Art of Anastasia Korochansckaja

Aeturno

Balaa — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 19:31:21 GMT

Aeturno

Eadem mutata resurgo -"Changed and yet the same, I rise again." ~ Jakob Bernoulli (1654-1705)

Morning Vale

Balaa — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 04:37:41 GMT

Morning Vale

My submission for the 2013 <a href="http://www.werewolfcalendar.com/">Werewolf Calendar</a>.

Details~~
Tools: Photoshop, Wacom Intuos 3
Size: 6000x4200 at 300ppi

Frailty of Memory

Balaa — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 02:54:30 GMT

Frailty of Memory

~~~
"Frail is memory that once shone bright. The earthly body that faded then, has left her spirit from within to seek her place in hearts beyond. Recall the wind that blew her fore and held her aft. The sands collide and steal her breath so she may drown in lonliness.

But one persists when others cannot and lights her torch in memory, until the dawn and there still beyond. Persist frail memory when we cannot.
~~~

A personal piece and companion to: http://balaa.deviantart.com/#/d50djst. Originally i created two concepts for the painting done for the magazine and though I chose one, the other still lingered and held me close. So between other projects I have been shaping this one, hoping to tease it's enigmatic visage to completion.

The story for both images is that of a spirit that shepherds memory, a white cheetah that lives in the heart of the Sahara. She wanders the lonely sloping dunes leaving the light of memory as her only tracks. But in the secret places where memory is being kindled into a flame that may last for eternity she transforms into a fragile lantern that fills the night with dappled dreams. And with the coming of the dawn she fades into the sand, her light lingering where she has walked.

I decided to slightly exaggerate some of her features for this painting, chiefly the long neck which is meant to cast her in a more supernatural light. The composition was deliberately more disconcerting than the open resolved composition in Persistence of Memory. Here her ritual has been interrupted by the viewer and she turns to look upon him. The viewer,with a mounting sense claustrophobia looks upon her with uncertainty, uncertain of her intent of the reason she shines.

Well anyway..that's what I was hoping to portray ;P.

~~~
Tools: Photoshop
Size: 6200x3600 at 300dpi

In Dreams We Belong

Balaa — Sun, 15 Jul 2012 21:17:44 GMT

In Dreams We Belong

In Dreams I heard a whisper of how the stars would come to be, that from the slumber of the deep dark they would come, rising from the sea. Alone you fell where the light forgot you, where the gull cry could not reach. In the bed of sea-grass you came home to me, the last shimmer of your light to rise as starlight through the sea's long night.

Dream beloved and let the dark be filled with light and in the nebula's languishing weave, we belong.

~ ∞ ~
I'll follow you through the fields
through the cities across the lands
through mountains and valleys
down to the beaches and sands
Into the ocean we will go
a mighty crescendo of cold
down and down...
but I have my prize
my prize of gold
my circlet of stone
down and down...
our path an endless song
as the stars come to take us...
to where we belong.
~ ∞ ~

First and foremost this is my first true collaboration with the amazingly talented <a href="http://www.furaffinity.net/user/foxamoore/">Foxamoore</a> whose patience and tireless inspiration has helped this piece find it's way to completion. It has been an astounding experience to work with him and has taken the creative process to a whole new level for me. Music has always fueled my work..and to have a piece created taylored to the artwork being created has been a profound experience that I hope to repeat again and again *nudges Fox!*. Fox Actually wrote two compositions for this piece and did several revisions of the final version. I was amazed at his speed and his energy in creating his work.

Please listen to his composition in tandem while viewing this piece:
♫~~~~ <a href="http://soundcloud.com/fox-amoore/in-dreams-we-belong">In Dreams We Belong Music </a>~~~~♫

A bit on the personal story of this piece. It was actually started late last year and was mired with indecision until I shared my progress with Fox and he suggested a collab. The piece, as with the music, evolved in meaning and direction as it came together.

The idea originally started with the story of a woman who lost her beloved to the sea and would wander the shores making circlets of stone and driftwood in homage to her lost beloved until one day she came no more. In the story she fell to the bottom of the sea where the sea-grass held her close and she was reunited with her lost love at last. Another idea diverged from here stemming from my fascination with both the ocean and the stars. In it I likened the sea with the sky and imagined that the stars were born in the lonely dark of the ocean and rose from it's cold depths to populate the sky. The final iteration rests somewhere between these two stories...but really it is just a lucid dream of the spirit.

I hope you all enjoy the journey painted by our collaborative effort..

Tools: Photoshop, wacom intuos
Size: 9000x4288 at 300dpi
Prints: yes

_____________________________
Curious about seeing works in progress or random doodles or other silly artsy stuff I don't think to post elsewhere?

<a href="http://eternalstirrings.tumblr.com/">Welllpp follow me on my Tumblr for just that!</a>

Persistence of Memory

Balaa — Sun, 15 Jul 2012 21:13:27 GMT

Persistence of Memory

"The sand comes in undulating whispers, serpentine lines consuming memory and becoming a single sweeping timeless thought. But she too comes with the sand, a lingering persistent memory marking this place in time. And then she departs as silent as she came with only the light to mark her passage; A mirage, a feeling, folded into the cavalcade of sand."

*~~~~*

This piece was done on commission for the lovely Digital Artist Magazine who gave me the fantastic opportunity to write an article for the magazine detailing my process. The editor was simply outstanding and really welcoming of my ideas. And by heck I learned a lot myself doing this!

This was an idea that had been bobbling about in my head for a long time, though it's various forms all vague and nebulous until this opportunity presented itself. I truly hope someone walks away from the article learning something or even moreso..feeling inspired to create something!

The idea is inspired, in part, by imagery of a town in the Namib desert called Kolmanskop that is slowly being devoured by the surrounding desert. For me it presents an eerie and unsettling feeling because I am so used to seeing more ancient looking buildings in such scenarios, but the buildings in the town are fairly modern thus leading to the haunting feeling. The second idea is images I have come across to what is, at least from the reading I have found, a new subspecies of cheetah that is thought to live in the Sahara desert (The Saharan cheetah). Images of the elusive cat are sparse and most are blurry grayscale captures by a night camera depicting a thin long legged cat that looks almost like a ghostlike apparition. So in the end the two inspirations joined together to form the above imagery. The cheetah is not quite thin enough to be a Saharan cheetah, and it's spots are too pronounced..but I sprinkled a little bit of personal fantasy into the mix.

I hope you folks enjoy it as much as I enjoyed painting it! There is a sister piece I am hoping to do that will accompany this image C=.

If you want to read the article, it is in issue 33 of Digital Artist Magazine, the May issue in the UK and I believe it is released a month later here in the US. Included with the article are the brushes I used C:. You can find the magazine at: <a href="https://www.imagineshop.co.uk/magazines/digitalartist.html">Digital Artist Magazine Website</a>. The magazine also features fantastic articles from other artists you may be familiar with, specifically :iconVantid: (for those of you as confused by the mystery that is Corel painter!)

Also ps, the image title is actually inspired by the title of an episode of Cosmos, which may have been inspired by the Dali painting (I couldn't say!)
~~~~~~~~~
tools: Photoshop and Wacom Intuos 3
Size:5500x3600 at 300 dpi
Refs: http://www.flickr.com/photos/victoriahughes/4534087986/ cheetah pose courtesy of Victoria Hughes of Deadwood Digital. Many many photos for Kolmanskop(http://images.nationalgeographic.com/wpf/media-live/photos/000/037/cache/kolmanskop-namibia_3749_990x742.jpg & http://www.flickr.com/photos/squiver/3216912023/ & http://www.flickr.com/photos/michael_toye/5804127581/ & http://www.flickr.com/photos/fabriziofenoglio/5864420482/ & http://www.flickr.com/photos/83119253@N00/3079393238/ & http://www.flickr.com/photos/hjtvanos/5873358295/ & http://www.flickr.com/photos/tea_explore/5337476624/in/photostream & http://www.flickr.com/photos/tea_explore/5336858021/in/photostream & http://www.flickr.com/photos/11954252@N00/3578949809/ & http://www.flickr.com/photos/kahkityoong/3689191296/ ), more for the sand, sky, and everything else C:!

Grace of Undomiel

Balaa — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 21:18:43 GMT

Grace of Undomiel

The Grace of Undómiel
Howard Shore
* ~~~ *
Ngîl cennin eriel vi
Menel aduial,
Glingant sui mîr
Síliel mae.

Ngîl cennin firiel vi
Menel aduial,
Dúr, dúr i fuin
Naenol mae.

An i ú nathant
An i naun ului
A chuil, anann cuiannen
A meleth, perónen

I saw a star rise high in the
Evening sky,
It hung like a jewel,
Softly shining.

I saw a star fade in the
Evening sky,
The dark was too deep and so light died,
Softly pining.

For what might have been,
For what never was.
For a life, long lived
For a love half given

* ~~~ *

In actuality this is an older piece that of late caught up with me and the urge to finish it could not be quelled. There was always a persistence of melancholy about this image, but it never felt guided or 'right' until now. I had a daydream and saw his eyes and knew I had to revisit him and let him know life, if even in the single moment captured in this image...though pale, hope yet lingers.

tools: photoshop cs5, wacom intuos 3
size: 9000x5333 at 300 dpi

Sands of Creation

Balaa — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 21:14:13 GMT

Sands of Creation

She was white like the sands, tawny like the sands, solitary and burning like the sands.--Honore de Balzac, Passion in the Desert

This is a piece that breathed it's own unequivocal meaning as it came to be; With this sentience it became a demanding mistress, unrelenting and even cruel. But such is the way with some paintings. I cannot say it is my best, the problem with painting certain recurring ideas that exist in our conscious mind is the subconscious is always rewriting them even as we paint them, editing away ideas deemed superfluous and embellishing upon ideas left understated in earlier ruminations. In honesty I could probably spend eternity revisiting this piece, but it is time to move on to the new ideas that breath with molten breath against my muse. I promise to one whose name I dare not utter, next time I will do better <:.
~~~~
Tools: Photoshop CS5, Wacom Intuos 3
Size: 7773x4371 px at 300dpi

Dive

Balaa — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 21:11:29 GMT

Dive

Something that started as something more humble but decided to grow a bit in scale C:. This is my half of a trade with the very patient and lovely hawaiianstile who made me a beautiful and extremely dangerous sharktooth pendant (and there's really no safe way of storing it, I discovered !). Since Keone loves to dive, I knew I wanted to depict his character under water from the start but I just never knew what I wanted to do. As always this started with a bunch of waffling about in photoshop..I got a bit carried away with this piece, but I hope you enjoy it ^_^. I am habitually slow with art trades and hence why I usually don't take them, or if I do, request that the other party finish their half after I finish mine ;D!. The fish are Teardrop Butterflyfish which can be found in the waters around Hawaii.

Divine Cradle

Balaa — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 22:43:08 GMT

Divine Cradle

Sheltered in a Divine Cradle,
Lost in an Endless Ocean.
Born from a Dream of Light,
Abandoned in a World of Darkness.
Touched by the Purity of a Blossom,
Engulfed in the Golden Essence of Life,
A God is born.

A fragile Spawn,
The Power to Create.
A Dreamer in a Dream,
Waiting for the Awakening.
...................~Duamutef

Drifting into the realm of being, the Egyptian God Duamutef, son of Horus, is born into life within the cradle of a Lotus.

~~~~

A long overdue collaborative commission between myself and Lorien for the excellent and supremely patient duamutef

I rarely take commissions these days as my everyday work has me fairly backlogged and I still owe a few older pieces(eep), but sometimes a piece comes along that just begs you to answer the call. So was the case with this one. Even from conception, after hearing the idea, I immediately felt the ache to color the vision. Bagheera provided the beautiful sketch upon which we could realize this vision fully. I sometimes struggle with the sketch stage and just want to paint, so thankfully I was spared that and could just release myself into the embrace of color and light. Thank you Duamutef for the chance to paint this, it's not my usual style but I loved every minute of this painting. It took me where it wanted me to go instead of me guiding it..and that is a feeling I relish.

This is one piece I could tinker on forever and it finally took being shaken and verbally scolded(many times) into calling it done ;P.

Size: 6000x3750pixels at 300dpi
Tools: Photoshop & Wacom Intuos 3

Intent

Balaa — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 22:39:48 GMT

Intent

Photoshop.

Lumen Spiritus

Balaa — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 02:07:17 GMT

Lumen Spiritus

This was actually something for work that got rejected a long time ago but I felt bad throwing out because I kinda liked. Came across it a few weeks ago and tweaked it a bit, figured I'd toss it up here c:. Horse anatomy will always confuse me, so for all you equine fans, please forgive me eeep!

Latent Bloom

Balaa — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 02:05:28 GMT

Latent Bloom

'A wash of satin petals wake her into her dream, wearing her hope upon their fragile lifted sails as they guide her deeper into her waiting heart. What does she wonder at as she slumbers beneath the cascading blooms? Does she know how sublimely she does bloom? Or how bold her light lifts up the cloak of night to peer into the sanguine dawn beyond? May she then know that the blooms are merely harbingers of what she may be, that she may dare to wake to them; To see her resplendent dreams woven upon her in satin petals of a secret heart.'

~~~~

This is a more loose piece than most for me. In truth, this is actually a quite old sketch. I was sifting through unfinished loose sketches, trying to clear out some clutter, and came across one I instantly recalled with a vivid flash. The original sketch was actually quite inspired by Alector Fencor. Her work is a constant source of inspiration to me and a reminder to stay on course and stay true to my heart in my art. This is something she never seems to falter with, her vision is consistently bold and blazing with soul and life. Thank you! This is the way I see your heart, someone ever blooming and if I may hope for one thing is that you wake to see your own blooms.

I do not think it would be entirely fair to call this gift art as it came to be driven by selfish motivation as well, but as I painted it, it came to mean something more intimate to me and if I may, I would like to dedicate it to you Alector and to my beloved Lorien whom, with each new day, in turn, teaches me to bloom and nurtures that bloom so it may never wither. Thank you both for your guiding inspiration in the driving parts of my life.

Stardust Circa 2008

Balaa — Sun, 11 Mar 2012 00:10:52 GMT

Stardust Circa 2008

An old piece circa 2008 that I am still fond of.

Fearful Beauty

Balaa — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 23:49:56 GMT

Fearful Beauty

Dangerous Intimacy, fearful beauty.

Details:
Size: 5700x3500 pixels at 300 dpi
Tools: Wacom Bamboo and PS CS3

Precipice

Balaa — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 23:37:36 GMT

Precipice

Created for the 2012 Werewolf Calendar.

Beautiful Death

Balaa — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 23:21:32 GMT

Beautiful Death

Something of a Speedpaint I started following soon after the BP/Deep Water Horizon Oil Spill last year (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deepwater_Horizon_oil_spill). I managed to reach a stalemate in the painting process and it managed to get buried under a mountain of files. I felt bad leaving this one unfinished, so decided to finish it up recently in an effort to try and get back into my painting groove.

The idea is simple, the worst of the damage done will not always be immediately visible..

Upon the Shores of An Epoch

Balaa — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 23:19:42 GMT

Upon the Shores of An Epoch

A piece created for the 2011 Rare Anthro Calendar. Used as the cover image.

Ceremonial Repose

Balaa — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 23:14:03 GMT

Ceremonial Repose

'Ceremonial Repose' for the 2011 Werewolf Calendar

"Werewolf courtship and mating can be a beautifully elaborate and dangerous time of werewolf's life. Wild werewolf males will compete for female attention through extensively elaborate displays of body painting and hand crafted jewelry as well as tiresome marathons of dancing displays meant to lure the attention of individual females. Werewolves will braid their pelts and adorn them with multicolor ribbons of beads made from different materials. When dancing, beads of glass, wood, and stone will rub and hit against each other eliciting a rhythmic sound meant to accompany their individual courtship dance. Feathers of birds native to the region, often dyed with naturally found pigments, will also be braided into and attached to their pelt. As wild werewolves require camouflage to hunt, they will rarely adorn themselves with wildly colorful displays of jewelry and feathers thus making courtship all the more a special event in werewolf life; a chance for each werewolf to stand out as an individual."

~~~~~~
Having always avoided the 'Native American' flavor of werewolves, for fear of trespassing on others foundations of the idea, I have decided to give it a go this time around as the idea presented itself very strongly. Hope you folks enjoy. This has been sitting around more or less finished for sometime, but I wasn't happy with some of the minor details until now C:.

Technical Details:
Size: 6300 x 4500 pixels at 300 dpi
Tools: Photoshop and wacom intuos 3
Prints: At a later date

In the Clover Patch

Balaa — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 01:27:45 GMT

In the Clover Patch

Well this is actually a piece I have had sitting on my computer for well over a month now. I made the mistake of starting with the lion before figuring out a background for the piece....so it turned into nothing short of one hurdle after another. The initial idea I actually got while browsing google for pictures of something (what I don't even recall precisely). But I came across this photo of a moth and for whatever reason the second I saw its wings I thought "LION Eyes!"...and the sketch went on from there. The actual moth species is called Polyphemus and hails from somewhere in Virginia (correct me if I am wrong). What got the idea going even more was realizing that both moths and Lion's have one similarity..they are both predominantly nocturnal. And for that matter I always thought moths to be underappreciated, unlike cousin butterfly. I have always thought them extremely beautiful, even the common ones that we have around here. I have several ideas along this line for future pieces (ie white tiger, black tiger, red panda(as per my friend's request).

Now to explain the background and choice of colors. At first I was going with a color scheme of predominantly reds oranges and the like which matched the moth nicely. But what I didn't like and what several of my friends pointed out was it made the critter blend far too much in the background and distracted from him too much. I agreed and decided the background had to contrast from the moth lion in order for the cub to stand out. After much tinkering around I went with soft pale blues( I think I stumbled across a daily dev here on deviant of a butterfly against a pale blue/white backdrop and it just clicked!). As for the clover patch, though very subtle and blurred..it was intended to give the scene some sense of scale, ie the cub being life size to a real moth. As for the sparkles, after I finished the rest of the piece, it just seemed a tiny bit lacking..so I threw those in, but if folks prefer the piece without them, I can subtitute the version without.

I think that is all, enjoy folks! Oh and critique is discouraged because I don't want to work on this piece anymore...any small constructive suggestions are of course welcome.

Obsidian Snow

Balaa — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 01:25:18 GMT

Obsidian Snow

Introducing Zhed, a black snow leopard. His name roughly translates to 'fear' in tibetan and the reason behind the name is simple: 'That which is rare or misunderstood is often feared'. The reason I chose to go with a black snow leopard is because I figured, even in the wild genetic melatonin flaws occur, producing animals with pelt colors uncharacteristic of their species. Well I've read a little about tigers born with reversed stripes, and obviously there are leopards born with 'black' pelt..so it wouldn't be so far fetched to see a black snow leopard. I will leave the interpretation of the title and his name to each person who chooses to view this picture.

The painting actually took me quite a while to finally call finished and I struggled a bit with the background and the figure himself. All in all I feel proud of this piece and happy with how he turned out and I hope you folks enjoy it as well. I will check 'mature' content only to be safe but I do not at all consider this work mature or adult content. Nudity is beautiful and natural in the human form and if an anthro snowy ever existed, I somehow doubt he would find use for a loin cloth what with all the fur he would have to keep him warm .

Now for those that 'hate'/'dislike'/'insert synonym here' anthro work, I believe anthromorphic art can be beautiful. To me an anthromorphized animal represents a closer link of humanity to the natural world, it is our inner wish to be primal and wild and live within the natural world instead of outside of it. With my anthros I strive to make them look natural, a part of and not apart from their world. It is fantasy art just as are dragons and elves and anything else. I have seen a lot of anthro art flamed in various communities so I feel it necessary to stick a disclaimer here. You don't have to like it, I'm not asking anyone too..I am merely sharing my vision with the world.