Tiny paintings that fit in your hand

Lidia Silvestrova was born and raised in the Rostov region in the South of Russia near the Ukraine border. She remembers an idyllic childhood where she and her sister, who was two years older, had free time and loved to use their imaginations.

Her parents were both professional photographers who travelled for work to the surrounding communities by car.  

“My childhood in the village was so good. There was too much freedom,” she laughs, noting that it was her parents’ business that gave she and her sister free time. “But in school, I was still a good student. My free time didn’t destroy my studies. I had both.”

Like many students, Silvestrova would draw and paint at school, but it wasn’t until she got married and moved to St. Petersburg, a place she lived for 30 years, that she started to look at art more seriously.

“St. Petersburg was so different from where I grew up. It's a big city with a colder climate than the much warmer south. I took the art lessons in St. Petersburg with my friends, but it was only for fun.”

Art was a way to de-stress from her job as a manager at a drugstore. So, she began capturing her creativity, at first on decorative cutting boards intended to be hung on walls, and then traditional wooden eggs.

The wooden eggs in particular captured her imagination. Unlike the strictly decorative Ukrainian eggs that are common, Silvestrova began painting tiny, detailed scenes and pictures on them that captured a story. At first, these painting were given away as presents.  

In St. Petersburg, Silvestrova had a daughter and son, Elena [Siltanen] and Pavel. It was her daughter, who first connected to the Sault. “She was an exchange student here. She met her husband here and after two years they got married. Now, I have two grandchildren and she has been here for 21 years.”

Silvestrova notes that her son also found a job in Canada [in Windsor]. It was then she decided to come and see Canada for herself. “I wanted to come just to look at Canada,” she laughs, noting that she wound up buying a house in Sault Ste. Marie and is still here 11 years later. “Both my children moved to Canada, so I decided to move. I didn’t have another choice but to be with my family, to be here with my children and grandchildren.”

Moving to Canada was a big change for Silvestrova, who didn’t speak English when she arrived. “I didn’t study English in Russia. I thought it would be easy to learn, which was a mistake.”

Like many newcomers to Canada, the early days of her time in this country were understandably challenging.  She still travels back to her home village every three years to visit her 94-year old mother. “It is physically hard to go there. Eight hours over the ocean. With several connecting flights, it is almost 24 hours to St. Petersburg. St. Petersburg to south Russian is 36 hours by train and then five hours by car to the village.”

In Canada, she found a way to help connect to her new community and reconnected with her art, again initially as a hobby to help adjust to her new life. She then realized that art was also an opportunity to connect with her children and eventually her grandchildren.

Silvestrova began painting with her daughter, who at the time of this interview, was waiting at her mother’s return, to spend the afternoon painting. When her son was younger, he also painted with her. Eventually, she painted with her granddaughter.

“When she was younger she would paint with me, but now she is a teenager,” she laughs.

Silvestrova and her daughter began taking their work to art shows around the region and to the Art Gallery. She eventually added hand painted Matryoshka dolls to her repertoire, which are popular with attendees at the art events. These wooden dolls are also known as stacking or nesting dolls, where female dolls of decreasing size are placed one inside another. But it was the wooden eggs that remained particularly inspiring for her.

“I really enjoy painting the wooden eggs. There is a picture that fits in your hand and there’s a whole world inside every picture.”

Silvestrova proudly shows off a wooden egg that shows a little house in a winter scene. If you look closely through the window of the painted house, you can see lights and a tiny angel decorating a Christmas tree. On the back of this particular egg, there is a larger version of the scene inside of the tiny window but with more detail. “There is a whole story in this one.” She shows off another egg with a painting of a snowy owl. “This one is like my baby. Looking at it, the eyes just seem to look at you”.

The ideas for the tiny scenes, and stories they contain, come from everywhere. “You never know when you’ll get an idea … maybe when I go snowshoeing, or just looking around and seeing something differently that gives me an idea. Each one gives me memories. Each has their own meaning.”

She notes that occasionally people come to her to ask her to paint something specific, but generally the paintings are from her imagination. “I liked to draw and paint from my memories.”

Silvestrova has to use a jeweller’s magnifying visor to paint the tiny scenes and details.

“Before I did it without one, but now that I use one, it is much easier,” she says. Each scene is painstakingly painted using acrylic paint and a special, thin tempera paint that has to be brought in from Russia. Finally, it is coated with a varnish. “It is not easy to do and many of these scenes would be difficult to recreate.”

She and her daughter began to sell their art at art shows, locally, in Elliot Lake and some of the other surrounding communities. It is the Sylvan Circle Artist and Artisan Tour, held annually in September, which holds a special place in her heart. For about seven years, she has participated. People travel between Echo Bay and Bruce Mines to meet over fifty local artists and artisans.

“This is my favourite event. People there really understand this art.” She describes the social element of the events and the friendships and acquaintances she has made with fellow artists. “For me, this is fun. I really don’t do it for money,” she laughs. “The money that I made during the Circle Tour, I spent on other artists’ jewellery for myself.”

She describes an event in Elliot Lake where there is an evening reception for the artists before the show. “There we talk to each other and socialize, so the next day at the show, it’s great because you got to know some of the other artists.”

The most important element of the art for Silvestrova is the family connection. “My daughter tries to come to all the shows with me. So it is not just a good time, but a very, good time. For this is the reason, I will always do these. It is time for my family, time for conversation with people and an amazing atmosphere.”

Silvestrova will be participating at art events throughout November and December at the Canadian Bushplane Heritage Centre, Quattro Hotel and Conference Centre, The Machine Shop and The Grand Gardens (Queen Street.)

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