The harsh beauty of the Russian North in the watercolors of the artist-nugget, from which the Japanese are crazy

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Each artist has his own path to creativity … Some, having outlined a goal since childhood, follow this path day after day, improving their skills. Others discover their talent only by the middle of their lives and quickly make up for lost time. It is to the last lucky ones that he considers himself self-taught artist from Karelia Konstantin Romanov … And surprisingly, thanks to Japanese art critics, who, like no one else, know a lot about watercolors, the master literally burst into the artistic environment of modern Russian watercolors and took a worthy step.

Once having seen the work of this master, I just want to exclaim:. And today in our publication we present to your judgment an amazing gallery of works by the talented painter Konstantin Romanov, a participant in many forums, competitions and watercolor festivals held annually in Moscow, whose work speaks eloquently for itself.

And this is how it all began …

Konstantin Romanov was born in the Arkhangelsk region. He grew up as an ordinary boy. I never even thought about becoming an artist. Therefore, right after school I entered the forestry department of Petrozavodsk State University. For many years he worked as a process engineer in the timber industry. In my free time, I began to draw a little, as they say, for myself. Pencil, ink and watercolor - Constantine was attracted most of all.

But Konstantin came to great art thanks to a fateful occasion. In 1996, he was literally stunned by the news that he became the owner of the prize, which was awarded to an author from Karelia at the Biennial of watercolor painting in the Japanese city of Ohara. As you can imagine, the author from Karelia was Konstantin Romanov. And this news was unexpected not only for himself, this event was even more shocking for the local artistic environment.

By the way, before participating in this event, Konstantin himself did not consider himself an artist, but just an amateur, and he had very few works. Inspired, he took up graphics and, quickly past his student period, immediately determined his direction in watercolor realism. Despite the fact that in those years the West brought its own "cultural" trend, and many authors plunged into it headlong, Romanov resisted the temptation and remained faithful to the Russian art school of realism. He did not lose her tradition, but, on the contrary, developed through his talent and perception of the world.

Having become popular, having found his circle of admirers of talent, Konstantin still lives in solitude with nature and himself in the countryside and writes his delightful watercolors. Someone, for sure, it will seem strange, but this, as they say, is a matter of taste …

There is probably no other way to feel the harsh "non-clamorous" nature of the Russian North. Perhaps for a resident of the sultry south, accustomed to seeing a riot of colors around him, they will be empty and boring, but for the same subtle and heartfelt connoisseurs of nature, like the artist himself, they will sound very powerful with northern silence.

After all, here, in the North, there is a special beauty, at the level of sensations and spiritual perception … And many understand the fullness of the inner life of the artist Romanov, which is so deeply felt by the soul of the viewer in his watercolors.

Looking at them, it is impossible not to be imbued with the simple and poetic beauty of the northern region. Its discreet beauty made it possible for Konstantin's artistic talent to manifest itself in all its completeness and uniqueness. According to the artist himself, nowhere can you find such a variety of shades as in the seemingly monochrome North. And to many, this will indeed seem strange. But, looking closely, the viewer fully feels the justice of the artist's words.

A spectator with a subtle perception will surely feel how spicy the wet forest and rotten needles smell, how the dried reeds rustle, how the river seethes with cold waters. And he will definitely note how the low northern sun, barely touching the tops of the age-old forests, is about to hide behind the horizon and how the earth, covered with the first frosts, crackles. It is truly an amazing feeling when you not only see a picture, but also hear it.

After reading this amazing story about a nugget artist, you are surely convinced once again that the ways of the Lord are inscrutable. And certainly, even if not in all, but many had a desire to look for some gift of God in themselves in order to show it to the world …

Self-taught artists are special creative people with their own inner philosophy and vision of the world. They do not subordinate their creativity to generally accepted canons and laws, they create as their intuition tells them. Stunning wine still lifes by the American watercolor artist Eric Christensen are proof of this. And in our publication you can see gallery of his hyperrealistic watercolors.