Garden and floral theme is a great inspiration for me. Below you can find the photographs I have been taking over the years, storing them on my smart phone. I use them when I draw and paint referring to lines, shapes, colours, shadows and details.

I have been accumulating for the last three years on the set of garden/park photos below, and you can see many plants. I am intrigued by a Giant Strelitziaceae plant with a large stem and leaves. The leaves are very structured, possessing strong, clear lines, complimented with deep green colour. I am very engaged with the powerful symmetry of this plant. Over my OCA studies, I painted it for every level, using different mediums: oils, aquarelle, inks, and soft pastels. I also study plants in their existence as an entity surrounded by skies and other landscape elements. The trees’ bark and stems’ lines are also inspirational. The richness of the bark pattern is just incredible. I am fixed on gazing at the stems’ lines along with dry and living branches scattered around. You can see many photographs representing a dialogue between the trees, dark and green or dry branches and the skies at different times of the day. I observe and study the gloomy sky’s light and the sun’s heat on the leaves.

I also look for images in Pininterest:

Below are the books with reproductions of artworks of Hokusai, Gustav Klimt, and Claude Monet. These artists’ visual languages deeply resonate with me.Over my OCA studies, I have concluded so far that I am deeply attracted to the Japanese classical paintings of the Kano school and the artworks of Gustav Klimt and Van Gogh. The Japanese images fascinate me with their high design approach, transparent and super linear skills, and representations with a significant focus on vibrations of nature – leaves, trees, flowers, and skies in dialogue with human emotion within a particular moment. Gustav Klimt’s paintings resonate with my inclination to symbols and the high, pure emotion represented in his artworks.

More of my photographs of inspirational public garden scenes and plant details. The set of photographs below is devoted to my studies of colours and wind, which creates a sense of movement and the temporality of Life. The flower is a traditional symbol of beauty and temporality of our existence. The photos below celebrate the poetry we find in nature. The massive yellow mimosa bloom, as well as the white wisteria blooming, are eye-catching. I am fascinated with the abundance and this sweet rampage of pure colours.

Below are my photos I made, experimenting with different angles of viewing the object for potential study in drawing/painting.

Some photographs of my everyday life moments I catch and use for my drawings and paintings. Below are photos representing interesting compositions that happened in a natural, unintentional for drawing study way. I can’t pass, leaving unnoticed rich colours and round shapes. Regarding the forms, I don’t know why, but I am attracted to shapes created by Nature, not by humans. For example, I am not tempted by urban, concrete, steel, or industrial structures. However, they can be deeply inspirational to other artists and beautifully represented in visual arts.

Below are some photos of the skies at different places and times of the day. I use my camera to help me develop my compositional skills. Though I have yet to do many landscapes, I try to train myself to find a good angle for potential landscape composition and training my observational skills. I did several studies with soft pastels, which appeared great for sky painting. That also allows me to work on my technical skills – blending colours and building perspective.

It is interesting for me to work on geometry of leaves connecting it with the strict geometry absent skies and clouds. the same is about the clear and daring sky colours with dark Earthy objects.

My spiritual theme is represented below. These are the image representations of Ganesh and Lord Krishna. I am a big fan of Hindu iconography because of my faith and love for symbolism in visual Art. I plan on working on this type of project in a large scale, incorporating some iconography elements.