Happy New Year!
I hope you all had a safe and joyful evening last night! I wanted to show you something I painted for my brother in-law, who is Russian:
Father Frost is Russia's Santa and he is usually accompanied by the Snow Maiden. I was given the blank carved wooden piece last year, after my Brother in-law traveled to Moscow, and I took the time to paint it and give it back to him as a Christmas present.
Father Frost makes appearances at holiday parties and gives presents to children, sometime fighting off the evil witch, Baba Yaga, who likes to steal the presents. My brother in-law told us stories of being a child in the city and having Father Frost visit his apartment to give him his gift.... then traveling off to other children's apartments (sometimes several well-paid Father Frosts could be seen wandering the halls of apartments and streets of the city at a time). These Frosts were well paid, and not just in money.... this is Russia after all!... they would usually get a little vodka for the road. :-)
Here are some images of the Father Frost and his Snow Maiden:
He's a fairly bold figure.... standing tall in his sleigh as it races across the land.
And, as he races rockets in the sky!
This is the one I based my painting off of:
I shared this post at the following parties:
A Russian Father Frost I had painted for my Brother-In-Law. I love his face! :-)
