Featured artist: Anna Ryasnova, AnnaRyasnova. Felted miniature

We love our pets so we were happy to see  almost identical figurines of our dog's breeds at AnnaRyasnova shop. There are so many interesting items there. Anna, the owner of the shop, works in a needle felting technique and reached a high level in what she does. 

She loves to make miniature pets figurines, especially dogs and every one of them is unique. A happy customer's reaction is what inspires her to create new figurines. She loves the challenge of working with miniatures and trying to make her work even smaller every time. What a great artistic approach!

 

Anna's works can be seen during Miniaturitalia Exhibition in Milan, Italy, on February 7-8, 2016 or visit her shop to see if there is anything that touches you.

Here is what Anna is telling about herself and her creative vision.

"It fills me with gratitude and pride that by today my creations have reached people from such diverse countries as the United States, Australia, Canada, Argentina, Mexico, Thailand, Singapore, Israel, Bulgaria, Russia, Germany, Ireland, England, France, Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Spain. I take inspiration from my three beautiful sons, from nature as a whole and the animal world in particular.
Furthermore I consider it a special honor that so many clients have trusted me with orders to portray their dearest companion animals.

I firmly believe we all can be creators of happiness, for ourselves and for others, if only we allow love and affection to guide us. Everybody can create something, so can make a difference, and help to turn our world in a better place! I hope you will enjoy my works as much as I did making them."

 Interview by Tanya agardencottage

Interview With A Star - Yulia Kazansky

Today our feautured guest is Yulia Kazansky who is a member of a Russian Artists Etsy team. Yulia has two shops on Etsy with complitely different content. One of them is yuliaart which has an artistic trend, the other one is Timeagain which features beautiful vintage jewelry, mostly of Russian origin made of amber, turquoise and coral.

Q. Tell us, please a bit about yourself.
I was born and raised in Moscow, a capital of Russia. I got physics degree from Moscow State University. 15 years ago I immigrated to United States with my 2 sons. After living in Minnesota and Alaska I finally settled in North West Washington State, near Seattle. My children are living now in sunny Arizona.

Q. Why did you start making artwork?
As long as I remember myself I was always drawing, painting and making something of colored paper. I started to go to paint on plain air together with my grandfather as soon as I could walk and carry paper and watercolor. He was fine self-taught artist. Later, when I was about 10, my dad introduced me to photography when he bought a cheap simple camera. We even developed films and printed photos ourselves! So I am familiar with the depth of the process.

Q. Your Etsy shop undergone significant transformation recently?
Yes, I closed down my photography shop and right now I am reorganizing my art shop. As a new venue I started to make small art pendants, miniature art work painted on canvas, glued to wooden tile and varnished. I did not forget about photography, too! Usually I take a lot of photos, especially after I bought a new digital camera Nikon 200. I found a way to employ them: I started making digital collage sheets of my own photographs.Most of my fine art photography, paintings and animal portrait paintings are on my new website now: http://www.yuliakazansky.net/

Q. What was behind the idea of opening your vintage jewelry shop, Yulia?
Well, after my aunt passed away in Russia, her sister sent me lots of her and my grandmother's jewelry, semi-precious stones, amber and so on. It was really exciting to receive all of this. I found it is very pleasing esthetically create necklaces, bracelets and earrings of those beautiful stones. I still have whole box to go through...
Follow my blogs: Journal of Shutterfreak and Art by Yulia

Thank you for being with us today, Yulia!