Digital Painting Giveaway

To enter giveaway you can:
Subscribe to this YouTube channel and comment this video
Subscribe to my blog and comment on this post

Bonus entries (bonus entries will not count unless you have done one of the above) are:

Like me on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/ArtofArmadaVolya (1 extra entry)

Follow me on Twitter http://twitter.com/#!/ArmadaVolya (1 extra entry)

Tweet about this giveaway or post about it on Facebook (1 entry each) 

Or join my mailing and email lists by emailing me at armadavolya[at]hotmail[dot]com with your mailing and email addresses (1 entry each)

To purchase this and other prints by Crazy Tatyana please visit http://www.redbubble.com/people/ghostlydigital

PS: this is based on a true story, I swear

Do You Want Sugar In Your CoolAid? Extra Bonus: Giveaway

I don't believe I wrote about this character on this blog, so here it is. Her name is Tatyana, and she is an artist. You can see videos with this character on my YouTube channel every week and follow the insanity.

Oh yes, and the prints really do cost $1000 each, so if you win this giveaway you will be a proud owner of a $1000 print from her greatness Tatyana

To enter giveaway you can:
Subscribe to this YouTube channel and comment on this video
Subscribe to my blog and comment on this blog post

Bonus entries (bonus entries will not count unless you have done one of the above) are:

Like me on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/ArtofArmadaVolya (1 extra entry)

Follow me on Twitter http://twitter.com/#!/ArmadaVolya (1 extra entry)

Or join my mailing and email lists by emailing me at armadavolya[at]hotmail[dot]com with your mailing and email addresses (1 entry each)

Skrynka and Beautiful Hand Embroibery from Ukraine

Skrynka is yet another one of those shops you can find a treasure in. Natalka's items are very unique and all the items looks fabulous. I know, I'm rather partial to it because I lived in Ukraine myself and love Ukrainian culture, but look at it. Isn't it just adorable? The item I featured here is my favorite, probably because I spent too much time studying EKGs, but there is a lot more. I personally love the jewelry from this shop. Have you ever heard about embroidered necklaces and earrings?


Now to the next part. This seller has 100% positive feedback and very clear policies. Natalka does everything she can to keep customers happy, so no fears here. She is shipping from Ukraine, so it will take a little longer to get it if you are in the US. Keep this in mind if you need your item soon.

Black and White Juried Art Show

Black and White show will take place July16-Aug 21 in New York City. They are inviting artists to submit their art for a chance to win one of two prizes, $1000 Best of Show award and $500 People's Choice award.
The submission deadline is June 8, so if you would like to enter, hurry. You can find all the details as Black and White Art Show web site

And on a totally unrelated topic, woo hoo, I just finished another painting. Took me long enough....

Giveaways, Why do Them?

There are tons of blog giveaways you can enter and all of them have basically the same reason. Get more traffic to the site. Get more exposure. Let people know you exist. With a giveaway you basically give people a chance to get something for free and in exchange they do things like: follow your blog, twitter, like you facebook page and so on and so forth. Some of those who did follow to enter the giveaway will stop following as soon as it's over, but as long as your content is interesting enough for people to read, most will remain to see more and more of your posts. Giveaway is a good way to celebrate something. Me, I'm celebrating my new youtube channel with a $50 giveaway.

What can you giveaway? If you are an artist, you can giveaway something you have made. Otherwise, you can find sponsors who would like to get some exposure (you need good following already for people to agree to sponsor). You can giveaway something you bought, something you no longer need or something you won yourself. There are thousands of giveaway going on every day, so you can easily win some goodies for your own giveaway.

The rules of the giveaway should be easy to follow. It should be easy to enter. People are not likely to jump through hoops to enter a giveaway when there are many more out there. The gift has to actually be worth something. The higher the value, the more people would enter, the more exposure you will get. The best one I have seen was a $550 value. It was a huge amount of gifts combined into one.

Just because you posted a giveaway however doesn't mean people will start flocking in, you have to let the world know it's there. Luckily there are hundreds of websites and blogs where you can post a link to your giveaway so that people can find it there.

Oh, yes, and you can also win tons of gifts for yourself and enjoy all the goodies. They are always good to get.

My Beloved Self. Because I Deserve It

I realized that Though I often talk about other artists, I don't really talk about myself much. I know it's kind of cool to be all mysterious, but I figured I'll tell you who I really am.

I was born in Ukraine in 1986, not long before Chernobyl accident. I got lucky, we went to the Middle East just a few days before the reactor melted, so I didn't get the huge dose of radiation like so many others. Naturally once my family learned about it, they had no desire to go back there. We were looking for better life, a better place and as a result ended up moving a lot. I lived in 6 countries and I don't even know if I can count how many towns and cities. US is actually the country where I wiled the longest, 8.5 years so far. Second place goes to Russia with 6 years.

Many people told me that I look Spanish (meaning South American), and even tried talking to me in Spanish. Didn't work all that well since I only speak Russian, Ukrainian and English. The reason I look Spanish is because of the mix of Russian, Tadzhik, Native American and a few other races in my blood. Tadzhik part is the main one to blame because the side of the family that is Native American looks more European by now. And don't even ask me how my Native American great grandma ended up in Kyrgyzstan, because I have no clue.

I wanted to be a shrink for a few years. Went to nursing school first with plans to go to medical school after. This was actually a good decision because by the end of nursing school I figured out it wasn't for me. I found art to be more healing. I was doing some kind of art or another my whole life without even realizing it. I actually thought I was bad at art for the most part. This was until I started taking pottery in college and realized that I can learn new skills very fast. Within just a few days I was able to make bottles on the potters wheel. All the little things I drew and painted started coming to mind, making me realize that although I might not be the best artist as far as realism goes (and as far as I'm concerned, the only way I'll ever be good enough in realism is if it looks like a photograph) I'm actually really good at abstract and surrealism. Most importantly my ability to learn fast allowed me to get better and better in no time. Looking at some of the "art" on displays in galleries I figured that I'm am actually rather good. Honestly, things that pass for art these days...

My journey through life and my own artistic path brought me to the stage in life where I spend 80 hours a week, sometimes more to create and promote. And a few more hours to convince my mum that I'm not just sitting home all day sleeping and that artists are actually making really good money and aren't all starving. I think the second part is harder then the first since my mum is even more stubborn than I am, and I'm really stubborn.

I'd like to add that my family made it very easy for me to choose my way in life (well, in a way, my mum still tries to make me go back to nursing school). Both my father and my mother are from well educated families that value knowledge. I had genetic advantage, since both my mother and my father are good at art and are very intelligent. Having thousands of books at my disposal and every encouragement to read them (my family had a huge private library) I learned to love good literature and was never intimidated by books. I consider myself a book addict who can easily buy 26 books in one day (I really needed to celebrate free comic book day). I only wish I had more time to read.

Now I live in Erie PA with my husband and two cats. Vincent (husband) is very supportive and helps me develop my skills. Cuteness (40lb cat filed with love from tail to ears) keeps me in line and reminds me to take frequent breaks from work to give him hugs. Monkey (crazy year old orange kitten with suicidal tendencies) gives me claw filled foot massages and reminds me to get fresh air by making me drag him back inside every time he walks on the wrong side of the rail around the balcony. 

I'll leave this self centered post on this note and will go read some blogs now.