[Art] Baba Yaga.
Jul. 3rd, 2009 04:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
moonvoiceBaba Yaga
Baba Yaga has been reduced to a folklore figure, but sources strongly suggest that she was originally worshipped as a goddess; and that is certainly how I see her.
Those who have heard of Baba Yaga, know of her often as the antagonist in the story of 'Baba Yaga and Vasilissa the Brave.' They know of her flying around in a mortar, living in a home that spins on chicken legs (or a single leg, depending on the country). It is lesser known that she is associated heavily with animals like the pelican and the snake. As well as cats, geese and black hounds.
Not an easy goddess to work with by a long shot, and never one I would have consciously chosen to work with. But the truths she shows me, while they always make me feel older, enrich my life regardless.
Tolere, Vavale.
And sorry about the quality of the picture, I can't scan pieces this large, and the flash mangled some of the colouring. I'm hoping to get a better quality picture in better lighting tomorrow or the next day. :)
27.5 x 39 centimetres on
cold-pressed illustrator's board
fineliner, pencil, watercolour pencil, acrylic, gouache
Baba Yaga has been reduced to a folklore figure, but sources strongly suggest that she was originally worshipped as a goddess; and that is certainly how I see her.
Those who have heard of Baba Yaga, know of her often as the antagonist in the story of 'Baba Yaga and Vasilissa the Brave.' They know of her flying around in a mortar, living in a home that spins on chicken legs (or a single leg, depending on the country). It is lesser known that she is associated heavily with animals like the pelican and the snake. As well as cats, geese and black hounds.
Not an easy goddess to work with by a long shot, and never one I would have consciously chosen to work with. But the truths she shows me, while they always make me feel older, enrich my life regardless.
Tolere, Vavale.
And sorry about the quality of the picture, I can't scan pieces this large, and the flash mangled some of the colouring. I'm hoping to get a better quality picture in better lighting tomorrow or the next day. :)
27.5 x 39 centimetres on
cold-pressed illustrator's board
fineliner, pencil, watercolour pencil, acrylic, gouache
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
Chicken Legs & Flying Mortars
Date: 2009-07-03 04:27 pm (UTC)When you first started talking about painting Baba Yaga, this is the picture I expected to see, even though I didn't know what it would look like til today. Does that make any sense?
(I'm also re-reading Women Who Run With the Wolves by C. P. Estes & I just read the chapter about Vasalisa the Wise a night or two ago, lol)
Re: Chicken Legs & Flying Mortars
Date: 2009-07-04 12:01 am (UTC)it does. at first when i started sketching it, i felt exactly the same way. i didn't know exactly what colours i'd be using until right at the end, i didn't know what i was going to put into it as i was doing it... and then at the end, it was exactly the way it was supposed to be.