Meet the Artist: Mary Zabaikina

I live in a small and old city of Arkhangelsk in the North of Russia. Here we have very beautiful winters with trees and rooftops covered with snow and soft warm summers with “white nights.”

a lazy breakfast with my boyfriend and our two cats, and then I start working with sketches.

when I was little. My mother is a folk art artist and she always encouraged my aspiration for painting. She constantly shared her paints and brushes with me, while I loved sitting beside her and looking how she worked.

I always have a lot of sharpened pencils (I’m a Koh-I-Noor lover since I was a student), thin liners and brush pens. I also use Apple iMac and HP printer/scanner. Moreover, I prefer working in Xara Designer Pro a vector graphics editor. I really love it for it’s intuitive interface and simplicity, so I keep constantly using it since 2008.

I feel many opportunities. Nowadays technologies and Internet help us learn something new every day and apply our best skills in numerous fields. You can become a stock artist, or a fabric prints maker, or you can open your own shop on Etsy and sell you prints or come up with something new.

traveling and I find inspiration in architecture, flea markets, bookshops, museums, etc.

Little Things, Perfume for Strange Women and Collected Edition.

Actually, my boyfriend and I have our own small business shop on Etsy where we produce leather craft goods and we are going to create a new line of home products in the coming year.

“Girl with Peaches” by Valentin Serov. I like calm and cozy atmosphere in this painting, it reminds me of my childhood, a warm summer day in my great-grandmother’s house, old wooden chairs, fresh fruit on the table.

I would wear deep blue denim with a small red sailing ship on it.

Linen Cotton Canvas.

a summer retro style dress with a full skirt.

to do what you love and love what you do.

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You can visit Mary’s Spoonflower shop and view her entire collection of hand drawn designs.

Thank you, Mary! Happy designing!

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