I grew up in the vast expanse of the steppe—a wide and endless landscape filled with the warm scents of earth and wild herbs. I remember the overwhelming impression of standing in the open, where fields of wheat and sunflowers stretch as far as the eye can see, merging with the sky on the distant horizon. It is a place of beauty, but also one of fragility.
In this steppe lives a small, vulnerable creature—the marbled polecat, or vormela. This rare species is so scarce that it is listed in the Red Book of Ukraine, with fewer than 100 individuals left in the wild.
Sadly, these charming animals face the threat of extinction, not just because of natural habitat loss but due to the ongoing war. Their primary habitats are the steppes of Donetsk (the Khomutovskie Steppe Nature Reserve), Luhansk (Streltsovsky and Provalsky steppes, as well as the Royal Rocks), and Zaporizhia regions. These areas are now battlefields, scarred by conflict, where war continues to leave its deadly mark.
Even before the war, marbled polecats struggled to survive as humans converted their steppe homes into agricultural lands. This transformation led to the decline of mice, gophers, and mole rats—the primary food sources for these colorful predators—forcing them to migrate to unfamiliar ecosystems.
The war has only worsened their plight. Polecats live in burrows and rarely surface, venturing out only at night or twilight. But how can they emerge when the ground shakes and rumbles day and night, making it impossible to find food or shelter?
These beautiful creatures are on the brink of vanishing forever, and this is a harsh reality we must face. Moved by their plight, I felt compelled to capture their beauty on canvas. For this painting, I used sawdust, texture paste, and glue to create the rugged texture of rocks and stones, mirroring the natural habitat of the polecats.
The painting’s natural pastel tones reflect the warmth of the steppe sun bouncing off the rocks. The marbled polecat is depicted in a wary pose, ears alert, as if listening to the surrounding sounds and ready to dart into a burrow at any moment.
“Marbled Polecat,” oil on canvas with sawdust and texture paste, 50 x 60 cm, 2023.
