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Winner of the 2010 Art Cover Contest

—COVER CONTEST WINNER—

There’s nothing ‘dark’

about Dark Natasha

There is nothing dark about Dark Natasha. This vibrant young woman is this year’s Mountain Connection Cover Contest winner, and her work is extraordinary.
Natasha Mleynek is a local Evergreen artist with a true international following.
Collectors from more than 20 countries across four continents have acquired her prints and original artwork.
Her gift presented itself at a very young age. “I was able to hold a crayon and draw with it instead of trying to eat it!” she laughed. Her preferred mixed media palette includes acrylic-based inks, markers and colored pencils. 
Natasha loves painting wildlife and domestic animals and has a soft spot for fantasy creatures from fairies to dragons and werewolves.
Her drawings and paintings are extremely detailed, and her particular style of layering produces a multi-dimensional effect to the extent that the eyes of her subjects seem to come alive.
Dark Natasha is most recognized for painting animal and bird life with anthropomorphic overtones. “I love giving animals human characteristics because this allows us to better relate to them,” Natasha explained. At first glance, a wolf portrait is simply that, but look closer: there is a feather braided into the mane and an amulet hangs around its neck.
Anthropomorphism has been symbolic within the human race since ancient times. Egyptian deities were traditionally depicted with animal or bird heads or as animals given human heads—the sphinx, for example. From totem-carving Alaskan Inuits, tribal Native Americans to Australian Aborigines, human cultures around the world have long believed in spiritual association with non-human creatures. On a more whimsical note, anthropomorphic characters familiar to us include Mickey Mouse and his Disney pals, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and a myriad of popular cartoon characters.
Dark Natasha does not show at many galleries but sells her work primarily at conventions across the globe.
Greeting cards with her artwork on the cover can be found at local businesses—in Evergreen: Gallery at the Ranch, Elk Ridge Ranch, Master Printers, Village Gourmet, Skintique; in Kittredge: Canyon Tack and Feed; in Conifer: Lunas Mandala; and in Pine: Pine Country Feed. Framed art available at The Bagelry in Bergen Park.
Coming in June is “There’s a Dragon in my Soup” children’s coloring book with a portion of proceeds to benefit the locally based charity Colorado Horsecare Foodbank. 
For additional information on Dark Natashas’ artwork, visit  darknatasha.deviantart.com or contact her agent at 303-674-6510.