Easter Celebration

Easter is the celebration of the resurrection of Christ, described in the New Testament as having occurred on the third day of his burial following his crucifixion by the Romans at Calvary c. 30 AD. It is the culmination of the Passion of Jesus Christ, preceded by Lent (or Great Lent), a 40-day period of fasting, prayer, and penance. Easter-observing Christians commonly refer to the week before Easter as Holy Week, which in Western Christianity begins on Palm Sunday (marking the entrance of Jesus in Jerusalem), includes Spy Wednesday (on which the betrayal of Jesus is mourned), and contains the days of the Easter Triduum including Maundy Thursday, commemorating the Maundy and Last Supper, as well as Good Friday, commemorating the crucifixion and death of Jesus. In Eastern Christianity, the same days and events are commemorated with the names of days all starting with “Holy” or “Holy and Great”; and Easter itself might be called “Great and Holy Pascha”, “Easter Sunday”, “Pascha” or “Sunday of Pascha”. In Western Christianity, Eastertide, or the Easter Season, begins on Easter Sunday and lasts seven weeks, ending with the coming of the 50th day, Pentecost Sunday. In Eastern Christianity, the Paschal season ends with Pentecost as well, but the leave-taking of the Great Feast of Pascha is on the 39th day, the day before the Feast of the Ascension.

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Nadia Russ, Jesus, Neopoprealism, Mixed media/canvas on cardboard, 2023.

Easter traditions vary across the Christian world, and include sunrise services or late-night vigils, exclamations and exchanges of Paschal greetings, flowering the cross, the wearing of Easter bonnets by women, clipping the church, and the decoration and the communal breaking of Easter eggs tomb. The Easter lily, a symbol of the resurrection in Western Christianity, traditionally decorates the chancel area of churches on this day and for the rest of Eastertide.

This is the time to congratulate your family members and friends with this wonderful celebration. One of the ways to do it is giving the Easter greeting cards, which you can do at home. Below is the sample of how to draw the Neopoprealist Easter egg. All you need is a piece of a thick paper (read our previous greeting cards instractions) and the black (or multicolor) ink pen or thin markers.

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Step-by-step Easter Egg Neopoprealist drawing

You can learn in details how to draw the Neopoprealist Easter Egg in the following website. You also can use this instraction to teach your children how to do it. If you are an Art educator, use it to teach your students!: http://inkpenpattern.blogspot.com/2012/09/art-lesson-plan-6-neopoprealism.html?m=1

Visit also the Neopoprealism Press website for various instractional books. You may want to get one to deep deeper into this unique art style!: http://www.neopoprealism.org/.

Happy Easter!

Happy Valentine Day!

Valentine’s Day is a celebration of romance and love. Many people give to each other cards, flowers, letter, presents, having dinners in restaurants with their spauces or partners. This day celebrated on March 14. The symbols of Valentine’s Day could be hearts, red roses and Cupid.

The Valentine’s Day is actually tomorrow, but you did not buy the greeting card yet? No worry! For sure you have a piece of the white or other bright color thick paper and the ink pen. You can make your own custom card now, after learning how to draw it in the NeoPopRealist manner. It is explained below. If you do not have the artistic skills, no problem. Your card just would be not too whimsical but it still will be beautiful and unique. Get your picece of paper and the ink pen!

Get familiar with the steps, looking at the images above, and start your creative process with drawing the circle. Then little-by-little add more details. You not need to copy what you see, try using your own imagination! All you have to do is to draw the form, divide it in to sections, and then fill those sections with all kind repetitive patterns. At the end, you will get something like this:

YOUR CARD IS READY. HAPPY VALENTINE!

PS. If you are an art educator and would like to teach your students to create various NeoPopRealist greeting cards and drawings, check this website: https://neopoprealismartlessons.blogspot.com/2015/03/a-list-of-neopoprealist-art-lesson.html?m=1#!

If you would like to have some NeoPopRealist art instrsctional book, check this website, where you can pick one you need: http://www.neopoprealism.org

Christmas Is Coming to America Again!

The Christmas season in the US begins on the 4th Thursday of November together with celebration of Thanksgiving. It is one of the most important times – it is time to celebrate with family and friends. There are hundreds of American Christmas movies and songs, and majority of people love this holiday. But there is Klaus “Grinch” somewhere in Switzerland, who wants to steal Christmas from us. Should we let him do it? No. We are going to celebrate it no matter what. Christmas is an annual celebration commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25. It is a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world.

Nadia Russ, painting JESUS & VIRGIN MARY, mixed media/canvas, 20″X16″, NeoPopRealism, 2023

A feast central to the Christian liturgical year, it follows the season of Advent (which begins four Sundays before) or the Nativity Fast, and initiates the season of Christmastide, which historically in the West lasts twelve days and culminates on Twelfth Night. Christmas Day is a public holiday in many countries, it is celebrated religiously by a majority of Christians, as well as culturally by many non-Christians, and forms an integral part of the holiday season surrounding it.

If you want make this celebration memorable, give your friends and family members the custom made greeting cards “Merry Christmas!” They will love those cards and they will love you for being so thoughtful and creative! Anyone can draw such cards, instead of buying the regular mass production cards in a store. The custom made cards are unique, just as their creators. So let’s start!

First you need to decide what you want to draw. If you are a beginner, draw something simple, like a Christmas Tree made of the letters (see picture). If you are experienced in drawing, then draw Santa Claus! Fold a sheet of thick paper 8.5″x11″ on the middle, do not cut it. Turn it horizontal – the folding line must be on the top. Draw image of your greeting card “Merry Christmas!” using a black thin ink pen: the contours of Santa Claus’ body and/ or the Christmas Trees (letters).

Draw Santa Claus gradually, step-by-step (see picture). Then, divide all the images (Santa Claus, trees, or letters) into sections. Next step would be filling these sections with different repetitive patterns, some sections you should leave blank.

Use your imagination when you create the patterns, do not copy them. This kind drawing is fun and excitement. This art style called NeoPopRealism. It was created by Nadia Russ in 1989. When your NeoPopRealist Greeting card “Merry Christmas!” is ready, place it in a large envelope, or just give it your friend like that.
If you are an art educator, you may want to teach your students to draw such cards. Visit this website, it has many NeoPopRealism drawing art lesson plans: http://neowhimsies.blogspot.com/2012/11/art-lesson-plan-greeting-card-merry.html?m=1 .
Or you even can get a book that teaches how to draw NeoPopRealism, there are a bunch of them to pick from what you need: http://www.neopoprealism.org/.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

NYC, 2023: Celebrating 4th of July, the Birthday of Nation

In NYC this year the 4th of July was stormy. Literally. The thunderstorm hit the city around 12PM. Fortunately it ended sooner than expected and did not destroy the celebration plans completely. Many people still went to the beach and other outdoor events. The planned for this day Nathan’s International Hot Dog Eating Contest was briefly canceled because of the bad weather but was called back. It took place near the Brooklyn’s Nathan’s restaurant in Coney Island with two hours delay. The 1st place winner was Joey Chestnut, it was his eight win in a row. Today he consumed 62 hot dogs and buns. That was the lunch time and he was tremendously hungry… for a victory. The contest winners got not only plenty of hot dogs. The 1st place winner received $10,000, 2nd place winner got $5,000, 3rd place winner got $2,500, 4th place winner – $1,500, 5th place winner got $1,000. Actually Joey Chestnut holds a world record for eating 73 hot dogs in 10 minutes and today he did not do too well. He eat only 62 hot dog… . He has the long history of eating well all types of food and he has 55 world records for eating Twinkies, Funnel cake, Taco Bell tacos, Big Macs, Deep fries asparagus and more.

Today’s Independence Day was a true celebration. The anniversary of publication of the declaration of independence from Great Britain in 1776, it gave the American people another opportunity to display their patriotism. This day many see as the birthday of the nation.