So, everything started with an order. The order was for nesting dolls with winter motifs: blue scarves on the heads of the dolls and winter landscapes on their bellies.

The artist I wanted drew similar things many times before, for - as everyone knows - retail matryoshkas are thought up according to what sells and not according to what one simply wants to draw. This was a typical case.

So, the work begun… It begun from working the blank doll with sandpaper. The process was not a fast one; yet it did not require much intellect. You can just sit and enjoy the nature, while your hands are sandpapering the matryoshka. The only thing to be concerned about is not working it too hard, not to make holes in it…

Now, when the blank doll is totally smooth, you can start painting on it… Nothing is simple here. First of all, you have to work on the background of the belly landscape. How to properly mix colors in such paintings you have to ask an artist. One thing I can tell you: the work on each landscape (which has to be very thorough) is an extremely laborious one, and not everyone can handle it. There are dozens of landscape drawing techniques when it comes to matryoshkas. Some include the employment of various brushes, others - cotton wool tampons or even a regular bandage (for hoar-frost drawing). Sometimes winter birds are drawn on matryoshka bellies as well.

Besides drawing a landscape, a painter paints matryoshka's face. As far as I understand, each painter draws the face the way he/she wants. The sample represented possesses big eyes and fluffy eyelashes.

Matryoshka's face is a story in itself. Normally, an artist paints a sweet-looking girl with light brown (other colors are possible) hair. Obviously, I am not discussing matryoshka dolls, depicting political leaders and/or other humorous characters. So, traditional tradition dolls, usually, posses blue eyes, Cupid's bow, gentle high color face - charm itself. After all, it is the image of "Russian beauty" that attracts to this 'souvenir-transformer' most of all.

Strange as it may seem, this image was created immediately on the blank doll, without any auxiliary tone put on it prior to the painting itself. The painter said that in the finished form - or after being lacquered - the doll's face would acquire a real, warm, body-color look. Eyebrows, lips and eyes are painted in gouache (but more often in watercolor) by a thin brush. High color on the cheeks of our doll has been achieved with a help of a small cotton wool tampon that helped apply previously dried gouache to the face of the doll. Finally, gentle highlights have been marked on the nose and the chin of our doll. This was done for the purpose of giving relief to the flat face of the blank doll.

As soon as the faces and the bellies of the dolls were ready, the work on the scarf - wrapping our work of art - has begun. First of all the main tone of the scarf was worked on. In our case, it was a blue one. Then the blue color of the fringe was taken care of.

As soon as everything dried - which happened very quickly (I'd like to note that nesting dolls do not stick in the work; most likely because the wood absorbs paint very well and it dries quickly) - the contours of the doll were set. This means the frame around the belly with landscapes (which looked like a window, leading into a different dimension), the fringe, the frame around the stand and the crown.

Matryoshka's crown is her kokoshnik [woman's head-dress in old Russia]. I believe, the most painstaking work is lying in wait for the artist here. Save the fact that the crown, as I see it, consists of a million of finest details, there is also a risk of a slightest error, tremble of hand or, for that matter, even a mosquito getting stuck in the paint, spoiling the whole work.

The scarf of this particular doll matryoshka doll was painted in Gzhel' flowers style: dark blue flowers with white or light contours. While the matryoshka was being painted, I noticed that had almost totally bold spots on the sides and on the back of the scarf (see the picture). When I had asked the artist why this is so, he answered that these places will look especially showy when the doll is coated with lacquer. They were much brighter that the background itself. The edge of every detail had an accurate contour. It was achieved through lines, patterns and lace imitation - extremely striking details.

Most of the work was completed. Now the artist had to give his matryoshka a bright, festive look. On this stage he used sparklets of various colors, mixed with paper glue, lacquer and whitewash. The inside of the flowers was brightened with paint mixed with sparklets, while the crown started shining like it was decorated with semi-precious stones, and the hair of matryoshka was covered by a whole diadem of sparklets.

So, the matryoshka doll was almost ready. The only thing missing was the lacquer coating. The paint on the doll wasn't coming smudged as it was, but the sparklets could fall off. I will not get into the process of lacquer coating, as, frankly, do not know myself how it is done.

Now, knowing everything (well, of course, a couple of tricks remained a secret!), we can fully understand and appreciate the laborious task set before an artist; especially, because he has to paint at least 10 of such dolls. Each of these dolls has a different landscape on its belly. The smallest doll is never taller that 1.5 cm (or 1/2 of an inch), sometimes being even smaller than that!

By the way, the smallest nesting dolls are being stuck on a needle or a thin metal stick - to ease the process of painting. To look at the process, one has to be a brave person, but, after all, your fingers do not hide the whole of the picture from you when you're painting in such a way.

Now, I have hereby told you how matryoshkas are painted. This was a perspective of a stranger to the subject. Pictures of the bellies of all pieces included in the above-described matryoshka set are following this article. I hope that to be able to get the artist himself tell you about his professional secrets some time soon…

Best of luck to you!