt like. I also LOVE drawing water like this!!! Just squished ovals all over hehe.
I drew this with the intension of using it as an embroidery guide... so hopefully I'll do that!
Also, upon looking for my first fanart I did, I found that I did it exactly 10 years ago! It's nice to see my progress as an artist <3
If you want to watch the Soviet film it's here on youtube! There's probably English subtitles, but I just listen to it as it is and enjoy the visual storytelling.
The man on the radio says he went out last night to The Gaiety, and on a school night too. As ever, I'm distracted so don't catch exactly what it was he went to see. 'The Very Thought of You' with Ella Fitzgerald follows as he continues to extol the acting virtues of Dan Butler.
Weather today is mild with a heavy hint of chicken manure. Still preferable to the chemical 'fresh air' that the shiny metropolis denizens seem to have a penchant for.
The larger size moths have hatched indoors again, so I'm vying with them for the light of the screen.
The water butt dwellers are also busy increasing their numbers whilst diving away from the twig missiles that the Rooks keep dropping mid flight. The guttering is beginning to look like a strange kind of legless porcupine with the amount of nest material that's landed in it.
Obviously time to put in my bid for The Umbrella (Ireland only has one) ... all sorts of things to dodge now the breeding season is well underway. If you don't hear from me for a while, I either got buried beneath the latest nesting material deluge or I'm now part of someone's nest ;-) ...
[Video description: me showing off my Sagittaria latifolia AKA broadleaf arrowhead or wapato or duck potato; growing in the pond in my parents' garden]
Ponds can be kitchen gardens too- there's a not insignificant number of edible aquatics that are worth growing. I chose to try and cultivate this one because it was mentioned in Eric Tosenmier's Edible Perennials book.
Be very careful with aquatic plants that are not native to your area. They can cause a huge amount of damage to the wider ecosystem if they escape.
The little water lily I bought, Nymphaea 'Colonel A. J . Welch' (terrible name)
The same type of water lily in a pond at the Botanic Gardens - proper lily pads, just like a frog would sit on in a cartoon.
The interwebs said this kind needs 1.5m deep water to flower, but there's a flower in this pond and its only 1 foot at the most, so apparently a shallow pond will work.
Garden lighting can transform almost any design and extends the length of time one can sit outside. From indoors the results are equally important but remember that simplicity is the key to success.