Barskoon

Barskoon is the name of a village situated by the shore of Lake Issyk-Kul. Old people say that long ago a Russian man, Boris, set up his house, by the shore of the lake. He planted a garden and a kitchen garden. He began to grow all kinds of fruits and vegetables, tomatoes, potatoes, melons and watermelons. That was unprecedented, quite novel in this part of the world.
Time went on, and a Kyrgyz man with his kin settled nearby. The man had never heard of or seen the fruits that were growing in Boris’ garden and kitchen garden. He was so much tempted by the desire to see and taste them that one autumn day when Boris was out, he went and took a watermelon. The watermelon was very ripe and juicy. When the man was breaking it, it gave a crack that sounded like “barrs”.
By and by, more families came to live in the territory, and a large village settled there. They called the village Barskoon

Kaun or Koon (Kyrgyz) – Melon.

This Ceramic Vause depicting this storey has a diamiter of 5 1/4" and a height of 5 1/2"

The Girl in the Moon

The storey of the girl in the moon is a particularly sad one.. It is the storey of a small orphaned girl. After loosing her parents, she went to live with her Uncle... he was a cruel man, and was not nice to her at all... he made her do very heavy chores all day and hardly gave her any food... One night late at night, she was on her long walk to fetch water, on her return she fell and spilled the water.... she was so week and tired... she did not have the strength to walk all the way back, and she was afraid of what her uncle was going to do to her if she returned home late with no water, so she turned to the disappearing Moon and said " please take me with you"... and that is why to this day if you look closely you can see "The Girl in the Moon"....

5 1/4" diameter by 5 3/4 " high

Katch-kor

This Ceramic Vase depicts the traditional storey of Katch-Kor ( go away - snow )

It is taken from a passed down story of a young man that went to a great and powerful Khan... he wanted to merry the Khans Daughter. The Khan told the young man " You look after my Camels for me, and when the size of the herd doubles, I will know that you are suitable for her hand...." The Khan knew that this was an imposable task as there was far to much snow in the land for the herd to increase in size . ... The young man took the challenge... he then faced the mountains and demanded Katch-kor, and the snow disappeared... ( as soon as I am finished posting this, you will find me on the front porch declaring Katch - kor)... the snow left, the herd prospered and grew, and the young man received the Khan's daughter as his bride
.

Diameter 4 3/4" & height is 5 3/4"

Forty Girls

The name Kyrgyzstan is Kyrgyz for Forty Girls ... This Vase depicts the Kyrgyz girls dancing in their traditional outfits ...

It is ceramic and has a 4" Diamiter and stands 7" Tall

Pecncil sketch of Kyrgyz Man

This 5" x 7" pencil sketch depicts a Kyrgyz Gentleman in a traditional Ak-Kalpak ( white Hat ) he is standing in the entrance of his yurt, you can see the felt door rolled up behind him

Seasons...

This is a two piece set... Same Yurt , one winter scene, one summer scene... Both Water colour..

Winter 5 1/2" X 7 1/2"

Summer 6 3/4" X 8 3/4"

Painted Door

...also my heros : )

Acel and Talent... my heros : )

Life in Kyrgyzstan

Emma is working on a series of photo's depicting life in Kyrgyzstan . Her favorite is the black and white pencil sketch... You may remember Aichurek from an earlier painting.

Four on a large canvas

This is a portrait of a friends parents. The original was a wallet photo as you can see in the bottom left corner.

This latest painting of Emma's was one of her holiday paintings... one painted just for fun. .... It is from the shores of Lake Issyk Kul . The original photo was taken while we has a group of orphans with us for an over night in the yurts.... it was a beautiful peaceful place.... If you would like an opportunity to bid on this original, follow this link to EBAY

Animal Portraits

Emma has been asked if she was able to paint animals as well... we will let you be the judge of that .

In this photo, the colour of the strips on the baby outfit have been changed on purpose. You can see part of the original photo on the right.

Anya

In this painting, Emma captures the gentle, caring side of Anya, one of her friends, as she comforts a young orphan. This young girl was brought to the orphanage when her parents were diagnosed with TB, and her father died... A year later, and Sophia and her brother are still undergoing regular treatments....

John .... with some of his kids

This photo is of Emma's father with a few of the kids from one of the orphanages he visits regularly... Over his left shoulder is a young boy that is very special to us... We really wanted him in the picture, so he was photo shopped in using this second photo we had of him .

If you would like to have this done with your photo, please try to have the lighting in both photo's from the same direction, and send Emma a few extra photo's of the subject being inserted so that she has a better feel for the characteristics of the subject.

Aichurek

The Babushka in this photo is Aichurek. She is always so happy to see us when we visit, and take a great interest in Emma and her family. She is also a Bubushka figure for many of the orphans in her community. When Emma painted this photo, she removed all the others from the photo to create a single portrait.

Tanya

This is a photo of Tanya . Tanya is from a seniors home in Kyrgyzstan that Emma visited . Tanya turns out to be the Babushka of a young girl that we know from an orphanage in another village, and have spent a lot of time with ... This photo was taken only a couple weeks after Tanya had been brought in off the streets, and given a place that she can call home.
Today we continue to work with and support this seniors home, and Emma is looking forward to returning .

Nurizza

We over lapped the painting over the original photo of Nurizza. This shows the accuracy of the expression from the original...