The trully extraordinary talent of sand artist story teller - 'Kseniya Simonova'.

I was reading through a number of postings over at one of my favourite blogs -
http://www.grumpyoldken.blogspot.com/ - the other day, when I stumbled across
this astonishing You Tube clip within his posting: " I Am Glad I Never Cease To Be Amazed. "
Thanks again Ken for sharing this remarkable video with us and for penning such an entertaining and
informative blog.

If you havnt yet heard of Kseniya Simonova and her beautiful skill with sand artistry story telling, then I urge you to take a look at this video. It may be the most enlightening eight minutes you've enjoyed today. It certainly was for me.





Having watched this video clip, I Googled a little deeper and discovered that Kseniya had only taken up
sand artistry from scratch, one year earlier following the sudden collapse of a previously successful family business - due to the credit crunch. Then, as a mother with child, she practised and honed her craft between 11.00pm and 4.00am, grabbing 3 to 4 hours of sleep a night if she was lucky.



To quote an excerpt from an article written by James Donaghy of The Guardian newspaper in August 2009:
Kseniya Simonova, the winner of Ukraine's Got Talent, has become a YouTube phenomenon by telling stories through sand animation.
Here, she recounts Germany conquering Ukraine in the second world war. She brings calm, then conflict. A couple on a bench become a woman's face; a peaceful walkway becomes a conflagration; a weeping widow morphs into an obelisk for an unknown soldier. Simonova looks like some vengeful Old Testament deity as she destroys then recreates her scenes - with deft strokes, sprinkles and sweeps she keeps the narrative going. She moves the judges to tears as she subtitles the final scene "you are always near".

If I were the great and immortal Rolf Harris CBE, I might be considering ebaying my brushes and 'tying me kangeroo down' about now. But then I'm not - and I sincerely hope he does'nt! - and if you click on this link, you may well agree. I hope so... http://www.rolfharris.com/