Alesya

A young woman with long auburn hair kneels in a forest clearing, one arm wrapped around the neck of a grey wolf whose head she holds close to her own. The wolf's jaws are open, teeth and tongue visible, yet its posture beside her is calm rather than aggressive. She wears a white blouse embroidered with red floral patterns and a plum-colored skirt; pink and violet wildflowers and green undergrowth crowd the space around the pair, with a distant house glimpsed in the background.

Dense, textured brushwork builds the surrounding foliage into a mottled tapestry of greens, golds and violets, against which the woman's pale, lit face and white blouse stand out sharply. The wolf's fur is rendered in broken grey and brown strokes catching light along its muzzle and ears. The close embrace between woman and animal, set against the wild, overgrown backdrop, gives the image a hushed, slightly uncanny intimacy.