Ukraine Oil Painting Baby Wrens

Slava Ukraini! Among the Ukrainian artists I’ve discovered while trying to bring attention both to their work and their tenacity and spirit during war time is Lena Vylusk. Her oil paintings depicting animals and birds in unusual settings, often with nostalgic props, struck me as both sweet and surreal. This piece depicts a pair of baby wrens on river stones with a butterfly.

Oil on canvas, unframed, but with silver paint on the canvas edges. 7.75” x 11.75”

Elena Vylusk was born in Donetsk, where she started painting and graphics, which she continued to hone at the Kharkov Academy of Design and Arts. She paints in oil, and is attracted by the objects that surround us in everyday life, including animals, without which our life wouldn't be so exciting. She likes to put her characters in an unusual environment so that the viewer can see their story.

I had a recent exchange with Elena, when I asked her how the war has affected her ability and will to paint. Here’s what she wrote:

I have always strived in my painting to show the world of things, birds, animals, which we can hardly imagine. When the war began, my family and I were so scared that we didn’t even know what to do; my husband insisted on us moving to a safer place, and I cried sitting in the studio and looking at my painting. We left. At first, I couldn’t even think about work, I didn’t want to pick up brushes, I didn’t want to work. It seemed to me that my stories, fabulous, surreal, funny and naive, were no longer needed by anyone and I couldn’t create anything; we were in such a state of horror. Only when we heard on the news that our region, our region was liberated from the invaders and the opportunity arose to return home, I realized that I missed work.

I couldn’t paint about the horror that I was experiencing; on the contrary, I wanted to escape from it, so I tried to continue and develop my ideas. Perhaps the thought of losing simple things, comfort, my garden, my beloved animals prompted me to consider the environment in more detail. The two chicks that you purchased are the prototype of my son and his friend, they sat with us in the basement, hiding from bombs, playing on the phone and joking, and their parents did not dare to disturb them, so as not to scare them. I decided for myself that my painting will only make you laugh, give you a smile, and now I am even more confident in this. People just need to believe in the future, wish well, laugh and dream.

When I work, my thoughts are far away, they are with sparrows, dogs, cats, I imagine the world full of mysteries and pleasant surprises. My painting is mostly illustrations, I studied to be a book illustrator, so first the story, then the plot, then the execution. I believe that what you paint can be true, so I try to avoid darkness, and if I use dark tones and colors, then only to accent the light, for comparison. My artist friends have the same opinion, they paint their dream, their light, perhaps this is my character trait, to believe that everything will be fine, not to panic and despair. All my thoughts are my painting, when I had to leave my son in another city for his safety, I wrote a work called “Tenderness”, for me it became a symbol of a protective mother.

Working with a pigeon in armor, these are our valiant soldiers who protect us; I had many pigeons as a child, I love them very much. My finches, also my favorite characters, died, perhaps from stress, first a white bird and then its partner, a zebra finch, so for me they will remain eternal Romeo and Juliet. Thank you for your support and attention, you are doing an important job and I wish you good luck, you can always write to me on any issue, with respect Elena.