I was surfing the web one night last year looking for something interesting and I somehow came upon the art of Solongo Monkhooroi. I was fascinated by this particular painting – The Fishing Hole:
The Fishing Hole
I ordered a print and was very happy with it.
The artist had a few other “Beauty and the Beast” themed paintings. Another one named “White Nights” was of particular interest because it was a Russian theme and I am a fan of Russia and particularly of my Russian wife.
White Night
I was becoming a big fan of Solongo’s work. I asked Solongo if she would paint a Russian Beauty and Beast with a Russian Bear and my wife. She agreed. I provided pictures of Lena for Solongo to get a likeness from.
After a few emails back and forth to work out the details of the piece, Solongo sent me some sketches to choose from:
First Sketches
It was a very tough decision. I wanted some Russian scenery and a Russian Bear but I also really like Solongo’s tiger from The Fishing Hole. So, I asked if Solongo could also add a Siberian Tiger, which made sense because my wife Lena is from Siberia. Here is the sketch she came up with:
Revised-Sketch-2
And the final painting:
Siberian Beauty
Solongo was also nice enough to throw in a copy of White Night.
One Smith 
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