Russian Dolls

In all the drawings I'd been doing of our trip around the Baltics, I realised last week that I hadn't yet illustrated one of my favourite things from the whole trip: Matryoshka Dolls (or Russian/nesting dolls)

Of course that had to change immediately, so I've designed a set of 5 dolls inspired by this pattern based on mosaics on the ceilings of the Church of the Savior on Blood.

Here they all are in more detail:

Over & Over: From Russia part III

Today I've got the third and final instalment of patterns inspired by the Church of the Savior on Blood. These two are inspired by the impressive mosaics that cover the interior walls of the church. 

Over & Over: From Russia part II

Today I have the second set of patterns inspired mosaics and tiles in the Church of the Savior on Blood in St Petersburg. This pair are based on the floor tiles in the church, as well as some of the patterned borders around the wall mosaics.

Over & Over: From Russia

Continuing with the series of illustrations inspired by our trip to the Baltics, today I have the first set of patterns based on mosaics and tiles in the Church of the Savior on Blood. 

These ones are inspired by a beautiful pattern on the ceiling above the shrine.

A trip to the Baltics (Part I)

A few days ago I returned from an incredible 2 weeks cruise around the Baltics with Jamie and my Mum and Dad. We visited so many amazing places, saw so many beautiful things and of course ate far too much brilliant food!

Between the 4 of us we took just over 3000 pictures! I've selected a few favourites of some of the things we saw, and I'll be sharing them here on the blog over 3 instalments.

First up are a few from Helsinki and St Petersburg.

Helsinki, Finland

We spent the day in Helsinki wondering around the town, exploring the market and and a lovely (but very cold!) boat trip around some islands.

Peterhof Palace

St Petersburg, Russia

On our first morning in St Petersburg we visited Peterhof Palace and walked around the fountain gardens.

Church of the Saviour on Blood (Spilt blood Cathedral)

St. Petersburg, Russia

In the afternoon, we went to what was one of my favourite places of the whole trip. This beautiful church is covered from floor to ceiling (and right up into the domes) on the inside with wonderfully colourful mosaics. I took hundreds of pictures in here and I'll definitely be using these as inspiration for some new work.

St Isaac's Cathedral

St. Petersburg, Russia

Our final stop on our first day in St Petersburg was to St Isaac's Cathedral, filled with ornate gold decoration and colourful paintings. 

Catherine Palace

St Petersburg, Russia

The second day in St Petersburg was spent at the beautiful Catherine Palace. We ran an hour over time here and didn't get time to look around the gardens because there was just so much to look at inside. Room after room of ornate gold decoration, patterned floors and gorgeous blue tiles. This is another one that'll definitely be inspiring my work!

While we were in Russia I got two lovely books of Russian fairytales (one from Jamie and one from Mum and Dad, thank you!). Later today I'll be making a start on reading them and I'll be producing some illustrations inspired by the stories very soon (If you couldn't tell, I have lots of projects planned inspired by this trip!)

I'll be sharing some pictures from Tallinn and Stockholm later in the week in part II!