Константин Прусов
Russian fairy tales. Journey with the artist Konstantin Prusov

Shrovetide

Golden pancakes smell delights not only us but also guests who keep flocking to our warm house.

I took an easel and decided to depict a wide table in the living room at which the guests have already seated. It is so exciting to observe them – just look! There is a beauty followed by her admirer; one old lady praying before the icon and another one is pouring the tea from samovar; someone is looking through the window and estimating the situation – the number of pancakes is getting fewer and fewer on the plate.

I would love to watch this infinitely but for now I must paint. My only request not to move my easel. It is impossible to get angry today, especially at work. And what delicious pancakes my mother cooks!

Shrovetide. 2020. Canvas, oil. 80x90 cm

Author's ceramics. 2020

A dance

So they began to dance. Uh! I need a new easel. The accordion sets the pace: when some feel sad, others are dancing.

I paint quickly: I draw the blue contour of composition and define details with courageous strokes – patterned headscarf with vegetative ornament, blush on lovers faces, red and turquoise background that creates the mood. In the completion – a black line which intensifies contrasting and draws your attention to faces. They are so wise!

A dance. 2020. Canvas, oil. 90x80 cm

Marfa in a bathhouse

The snow is melting and Marfa is so happy to see the first snowdrops. How can we not admire their beauty when it is so dark and hot in the bathhouse?

However Marfa loves the heat which she is capable to strengthen with the birch broom so suitors run away. How nice to indulge the heated body with cool water. Better yet, to dive into a snow bank next to white snowdrops.

Marfa in a bathhouse. 2020. Canvas, oil. 80x70 cm

Let's get more steam after Shrovetide!

You sit at the upper shelf in the bathhouse sweating and squinting. So nice. And if you put on a hat so perhaps you will stay inside longer.

Men are taking a steam – the heat heals them with its birch aroma. They decided to whip – this is also a massage, so strident. Wild but so healthy!

Good heat is dry heat: the water instantly evaporates from the stones surface.

Have you ever been to a smoke steam house? I have been and it was a miracle: it seemed uncomfortable but so pleasant – my soul rejoiced and my body rested. My great-grandmother owned this kind of bathhouse. Partly dug into the ground it was located in far corner of the large land plot, away from the house. Its roof was covered with turf what gave the bathhouse fairy tale features.