Reference

Doing an image search on google for Baba Yaga images. Some of them are quite beautiful! Most of them are somewhat involved with telling the story of Vasilisa the Fair, which isn't the Baba Yaga story I chose -- believe it or not, that one's actually MORE complicated.

Anyway, one site I visited had a very interesting essay about Baba Yaga and how to break down her symbolism (again, it dealt with the Vasilisa story, but I think all of the terms apply). The author of the site was NOT the author of the essay though, so I may have to do a little more research before I can site anyone in a paper.

Here's the essay though. There are some nice illustrations on the page, too.

Mostly, it deals with the idea that the old woman is the personification of Death -- anyone who is sent to Baba Yaga is sent to die. And yet, she can be very helpful. If you can face her, you can always solve whatever problem sent you out to Baba Yaga in the first place. Of course, there's more to it than that (when is there ever not?), but that's my abstraction.

Here are some more pretty pictures:
Russian illustrator
Painting of the house
Very nice sketch, classical western style
More modern, abstract interpretation
Not sure where all the images on this page come from, but I like a couple of them, so I figured I'd keep a link to it.