I would like to dedicate this blog my art coach from Kiev, Oleg Yurov, whose birthday is today.
At the beginning of my full-time artistic journey, coinciding with the lockdown, I have enrolled in Oleg’s Marten program. I was a one-year program aiming to level up the artist in his/her creative evolution.
Oleg was giving us, the group of artists from all around the world, tasks on a weekly basis to unlock our creativity. One of them was to depict, in one or few lines, an image he gave us. Our lines were supposed to be unique and distinctive, expressing who we are.
Oleg told us at the beginning of the program: “Imagine you are painting messages to extraterrestrials. What would you like to convey to them? How do you express your unique soul blueprint?”
I received from Oleg an image of a woman standing in a pose as she was holding her belly.
I first made a simple drawing, which of course was far from being special. I was searching The Line for a week, but nothing special was coming out. By the end of that week I gave up, which is totally unlike me. I tried very hard, but it didn’t work. I submitted my mediocre sketches, honestly admitting to Oleg I failed the task.
Admitting mediocrity is the worst possible feeling for an artist, the bottom of all bottoms! If you do that, you should be starting looking for a job somewhere else.
“There is no reason to be in art unless you are doing something GREAT” a friend of mine, an Italian composer Gabriele Ciampi said to me once in Rome.
The moment I submitted my sketches, I took a stack of A3 papers and started drawing. In 20 minutes I had 6 amazing sketches of beautiful, harmonious lines, depicting a goddess with a baby – Madonna. Oleg send me a smiley and said: “This is GREAT!”
We have moved on with our program, but I decided to make a painting of my first Madonna. Since then I created many of them, and I am still searching for the best depiction.
My first Madonna, Mother of Creation painting was immediately sold and shipped to US.
"For me, the abstract spirals in the painting move beyond the two dimensions of the canvas, and conjure up far-away galaxies, which open me up to the unknown, including powers that I have yet to tap into. At the same time, and at opposite extreme, the painting captures the shape of a fetus - thus the name Mother of Creation. Putting together in one painting an embryo with galaxies is brilliant, and gives the viewer much to ponder." - feedback from the buyer.
The following Madonnas were featured in numerous art shows. They helped me raise the money for Oleg’s project when the war has started. Thanks to Woody Navin and his wife Eva Catlin! Oleg was giving free art classes to the Ukrainian women who lost their husbands in war.
The last Madonna, created in collab. with my fellow artist Olesea Muntean, was sold at an auction and the money was donated to Hospices of Hope for the palliative center providing care to people with terminal illness. The painting would be placed in a church that is under construction now, the lines of the building totally resemble the lines of the painting.
Recently, Oleg has sent me an image of a wooden icon from Ukrainian Carpathian Mountains, looking very much alike with my Madonnas! I was astonished, I have never seen anything like that before! Hooow does this work?
I know how. When we support and inspire one another, GREAT things happen naturally.
Oleg’s Marten program was disrupted by the war, but nothing can stop beauty on its path.
Comments