Verdant Geese (Duck Egg)

Whew! It's been a while! I just got back from the PysankyUSA retreat and am looking forward to carving out time to write pysanky now that feel so inspired! Today I'm sharing an original design that I completed at the retreat. I was really pleased with the amount of color variation I could get with the yellows, oranges, and greens for this egg using the Colorama dyes.

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.

Deer that Graze in Frozen Fields

This pysanka was inspired by a diasporan pysanka in a UGS postcard that had a traditional color scheme but a similar barrel division and deer motif. Everything else has shifted and changed quite a bit -- I've taken out a lot of the resheto, or cross-hatching, that was in the original, and I've altered the details of the crosses.

A Twist on Hustul Fish

I adapted this pysanka from a Hutsul design I posted recently (Hutsul Fish), mostly making changes in the color combination (entirely modern, here) and the placement of the fish.

Hutsul Fish

This pysanka is a near replica of a folk pysanka from Vira Manko's The Ukrainian Folk Pysanka (Table 16, No. 27), Kosmach, Kosiv Region, Ivano-Frankivs'k Province. The fish changed the most in my rendering, but don't look all the healthier for it.

Tree of Life (Goose Egg)

 My own design based on diasporan and folk motifs.

Spring Floral Fantasy

A fun, original design that doesn't use a division at all. This egg was first dyed dark blue, then etched back to white. Then light blue and pink were used, and the egg was etched back to white again.