Illustration for The Ural Tales 

Vyacheslav Nazaruk created this illustration for The Ural Tales using watercolor, a medium known for its transparency and fluidity. The choice of watercolor lends a dreamlike quality to the scene of a woman working at what seems to be a stone-cutting wheel. Notice how the layering of washes creates depth and shadow, particularly in the depiction of the cavernous space around her, and the way the artist makes use of the paper's white to capture the glint of the grinding wheel. The act of cutting stone itself speaks to human labor, and the shaping of raw materials into useful or beautiful forms. In this image, we get a sense of the skill and effort required to transform stone, emphasizing the cultural significance Nazaruk imbues in the Ural Tales. Ultimately, the artwork reminds us that the stories we tell are inseparable from the materials we use, the processes we undertake, and the social context in which we live and work.