Predominant color of the pictures is red and the artists often use the uncolored background. The style of the Northern Dvina pictures is rooted in the regional tradition of manuscript illustration and in folk painting on wood. The center was active at the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century. The pictures have a well-developed narrative character, The artists preferred to illustrate parables, legends and tales from the Great Mirror , stories from the Synaxarion and Paterikon . The pictures tend to concentrate on the information contained in the text, on its narrative element, not on its beauty.
Multifigured compositions are common.
Preferred colors of the Vologda artists are yellows, browns, and dark orange. Even though the earliest preserved work of the center dates back to 1828, most drawings were made between the middle and the end of the nineteenth century. The style of Guslitsy pictures is linked with the illustrated manuscript tradition. The lettering is proportional, elegant, and slightly elongated. The initials, large and richly ornamental, stand out as if they were the most important part of the picture.