Everything is in the past

There are some paintings that at first glance seem unremarkable, but for the author they are connected with some event or period and therefore are important. This is exactly what I can say about one of my works, painted in early September last year on location. Although a whole year has passed, the painting has long since dried and was varnished, the memories of the process of its creation are as fresh as if they had just been lived through. That day - September 15 - turned out to be very cloudy, but not as much as I wanted. I knew in the morning that I would go to paint on location, and I prepared for this for a long time. I planned to capture some gloomy autumn landscape. It happens that the combination of low dark clouds and dying golden foliage can merge into some completely amazing motif, capable of pinching the heart with quiet sadness. I have felt this more than once, admiring both nature and the canvases of Russian painters, and therefore I was eager to create something similar. Moreover, I set a necessary condition for the future work to depict the pre-evening state - about 4 oclock in the afternoon.

Soon everything was ready, and I went to a large reservoir in search of a suitable landscape. I did not expect to find a view that completely met my conditions and idea literally right away! An old boat with paint peeling off in some places. A tree with a forked trunk. A piece of forest with yellowed birches on the opposite bank... This was exactly what I was looking for. Moreover, in the landscape I saw, I caught a certain philosophical subtext: the boat placed near the tree trunk and forgotten by everyone seemed to symbolize the past cheerful and carefree time of year - summer.

I painted for three hours. During this time, heavy rain and wind came four times, trying to overturn my entire, then imperfect, construction. Having finished, I carefully carried the work home with trembling hands, and my only thought was to deliver it in one piece...

To the viewer, the painting may seem boring, poorly executed, and God knows what else, but for me, this work is a turning point. After it, all the paintings began to turn out... different, or something.