This week, I've been doing pencil drawings of dogs---usually while listening to the news on my computer. Cardigan Corgi, Bloodhound, and Borzoi (Russian Wolfhound). Various graphite pencils on Canson Sketch pad paper. Random on-line photos as reference.
Dmitry Shostakovich (1906–1975)
Shostakovich’s contemporaries do not recall seeing him working, at least not in the traditional sense. The Russian composer was able to conceptualize a new work entirely in his head, and then write it down with extreme rapidity—if uninterrupted, he could average twenty or thirty pages of score a day, making virtually no corrections as he went.
But this feat was apparently preceded by hours or days of mental composition—during which he “appeared to be a man of great inner tensions,” the musicologist Alexei Ikonnikov observed, “with his continually moving, ‘speaking’ hands, which were never at rest.”
Shostakovich himself was afraid that perhaps he worked too fast. “I worry about the lightning speed with which I compose,” he confessed in a letter to a friend. Undoubtedly this is bad. One shouldn’t compose as quickly as I do. Composition is a serious process, and in the words of a ballerina friend of mine, “You can’t keep going at a gallop.” I compose with diabolical speed and can’t stop myself.… It is exhausting, rather unpleasant, and at the end of the day you lack any confidence in the result. But I can’t rid myself of the bad habit.
- From Daily Rituals: How Artists Work by Mason Currey
#dailyrituals #inktober #shostakovich @masoncurrey
I just finished the Calandra Lark. Here are some facts about this beautiful bird...
Appearance: It's a large lark, about 17.5-20 cm long, with a robust build, a heavy bill, and noticeable pale eyebrows
. Its plumage is mainly greyish-brown streaked above and white below, with large black patches on the breast sides.
Habitat: This species is found in open plains, steppes, pastures, and dry cereal cultivations. It's mainly resident in the west of its range but Russian populations migrate further south in winter.
Diet: Their main food source is seeds, but they also consume insects when nesting.
Behaviour: Calandra Larks are known to be gregarious outside the breeding season, often forming large flocks.
Song: Their song is considered musical and slower than the Skylark's. It has been historically popular as a cagebird.
Plantain, Plantago major, was considered to be one of the nine sacred herbs by the ancient Saxon people, and has been celebrated in Anglo-Saxon poetry as the "mother of herbs." In Russian this plant is called Подорожник - meaning near the roads. Native Americans called it "white man's foot" as it is often found growing along well-trodden foot paths and it was brought to the Americas from Europe. The Latin generic name means "sole of the foot."
When I was a kid, we would use the leaves of this plant for small hurts and scratches. We would spit on the leaves and stick it onto our scratches.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CSE9jT9LqUY/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
George Balanchine (1904–1983)
Balanchine liked to do his own laundry. “When I’m ironing, that’s when I do most of my work,” he once said. The choreographer rose early, before 6:00 A.M., made a pot of tea, and read a little or played a hand of Russian solitaire while he gathered his thoughts. Then he did his ironing for the day (he did his own washing too, in a portable machine in his Manhattan apartment) and, between 7:30 and 8:00, phoned his longtime assistant for a rundown of the day’s schedule.
- From Daily Rituals: How Artists Work by Mason Currey
“I like to do things certain ways and I disagree with everybody but I don't even want to argue.”
― George Balanchine
#dailyrituals #inktober #balanchine @masoncurrey
On Tuesday evening some 1000 people gather in front of the German chancellery to demonstrate. To ‘Open the borders! Safe lives! Fight Fascism!’ were called for by ‘Seebrücke Berlin’ and others. We marched along Reichstag (seat of german parliament), offices of members of parliament, Russian embassy to Friedrichstr, where a final rally was hold (this is where the sketch emerged). Seebrücke appealed to the parliament to allow at least these refugees in most urgent need to come from the inadequate camps on the greece islands to their german member municipalities, that have space and are willing to host them. German parliament yesterday refused to do so, presumably due to their fear of further rise of right wing parties. This influence was another topic, that was adressed by the demonstration, that marched against any influence of right wing and fascist parties in Europe and for an international spirit of humanity.
It’s been over 20 years since I was an artist and animator in the video game industry and did art on the computer. I’ve been re-learning digital art since I’ve been stuck in doors during this Covid pandemic, and this is a charcoal piece I just did in Procreate. If you haven’t already tried this mind blowing program, I highly recommend it!
with Anka again, because she is Russian, she know about snow and how to cover up comfortably. Also, her donkey, Polka.
Avec Anka a nouveau, parce qu'étant Russe, la neige, elle connait et elle sait comment se couvrir confortablement. Aussi représentée: Son anesse, Polka.
Kaputnik.
Kaputnik is a conjunction of the word "kaput" (meaning "broken, damaged, destroyed") and "Sputnik" (Russian robotic spacecraft). Meaning is obvious: something which hasn't come up to expectations.
Suggested by @dimetartemid who disappeared since. Come back!
https://www.instagram.com/p/CriphjGgO_F/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
Proud of it. It says “Nadezhda and Maksim” which are the Russian names. The wife’s name is Nadezhda meaning Hope. The husband’s name is the same as Maxim.
Behind the Russian Church there is an abyss.
The moss and the rubbish are slippery and jagged old tins glitter at the bottom. For hundreds of years they have piled up higher and higher against a long dark-red house without windows. The red house crawls round the rock and it is very significant that it has no windows. Behind the house is the harbour, a silent harbour with no boats in it. The little wooden door in the rock below the church is always locked.
Hold your breath when you run past it, I told Poyu. Otherwise Putrefaction will come out and catch you. Poyu always has a cold. He can play the piano and holds his hands in front of him as if he were afraid of being attacked or was apologizing to someone. I always scare him and he follows me because he wants to be scared.
- Sculptor's Daughter by Tove Jansson
#dailydrawing #tovejansson
I just finished my very first book illustration gig. It was a ton of work and the client is really happy! Just a few years ago I never would have dreamed I'd illustrate a book. Yay me!
Aaaand forgot to post yesterday again. Sorry. Zmey can't talk, which is one of the reasons he took Anka as an apprentice and he is teaching her sign language.
(It's not an easy feat. He was hoping she could read to help, but let's say it's not the case either)
He is not medically mute, he could make sound if he need to.
It's just it's highly not recommended for him to open his mouth, thank to a little magical mishap when he met Baba Yaga for the first time.
She still maintain it was well earned.
So does he.
(Little note: He is saying "flame" in french sign language)
(Look, I couldn't find reference for russian sign language, and I'm not sure there was a sign language in their russian themed mythical medieval fantastical yolo universe)
