Bulgarian artist paints delicate designs on feathers

Reuters: Delicate feathers are the unusual canvas for a Bulgarian artist in Veliko Tarnovo, who paints animals and characters from local folklore. Sitting at her dining room table in the small Bulgarian city, artist Galya Stoyanova has laid out her paints and paintbrushes and vases of feathers, ready to paint intricate images. Stoyanova was inspired to use feathers as a canvas after discovering the works of English artist Ian Davie on the internet. She says she then researched how it was done and began creating her own feather paintings. Stoyanova says her friends help her collect feathers, which then must be treated before they can be used for art. She treats the feathers with a primer to help the paint stay on the feather's surface and then uses thin-tipped brushes and watercolour or acrylic paints to create her designs. Initially she gave the painted feathers away as gifts to her friends, but in time her creations attracted wider attention and some are now owned by people in other countries, Stoyanova says. Stoyanova says she gets satisfaction "from fighting the challenges" involved in creating her artworks and producing good results.