Matryoshka Mania |

One of my biggest pet peeve growing up, because I was born in the Year of the Rabbit, was that everything I owned either resembled a rabbit or had a rabbit motif on it. Bunny slippers, rabbit coin banks, pencils with a jaunty checkered rabbit eraser nub poised on top…you name it, I had it. I was even made to eat carrots at every meal because, apparently, there’s no difference between a rabbit and someone who was born in the year of one. This brought to mind my favorite episode of “The Tick” cartoon wherein our hero encountered a villain who called himself The Deadly Bulb but was really named Pigleg because of the surly swine attached to his right foot. He had a curio cabinet filled with pig-related paraphernalia given to him by friends. I know his pain all too well.

I was pleased that when I started painting the matryoshka dolls, I was able to divert people’s interest away from rabbits and hares and such…that is, until I found out there were literally scores of matryoshka-related merchandise out there for gifting.