You Won't Believe These Easter Eggs!!!!

Easter Egg Labyrinth Vajdahunyad Castle Budapest, Hungary
source

Giant Easter Egg near La Scala Opera House
source

Mosaic work of the Virgin Mary by Ukrainian artist
Oksana Mas, on a wall of the St. Sophia Cathedral in Kiev
The panel was made with 15,000 traditionally painted Ukrainian eggs.
(Getty Image:  source)

Easter Egg Museum in Kolomyya, Ukraine
source

Decorating Easter Eggs in Old Town Prague
source

A fun book by Jan Brett...Which bunny can make the most beautiful egg for the Easter Rabbit?

If a little bunny named "Hoppi" can make the best Easter egg, he will get to help the Easter Rabbit deliver the eggs on Easter morning. But it is not so easy. 

Discouraged, he goes into the woods to think when a blue robin’s egg tumbles out of its nest.  What happens in the end may surprise you!

Listen and watch as Jan Brett talks about the making of her book, The Easter Egg...

A Children's Book Picasso Might Have Liked?

Maybe.  In a round-about-way.  If you read my last post, I ended it by mentioning a book, Nina's Treasures, illustrated by Stefan Czerneki. Noted at the end of the book is this interesting tidbit: "Many of the colors and patterns in this book are adapted from the work of Maria Primachenko, a peasant woman from Kiev whose brilliant folk art was praised by Pablo Picasso."

This comment led me to do some further investigation about Maria's artwork, and to show you more of Czerneki's artwork from Nina's Treasures.  But first the folkart of Maria Primachenko...

"Dumplings on the Shelf", Maria Primachenko [1979] - source

Maria Primachenko (born 1908) was a peasant woman from the Kievan village of Bolotnya. She spent all her life there, taken ill with polio as a child.  This painful disease very much influenced her life. By reports of her relatives, Maria grew into а thoughtful and considerate person, having compassion for nature and every living thing.

Her interest in art began, by her own words, like this: "Once, as a young girl, I was tending a gaggle of geese. When I got with them to a sandy beach, on the bank of the river, after crossing a field dotted with wild flowers, I began to draw real and imaginary flowers with a stick on the sand… Later, I decided to paint the walls of my house using natural pigments. After that I’ve never stopped drawing and painting."

"At the Well", Maria Primachenko [1969] - source

Indeed, her unique art shows a successful blend of natural talent, an overwhelming desire to create beauty and a sensitive perception of reality. The complex world of her images springs both from her own imagination and from the entire system and content of Ukrainian folk poetry.

"Green Elephant", Maria Primachenko [1936] - source

Though Primachenko never studied art, her pictorial flair for bringing to life ideas, feelings and impressions gradually ripened into true mastery. Exhibitions of her works have proved tremendously popular in Moscow, Poland, Bulgaria, France and Canada. (source for bio information here.)

"Fairy Bird - Peacock", Maria Primachenko [1936] - source

Picasso once said after visiting a Primachenko exhibition in Paris, "I bow down before the artistic miracle of this brilliant Ukrainian."  

Which brings me back to the book that I highlighted yesterday (with the note about Picasso at the end).  The illustrator, Stefan Czernecki, was very influenced by Maria Primachenko (as you will see!)...

Stefan Czernecki was born in Germany, but is of Ukrainian descent.  He co-authored Nina's Treasures with Timothy Rhodes.

All summer long Katerina tended her flowers...She gathered the seeds from the flowers and put them in the cupboard, where they would be safe until spring planting.

Katerina hung her warm feather comforter out to air.  The next morning it began to snow. Winter had come.

The oven glowed all evening, and at midnight she delivered a big basket of baked goods to the neighbors.

The winter was longer and colder than any that Katerina could remember...Finally Katerina had little food for herself and none for Nina...then she remembered.  She reached into the cupboard and pulled out a large sack...soon Nina was fat again, but she still did not lay eggs.

In the village it was time to celebrate the spring festival...Katerina could not go, for she had nothing to take - no food and no flowers...the next morning Katerina was awakened by Nina's cackling and clucking...

There in the nest were the most beautiful eggs...

Today, before each spring festival, the grandmothers in Zelena work late into the night turning the most ordinary eggs into the most extraordinary treasures.

I'm leaving the Ukraine and heading into Russia with my next few posts...see you there!

Bright Colors in My Kitchen...Easter is Coming

So let us rediscover Lent. A journey, a pilgrimage! Yet, as we begin it, as we make the first step into the “bright sadness” of Lent, we see—far, far away—the destination. It is the joy of Easter, it is the entrance into the glory of the Kingdom. And it is this vision, the foretaste of Easter, that makes Lent’s sadness bright and our Lenten effort a “spiritual spring.” The night may be dark and long, but all along the way a mysterious and radiant dawn seems to shine on the horizon. 

–Alexander Schmemann

Orthodox Lent is almost over: these are the last few days until Holy Week begins and then...Pascha!  

My finds from Easter clearance sales!
This year Orthodox Easter and Western Easter are quite far apart - so if you've already
celebrated Easter, you can store my book recommendations (below) away for next year.

Lots of wonderful colors have been appearing in my kitchen this last week: flowers from my springtime walks, ingredients and teacups for some Lenten refreshments, and gifts for Pascha on my kitchen table, being gathered and ready to wrap...

St. Euphrosynos the Cook (read his story here) on my
windowsill with some Rock Rose Orchid flowers
gathered on a walk along the horse trail behind my house.

My favorite chilled drink for Lent: Sparkling
water with lemon, ginger, and cranberries -
sweetened with a little Stevia.

My favorite dairy-free hot drink for Lent: Vanilla Chai
tea with coconut milk and Stevia.

My Pascha cards arrived in the mail, along with two books that will be
paired with brightly wrapped German chocolates
for my sweet godchildren!

I adore the colorful illustrations in both of these books.  The first is a Pennsylvania Dutch story The Egg Tree by Katherine Milhous, published in 1950...

One Easter morning, after seeing the Easter Rabbit, Katy and Carl went on an egg hunt in Grandmom's garden and through her house... 

Katy couldn't find anything until she went up to the attic. And there she discovered a very special set of eggs... Grandmom had painted them when she was a little girl. And now, she hung them from the branches of a tiny tree -- an Egg Tree! 

So began a very special Easter tradition.

I do an Egg Tree for Pascha every year! (more photos here)

Now here are some special eggs...in the story, Nina's Treasures, another cute book (1990), this one showcasing Ukrainian egg decorating (Pysanky): 

Although winter threatens starvation, old Katerina gives her hen ("Nina") her precious flower seeds, a gift that surprisingly results in some spectacular eggs for trading, in a folktale about the springtime ritual of egg decorating. 

"Katerina was so surprised at what she saw that she almost dropped
the poor hen. There in the nest were the most beautiful eggs. Each
was different from the other, and each looked like a miniature flower
garden laid out in gorgeous patterns of colors and borders."

Note at the end of the book: Many of the colors and patterns in this book are adapted from the work of Maria Primachenko, a peasant woman from Kiev whose briliant folk art was praised by Pablo Picasso.

Coming next on my blog:  Russia! I'll be observing Holy Week, but as I am able, I'll be working on posting some beautifully illustrated Russian books of Saints and Bible stories, photos from my trip to St. Petersburg, and some fairy tale books I brought back.