An artist has created a quirky canvas for her fairytale-like paintings - the palm of her hand. Svetlana Kolosova creates intricate and colourful scenes on her left hand featuring whimsical characters from her imagination. But they can only last one day before she has to clean them off.
Handy talent: Svetlana Kolosova can spend hours painting the whimsical artwork onto her left hand. See more after the break.......
Striking: Artist Svetlana Kolosova has been creating stunning paintings on her palm for the past five years
Intricate: Svetlana Kolosova conjures up her intricate and colourful scenes entirely from her imagination
The 30-year-old from Moscow can spend between one and three hours painstakingly applying the paint to her hand, depending on the complexity of the picture.
She explains: 'I never had a goal to find an unusual canvas for drawings.
'I have a lot of paintings on canvas and paper, but the drawings on the palms of the hands I invented myself about five years ago.
Handy talent: Svetlana Kolosova paints images which are inspired by her childhood
Whimsical: Svetlana Kolosova says she prefers to paint on the palm of her hand rather than use the more traditional canvas
Exquisite: Svetlana manages to capture amazing detail in her hand sized paintings
Ephemeral: It may take hours for artist Svetlana Kolosova to create, but her work gets washed off at the end of the day
Poet and songwriter Svetlana started by drawing Autumn scenes on maple leaves but was inspired to use her hand by her own poems.
'I wanted to draw Autumn scenes on leaves and in my poems leaves are often compared with the palms so I thought why not use my hand as a canvas?'
Svetlana first outlines her plans for the picture with a gel pen and then uses watercolours to complete the painting.
Poetic: Svetlana Kolosova prefers to paint colourful fairytale scenes inspired by her own poetry on her hand
Inspiration: The 30-year-old says she has a lot of paintings on canvas but chose to paint onto her hand in order to reinvent herself
Evocative: Poet and songwriter Svetlana takes inspiration from famous authors such as Hans Christian Andersen and Antoine de Saint Exupery
Her scenes are inspired by authors such as Hans Christian Andersen and Antoine de Saint Exupery, whose Little Prince makes an appearance in one of the paintings.
Svetlana believes that another advantage of drawing on the body is that the pictures are not static.
'These pictures can move. If you compress or decompress your hand a little or bend the fingers, then the painted angel tilts its head or spreads its wings.
Living art: Svetlana Kolosova chose to paint on her palm because she fells it adds a living aspect to her work which a static canvass would not
Fleeting: Svetlana Kolosova admits she feels sad what she has to wash off the painstakingly created artwork after only a day
Freedom: Svetlana says she enjoys the freedom to manipulate and move the finished image which painting onto her palms allows
'But I do not call this body art. I draw only on the palms. And only in order to create a living picture, in which the heart beats.'
Svetlana admits she feels sad when she has to cleanse her hand of the image.
'Such pictures can only live one day, then they have to be washed a...'
Handy work: Svetlana admits she feels sad when the time comes to wash her work
Angelic: Svetlana Kolosova draws on poetry and short stories for inspiration
Complexity: Svetlana Kolosova spends between one and three hours painstakingly applying the paint to her hand, depending on the complexity of the picture
