Painting Peony, artist Anna Dub

• Artist: Anna Dub
• Title: "Peony"
• Year: 2025
• Size: 80 × 100 cm
• Materials: acrylic on canvas
• Original hand-painted artwork

"Peony" belongs to the artist's series "Living Motanka". At the centre of the vertical composition is a young woman in Ukrainian folk dress: a white shirt with wide translucent sleeves and blue embroidered cuffs, a red woven belt, several strands of red beads with a gold dukach coin, and long dark braids. Her head is crowned with a lush wreath of white peonies with buds and green leaves, from which embroidered ribbons fly out in all directions. The viewer does not see her face: it is crossed by yellow ornamental ribbons, just as the face of a traditional motanka doll is marked with a cross. She gently presses her hands to her chin, and this gesture gives the image a quiet concentration.

The work is painted in acrylic in a decorative, carefully detailed manner. The peonies in the wreath are rendered in detail, with transparent shadows between the petals and golden stamens at their centres. The fabric of the sleeves is conveyed with light glazes through which the background shows, scattered with fine white curls of pattern. The beads and the embroidery on the cuffs and ribbons are picked out with small, precise strokes. The background is built differently: on a turquoise-lilac surface, silhouettes of flowers, twigs, ferns and stencilled ornaments appear as if through a light mist. The artist's signature with the date "25" is in the lower right corner.

The palette combines the soft pastel tones of the background — turquoise, lavender, pink — with the brighter accents of the costume: the red coral of the beads and belt, the blue and yellow ribbons, the whiteness of the shirt and flowers. Warm light falls on the wreath and the girl's hands while the surroundings stay cool, so the figure gently steps forward. The atmosphere is fairy-tale-like and serious at the same time: the image joins spring blossoming with a sense of protection, memory and connection to one's family line. The heroine's facelessness does not make her cold: on the contrary, through the pose, the hands and the flowers the artist conveys fragility and inner strength, and viewers may recognise any Ukrainian woman in this image.

Anna Dub is a contemporary Ukrainian artist, and symbolic painting is one of the directions of her work. Since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022, themes of resilience, memory, vital energy and hope have become a noticeable part of her imagery. Alongside her own practice, she runs the RAFINAD art studio, where she teaches painting.

The vertical 80 × 100 cm format allows the painting to become the focal point of a living room, hallway or study. The pastel background and white flowers will fit naturally into a light interior with natural materials such as linen, wood and ceramics, and the national motifs are equally at home in a contemporary or an ethnic-style space. The work will be a meaningful gift for a woman, for someone who values Ukrainian tradition, or for a family that wants a protective image in their home. Acrylic copes well with ordinary room conditions, and the richness of the colours holds up even in diffused daylight.