Leonida Tkachenko

It is difficult to say right from the start whether this artist from Luhansk region is more of a pysankar or of an embroideress. She is equally good at both: ornamenting pysankas and emroidering shirts, chemises and rushnyks.

Creative work

Leonida ornaments pysankas in several ways including traditional ones and using a method of vinegar etching. Together with depictions of different genre plots she uses ancient symbolism, in particular different solar and protective symbols, a “divine hand”; oak leaves as health symbol; fish as symbols of welfare and prosperity.
She also “paints” pysankas in an original way: ornamenting them with beads and various grain kinds: sesame, poppy seed, mustard, rice, flax and corn cereal. She places each grain separately on the PVA glue coating applied to the egg shell.

The master works with sewing needle, too. She embroiders shirts, everyday and wedding rushnyks. Her handiworks are embroidered by both vegetative and geometric ornaments.