BABUSHKA BY GILLIAN NIX

This is my submission for this month's Russian theme.  I have really surprised myself by managing to complete this project with another week to go! I knew this would take me a while to carve the lino, so I started straight after the Russian theme was decided (go me!).

After googling Babushka I discovered that the word  means 'grandmother' or 'old lady' in Russian!  At the moment I am feeling quite granny-ish as it is winter here in Melbourne and I am constantly wearing my slippers and trying to stay warm.  This is my first winter in 3 years and I'm loving it, but it is taking me a while to adjust.  How fitting that I made a Russian granny for Art Club!  Is it life imitating art or art imitating life?  I wouldn't call it a self portrait, but I think the granny tag is one that I am happy to wear just now.

'Babushka' is a lino print which has been printed in black with smidgens of water colour paint for some added colour.   The paper measures 35 x 50 cm.

I love Russian folk art and have collected lots and lots of images over the last few years of many different patterns and designs.  I knew straight away that I wanted to make a babushka print and I had a drawing from a few months back that I dug out of my sketchbook. 

Hope you like it....

The colours are quite bright in these photographs but actually in real life they are much paler.

Here is my original sketch, the lino and the finished print together...

I love carving lino, it's pretty relaxing and I find it very addictive! 

A RUSSIAN MENU BY ADRIANA TORRES

The lovely Adriana got cooking for the Russian theme...yum!

Menu:

Entrée: Zucchini Pancakes / Latkes with red & black caviar
Main : Mimosa salad
Desert: Pachlava

All very traditional dishes of the Russian Cuisine! Baking, steaming,cutting, mixing, I really did enjoy making it! Also it was very enjoyable to play with the elements (due to my eating habbits) hehehe changing flour for oats in the pancakes ... changing potatoes for zucchini for the Mimosa salad, and doing this low carb dough for the pachlava really made things interesting... the taste? awesome!!!!... specially the salad! and the pancakes were Unreal!!

Adriana

MALEVICH AT THE KITCHEN TABLE

'Malevich at the Kitchen table' is the first Art Club submission from Jim Sammon, from Wangaratta, Victoria.  The painting is named after the Russian painter, Kazimir Malevich who painted white on white and black on black canvases.  Thanks Jim - it looks great!
 

BABUSHKA DOLLS FROM SARAH

This lovely wee drawing of babushka dolls comes from our youngest member of Art Club, Sarah (aged 5) from Greenock, Scotland.  Here's what her proud mum Lynsey said about her drawing.... "You can't see but its tiny, she did them on a tiny bit of paper she was practising with her wavy scissors and i said it was a waste of paper, so much detail and the glitter on them, doesn't show up well"

Great work Sarah!

RUSSIA BY MARTIN LISLE

Our first submission for this month's Russia theme is from the lovely Martin Lisle from Glasgow in Scotland!  Based on his terrible story of being drugged and mugged whilst in Russia for a charity project (see here for a newspaper article).

Thanks Marty!

RUSSIA...OUR NEXT THEME!

Hello,

Last month's blue theme was a great success for our collective of creative folks.  We had lots of new people joining in (hooray!) not to mention lots of people visiting the blog - (thank you visitors)!

I am very excited to announce that next month's theme is RUSSIA! 

As always, you have a month to work some magic, the due date is the 5th of June.  Just email Chris or myself with your submissions and we will post them up here.

Good luck everyone and hope you're enjoying the project!