Since our studio is in the country surrounded by trees, we tell everyone we live in a treehouse. Our home and studio are connected by an open-air pergola, where we love to spend as much of our creative time as possible. We have lived in this cabin by the river for 30 years and have raised our children with art. Our two daughters grew up to be artists, and both of our sons married artists. Ten years ago, the family combined their talents and created in The Land of Elsewhere studio.
We all grew up in different areas of the world. Natalia is from Russia and spent the summers at her grandmother’s farm, which is something she and her husband, Jason, still love to do every year. I grew up with military parents, so I’ve lived in different parts of the world. We have all traveled across the country doing art shows. It’s a very inspiring lifestyle.
One thing we all have in common is we all loved to create as children and adults. Drawing and imagination has always played a big part of our lives. I paint mermaids and can assure everyone I saw a mermaid as a child living in South America. Natalia loves to create bunnies, foxes and other animals that live in the woods outside her home and in the forest near her grandmother’s farm in Russia. And of course, there was the unicorn that one of the girls dreamed of one night just outside the window, with a little sassy-faced fairy sitting on top of it. Creating becomes a part of your life—all of it. You see and feel it in everything you do. Everyone has it in them; sometimes it gets pushed down with the worries of everyday life. We feel so blessed that it is not only our passion but also our only income.
All of us can agree the passion to create has always been there from childhood. I suppose we just never stopped believing we could do it. We all like to get together and sketch outside the studio next to the river under the trees. In the evening, it is not unusual to see a deer family, a flock of turkeys walking down the river, or even a raccoon family. Once a turkey left her flock and came right up to the girls as they sketched on the riverbank, following them all the way up the steps to the studio and staying outside on the railing until the next morning when her flock appeared back on the riverbank. We like to wonder what the animals think about the flock of women chatting on the riverbank some evenings. You feel connected to the world around you and wonder about the animals and their families, and it becomes a part of your creativity.
It floods on the river sometimes, and we have to canoe back and forth, in and out. It is a hassle, but it’s also inspiring, so we had to start a series of animals in little boats of their own traveling down the river. I know it sounds crazy to some, but we do worry about our animal neighbors and hope that they are somewhere safe when it floods. We also love to add vintage elements to our art, so you will see an old postal stamp or vintage script in many of our designs. We design our paper art with repurposed vintage clipart, our original art, old postal stamps and script, creating unusually unique collages of vintage anatomy, vintage men and women, animals, trees, flowers and other things added in unique ways.
When creating our paper designs, we are inspired by old photos and illustrations of vintage women and think, who was she really? What was her heart? How would she love flowers growing out of her hair with butterflies—or maybe a bird? We like to think that was who she really was, because back then, you could not always be who you wanted to be. So, we create her that way, the way we imagine she was in her heart. We love to travel and search for out-of-the-way markets and antique shops for vintage art elements to use in our paper designs.
Our art is a mixture of many medias, including photography, vintage finds and our own original works. We are inspired by nature, photography and art in all its various forms. We love to add inspirational quotes to share our hearts and thoughts while creating each piece.
|My favorite item in the studio is the pergola we created as an outside extension to the studio. You can see the woods and the river when you are out there. You are really up amongst the trees, and it is so inspiring. It just makes you feel alive and a part of nature.
Our biggest challenge was when we all started together with all these creative minds—different ideas, techniques and all that. But we found out that it really worked and made our art better, and that is also our greatest accomplishment. Ultimately, all I want out of life is to create art and to appreciate life. To care for nature; to see the beauty in everything; and to pass it along to others. Creating is another kind of wealth. Often in your walk as an artist, people see you as unprosperous, but the secret is that you have been rich all along. Walk on a forest path and be part of it. Notice the created world around you and be part of it. Sit by the water and be in your studio. See the beauty in things long forgotten. Then go and create what you imagine, feel and see. Your studio begins first in your mind.
“Every child is an artist until he is told he is not.”
— Picasso
Since our studio is in the country surrounded by trees, we tell everyone we live in a treehouse. Our home and studio are connected by an open-air pergola, where we love to spend as much of our creative time as possible. We have lived in this cabin by the river for 30 years and have raised our children with art. Our two daughters grew up to be artists, and both of our sons married artists. Ten years ago, the family combined their talents and created in The Land of Elsewhere studio.
We all grew up in different areas of the world. Natalia is from Russia and spent the summers at her grandmother’s farm, which is something she and her husband, Jason, still love to do every year. I grew up with military parents, so I’ve lived in different parts of the world. We have all traveled across the country doing art shows. It’s a very inspiring lifestyle.
One thing we all have in common is we all loved to create as children and adults. Drawing and imagination has always played a big part of our lives. I paint mermaids and can assure everyone I saw a mermaid as a child living in South America. Natalia loves to create bunnies, foxes and other animals that live in the woods outside her home and in the forest near her grandmother’s farm in Russia. And of course, there was the unicorn that one of the girls dreamed of one night just outside the window, with a little sassy-faced fairy sitting on top of it. Creating becomes a part of your life—all of it. You see and feel it in everything you do. Everyone has it in them; sometimes it gets pushed down with the worries of everyday life. We feel so blessed that it is not only our passion but also our only income.
All of us can agree the passion to create has always been there from childhood. I suppose we just never stopped believing we could do it. We all like to get together and sketch outside the studio next to the river under the trees. In the evening, it is not unusual to see a deer family, a flock of turkeys walking down the river, or even a raccoon family. Once a turkey left her flock and came right up to the girls as they sketched on the riverbank, following them all the way up the steps to the studio and staying outside on the railing until the next morning when her flock appeared back on the riverbank. We like to wonder what the animals think about the flock of women chatting on the riverbank some evenings. You feel connected to the world around you and wonder about the animals and their families, and it becomes a part of your creativity.
It floods on the river sometimes, and we have to canoe back and forth, in and out. It is a hassle, but it’s also inspiring, so we had to start a series of animals in little boats of their own traveling down the river. I know it sounds crazy to some, but we do worry about our animal neighbors and hope that they are somewhere safe when it floods. We also love to add vintage elements to our art, so you will see an old postal stamp or vintage script in many of our designs. We design our paper art with repurposed vintage clipart, our original art, old postal stamps and script, creating unusually unique collages of vintage anatomy, vintage men and women, animals, trees, flowers and other things added in unique ways.
When creating our paper designs, we are inspired by old photos and illustrations of vintage women and think, who was she really? What was her heart? How would she love flowers growing out of her hair with butterflies—or maybe a bird? We like to think that was who she really was, because back then, you could not always be who you wanted to be. So, we create her that way, the way we imagine she was in her heart. We love to travel and search for out-of-the-way markets and antique shops for vintage art elements to use in our paper designs.
Our art is a mixture of many medias, including photography, vintage finds and our own original works. We are inspired by nature, photography and art in all its various forms. We love to add inspirational quotes to share our hearts and thoughts while creating each piece.
|My favorite item in the studio is the pergola we created as an outside extension to the studio. You can see the woods and the river when you are out there. You are really up amongst the trees, and it is so inspiring. It just makes you feel alive and a part of nature.
Our biggest challenge was when we all started together with all these creative minds—different ideas, techniques and all that. But we found out that it really worked and made our art better, and that is also our greatest accomplishment. Ultimately, all I want out of life is to create art and to appreciate life. To care for nature; to see the beauty in everything; and to pass it along to others. Creating is another kind of wealth. Often in your walk as an artist, people see you as unprosperous, but the secret is that you have been rich all along. Walk on a forest path and be part of it. Notice the created world around you and be part of it. Sit by the water and be in your studio. See the beauty in things long forgotten. Then go and create what you imagine, feel and see. Your studio begins first in your mind.
“Every child is an artist until he is told he is not.”
— Picasso
