Thursday, June 2, 2016

Floral Folk Pysanky

Adapted from from Vira Manko's The Ukrainian Folk Pysanka (Table 36, No. 15),  "Kvitky," (Flowers), Chernihiv Province. This is an interesting pattern that looks free-form but in fact divides the egg into two faces. The flower here appears much pinker than the original, which is probably a deep red.




Adapted from Vira Manko's The Ukrainian Folk Pysanka (Table 36, No. 2), "Syttseva," (Chintz), Krolevets', Sumy Province. Another design that looks free-form, but actually has the egg divided into quadrants, each with its own alternating flower motif. Here, fanciful flowers and leaves are thrown together. Oak leaves are apparent (which I've divided and shaded only half, which was not done in the original, to create better contrast) among the more nondescript leaves. This pysanka was first dyed green, washed back to pink, then etched to white. 


I had to make some of this face of the pysanka up as I didn't have a good view of it in Manko's book. 


Both of these lovely floral patterns are from northern regions in Ukraine that often use bright patterns using green, yellow, and red. The green is particularly striking if one is used to looking at folk designs from Western Ukraine. In both cases here, I've used pinks instead of reds for aesthetic effect.