8. A Unicorn



There was, probably, just one more Victor's drawing that I was able to "commission." I used to have a big oil painting of an artist Elena Flyorova from Moscow. Here it is:

I don't have it anymore, but I took its picture and sent it to Victor asking to make his version of it so I could cover the nail on the wall. Here it is:

"A Woman and a Unicorn"

"Женщина и Единорог"

7. Challenge - 3: Inspired by One Word

In this post I want to show several of Victor's drawings that served as illustrations for a single word. Sometimes they are more obvious, sometimes less.

Also, I am inviting anyone who reads this blog to join the game: you give a word - well, ideally it should mean something to you, otherwise, why wasting time? - and he picks one out of his 3000+ drawings. (By the way, he doesn't know about this idea yet...).

 "Bride."

"Невеста"

Simply, we were talking about a wedding I was going to.

"Chicken"

 "Курица"

I have no idea why Victor drew it in the first place, but he sent it to me when I told him about the chicken that I was cooking the day before. Not only I overdried it, but I also forgot the leftovers in the oven overnight. As a famous Soviet actor, Faina Ranevskaya, once said, "This chicken wasted her life."

Once, as usual, I offered the theme for a daily drawing, Victor accepted. Next day, it turned out that both of us forgot that theme. So, he found this instead:

"Amnesia"

"Склероз"

Here is another confirmation that I suffer memory losses: I remember the word "Puzzle" came up in our conversation and Victor said "Oh, I have a picture of that," but in connection with what? Well, at least it makes me happy that I started this blog now and didn't wait any longer... 

"Pazzle Pieces"

"Пазлы"

The next drawing is the closest  response that Victor could find for the word "Error," "Mistake." I wish I remembered what mistake we were talking about. But it doesn't really matter: the drawing is here.

"Error: System's Fault"

"Ошибка. Сбой Программы"

6. How do you Draw Emotions?

The most difficult, in my opinion, is to draw abstract concepts, in particular, feelings and states of mind or, rather, states of soul. I don't mean showing one of those smiley or frowning faces where you can just guess what feeling is displayed. I am talking about using few simple lines to convey a particular emotion, sometimes even without any face expression.  

"Doubt"

"Сомнение"

"Despair"

"Отчаяние"

"Patience"

"Терпение"

 

"Let's be Wise"

"Давайте Будем Мудрыми"

5. Math Illustrated?

Several times a theme for our "game" came from my teaching work. When he heard that I taught Geometry, Victor sent this to me:

"Sprouting Geometry"

"Проросшая Геометрия"

"Geometer"
"Геометр"

At other times, I was more specific. For example, I said I teach a unit on Symmetry. That's what he found:

"Symmetry"
"Симметрия"

Another time I said I needed an inspirational image for my upcoming class project "CircleMania." Here it is. I actually showed it to my students and said: "See, how many different things you can make out of a simple circle!"



"Circle"

"Круг"

4. Challenge - 2: Game

So, this challenge turned into a game. Sometimes we would just pick a topic based on most remarkable thing that happened on that day, either to him or to me, or sometimes to the world. And again, so far he was able to find illustrations that already existed.

For example, Victor's friend found a sick crow... Here comes "The Wounded Eagle" - well, almost...

 

"The Wounded Eagle"

"Раненый Орел"

Victor told me recently that in his dream he saw himself as an  apprentice in a medieval town making a beautiful pottery jar. So he sent this picture that he had drawn many years ago.  

"Apprentice"

"Подмастерье"

In two other dreams, he said, he saw himself being an apprentice in a jeweler's and a smith's shops. I guess, even in his former lives he was an artist!

And this is much more prosaic, sent after he fixed and rode his bike.

"Bike Ride" 
"Велопробег"

3. Challenge - 1

In our Skype conversations, whenever we talk about something, Victor would say that he has a drawing on this topic. I challenged him: "So you think you have an illustration for any theme?" He took the bite. He said if he doesn't have anything ready, he would draw a new one, but this is not very likely to happen considering he has more than 3,000 drawings... I only wonder how he can find the right one in his 20+ albums... But he says he knows all of his "children."

It's started about a year ago. Often, the topic just came up in our conversation, like with these drawings. For example, I told Victor that I went to the Guggenheim Museum and liked a sculpture of Eve (well, it actually was "Pomona with Lowered Arms" of Aristide Maillol). He sent to me his version of Eve, plus one more drawing about museums.

"Eve"
"Ева"

"Museum"

"Музей"

Then we just talked about rain - it was raining both in New York and Kharkov. That is what he sent to me: 

"Prince Charming"

"Прекрасный Принц"

Of course, there is never enough time. So this theme comes up quite often. Here are two of "timely" drawings:

Once, when I called, he said he was too tired to talk. (My 5 p.m. is a midnight in Ukraine...) So instead of talking he just sent this:

"Tired"

"Устал"

2. It is not just me!

So far, the only person except me who displays Victor’s work is my sister. She runs a music studio in New Jersey. For her birthday we (Victor and I) selected several of his drawings about music and framed them. She put them in the waiting area in her studio. Here they are:

1. So, why am I doing this?

As a teacher, I have a huge summer vacation, and, every summer, besides traveling, I need to have some creative project. I am not a creative person (except, maybe, when teaching math), so this is my way to produce something.

I believe that Victor's disinterest in sharing his work with other people is kind of selfish. (BTW, I am not doing it behind his back, of course; he doesn't mind that I do it and even promises to give some input.)

My apartment is decorated with Victor's black-and-white drawings, they brighten my life. I am trying to be objective and look at them as a totally unfamiliar person, and I still believe that many other people may like them! ENJOY!

This one is my most favorite. It was inspired by Somali cave paintings and the beautiful Ukrainian star sky last summer.

"Constellation of Cow."
"Созвездие Коровы"

"Memories of Us"

"Воспоминание о Нас"

"Moses"
"Моисей"