The "The Artwork of Giselle Ayupova" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Reading the blog of Giselle Ayupova.  A few years ago I made a visit to her website to examine a bit of her artwork that I had seen online on another site.  She was born in Russia, but currently lives in Hoboken, New Jersey with her husband Brian.  

Giselle Ayupova

She is a very talented artist and I enjoy making visits to her sight to view the artwork, much of which tells the tale of the island of St. Martin.  Giselle became interested in art in childhood while looking through her parents art magazines.  She enjoys the mediums of watercolor, acrylics and oil.  She studied at the National Academy School of Fine Arts and the Art Students League of New York.  She enjoys painting in abstract or a more realistic style.  You can fine her work at: www.gisellesyupova.com.  As much as I enjoy viewing her paintings, I also enjoy her blog where she tells about her visits to Saint Martin, Aruba, New York, Montreal and...Russian Candy!  

Russian sweets.

Now, that's what caught my eye!  It was back in January of 2015 that I wrote a story about a woman who was a resident at Beacon Place, a housing complex in Gaithers- burg, Maryland where my daughter was the property manager.  Seems a woman gave Brynn pieces of Russian chocolate candy quite often for being so nice to her.  Brynn passed along some of the candy, both chocolate as well as hard candy, which I had the chance to sample.  Well, today when I opened Giselle's blog, one of the entries was titled "Russian Candy and Chocolate.  

Alenka and Little Red Riding Hood.

Knew I just had to read it to see what I may have eaten five years ago.  She tells in her blog story that when she goes to Russia to visit her family, she drinks tea several times a day and when you drink tea, you have to eat candy.  She said that practically nobody drinks tea without sweets.  Sometimes it cake, sometimes it's cookies, sometimes both and candy is almost always present on the table.  

The Babaevsky Confectionery.

She can still remember the packaging design of the candy from her childhood.  Alenka and Little Red Riding Hood were some of the chocolates she remem- bered.  In villages on a market day you can find a variety of candy. Today you can fine more chocolate bars that have cocoa content such as the famous Babaevsky confectionery.  

The Korovka (little cow) milky cream candy.

Another favorite is a milky cream candy called Korovka (little cow) which has an image of a cow on the package.

A table setting in her home in Russia.

Another favorite is the Iriski which is a chewy caramel candy.  Now, if you know me, you probably figure I am heading to the candy drawer for one of my favorite chocolate covered caramels with sea salt on top.  Giselle uses some of the table settings of candy and tea cups as models for her paintings.  Below you can view a few of her paintings.  If you care to see more, visit her website at the above address and perhaps buy one of her paintings.  You now know the story behind most of her paintings that you will see on her website.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

This photograph and the two beneath it are samples of her artwork of candy.