Chaloi Leonty, Russian, 1970 Oil on Cardboard River Landscape with Big Sky gold wreath While one sees more elaborate

While one sees more elaborate examples than this one

Blue and yellow like the Swedish Flag

This lovely old dip pen

I've seen these old carved and painted antique Swedish spoons referred to as "love spoons" or "love tokens

Chaloi Leonty, Russian, 1970 Oil on Cardboard River Landscape with Big Sky gold wreath While one sees more elaborateI purchased a small painting by this same Soviet artist, Chaloi Leonty, several months ago, which was such a gem I went back to the seller in Russia to buy two more larger in scale. I especially love the huge painterly blue sky of this one just right against the soft, varied greens and browns of the land and deeper blue of the snaking river. I also love how the bank of trees at center left is perfectly offset by the bridge just to its right, with a