Riomaggiore

Once a year I do a larger painting, this is 2013 – a view on the Italian town of Riomaggiore. 50x50 inches oil on canvas

Street in Aix en Provence

Mauna Kea

I was going over some of my old sketchbooks and I found this drawing I made while visiting the Big Island in 2009. I was on one of the most private places on earth with ocean's surf creating soothing and calming atmosphere away from all the stress from civilized world. One one side there was a vast Pacific with somewhat visible peaks of Maui Island in the further back and on my right the view of the biggest volcano Mauna Kea.

Clover One

My latest painting "Clover One" has been complete! I started sometimes in March or April after I got inspired from a walk in Astoria, NY to create a close up of a natural world, a world sometimes in oblivion.

50x50 inches, oil on canvas

Here are the links to my other paintings in the same theme:
Sensational One
Majestic One

Kualoa

The little offshore islet, Mokoli`i, is said actually to be a fluke of the cut off tail of a dragon-like creature. Hi`iaka (or Hi`iaka i ka pali o Pele), goddess of lightning and Pele's younger sister, was traveling along the Windward coast when she came upon great Mokoli`i, the Mo`o dragon. Hi`iaka mightily fought with the giant lizard and slayed it with spears of lightning. She then dismembered and used the body to form part of the base of Hakipu`u road. And when she threw the tail away, it landed in the ocean by Kualoa.

Oahu Volcanic Cliffs

Oahu has it's own character. Besides tall New-York-Like skyscrapers in Honolulu, the landscape and ocean are quiet beautiful. I traveled around the island and a few drawings on locations. Here is a view on the Volcanic Cliffs i drew from one of the beaches on the North Side of Oahu.

Oahu / Hawaian Landscape

Waimanalo Beach / Oahu

I was on Oahu for a few days, before I flew back home. I found a picture-perfect place here at Waimanalo Beach. No wonder it has been discovered before me, and it's a memorable place, so you see just married couples taking their wedding pictures here. But you can also meet a local Hawaian or Samoan! I liked the food truck across the street and ordered their shrimp plate. Aloha!

Anini Beach w Kilauea Lighthouse

This was probably the most peaceful ocean of all the beaches in Kauai, the water was flat as glass table. Yet, I realized this was a perfect spot for locals to hang out on the weekends. A lot of kids were playing in the sand, families were having pick nicks, it was just another day in paradise!

Napali Coast from Ha'Ena Beach

When I got here, on my first day in Kauai, I discovered this magnificent beach with big surf, soft sand, and insparing views of the Napali Coast. On my previous post, you have the view of the cliffs from the other side of the island. The road here doesn't connect, and this was the dead end. Later that day I took 2 miles hike to Hanakapiai Beach. Great steep climbing the hills you see in the drawing. This place was as backdrop in many Hollywood films, the most recently Johnny Depp has filmed 4th "Pirates of The Caribbean" here on this part of the island.

Napali Coast from Polihale Park

Polihale Park is the longest wild sand beach in all of the Hawaii, it measures about 11 miles long. Is not easy to get here. The majority of websites would suggest you only drive 4-wheel vehicle, but I made it here on Hyundai Accord, that's 2 wheel light-weight little car. I was a bit worried when I saw the sign in the beginning of the dirt road, but the weather was dry and I decided to take a try and go where only locals go. It was a beautiful day, fresh and happy, worry-free, I was the only car on the highway from Waimea, the last town on the western side of Kauai Island. There would be no signals of the local radio, and I couldn't be laughing more from local DJ's joking about their wifes... But here I was at the end of the road, as if my grandmother said " the end of the world". Literally. The road on Kauia isn't going around the island. The massive Napali Cliffs stopped the people from intervention and building an asphalt civilized road. But, there is a famous 11 mile hike through magnificent Napali Coast( it was closed when I was there).

The drawing here depicts the Napali Cliffs and the Pacific Ocean views in it's might size and breathtaking beauty.

10x15 inches, Japanese water Marker on Watercolor paper

Buddha Head 4

I have this book of grand thoughts that come from Jesus and Buddha and you'd surprised how two religions are similar with each other. The teachings of Jesus are so close that I once thought that Jesus himself might have studied Buddhist's thoughts in India or in the East. It could be an interesting hypothesis, since Christ's life isn't much recoded when he was in his 20's, his preaching come into being when he is in his 30's.

It's always been interesting to see how world religions and their artists represent the highest good or it's "Master" concept. Most of the time it's the nations pride and idealization. I've been always captivated by the image of Meditating Buddha in clear thought, in the transcended state of mind, the idea of letting yourself go, and let your mind out of the material world.

Buddha Head 3

Buddha Head 2

Buddha Head 1

Sensational One

"The Sensational One" is the result of my third travel to the Big Island and is the conclusion of Chapter 3. It's the third painting that captures my own reflection of the beauty and colorfulness of the Pacific island. This time I stayed at the Manago Hotel, very reasonable place run by the Japanese family. I'd go snorkeling and swimming with wild dolphins (the video is also on this blog), almost daily. During the day I would draw and paint, take photographs and make my little videos. I would meet interesting people, musicians, divers, artists, teachers from Hawaii University and curious students. I was even considering taking a part-time teaching job here on the Big Island.

I made numerous sketches of surrounding area, based on them I painted "the Sensational One". It's an artwork of excitement of colors, grace of shapes and complex circular composition that let me forget the miserable state of my mind and as a whole of the economy in usa as a whole. A tropical bush is lightened by morning sun rays and all its leaves seem to strive towards the sun. Every leaf is beautiful on its own with multiple color tons and texture, they create complex universe. The palm trees in the back only suggest the space and scale of these sensational leaves.

The artwork is 60x52 inches, oil on canvas.

The Majestic One

In April and May 2007, I took a month off from my commercial projects and flew back to the Big Island, this time I was on my own, other people and friends that went with me got married, were busy or preoccupied with their life's. I got a bit of tired of monotonous work I was doing and decided to do art for a month or so. This time I found a room in the house of the West side of the Hawaii island in Kona. It was a beautiful place on the volcano with a porch overlooking the ocean. We became good friends with a family and shared a lot of good stories and laughs together. Sparky, my new Hawaiian friend even thought me how to surf and his girlfriend Curly would give us free Starbucks coffee every day!

I would draw, take pictures and make series of cool journals on the island. This was my second trip here, I was already familiar with the landscapes and this time I planned to go a bit deeper into what I already saw on my first trip. I would go snorkeling on a daily basis and drive brand new Mazda 3, the Enterprise would lend me for a month. Of course I missed my friends and fun when you have real close buddies around you. By I've made new friends, sometimes I would give a ride to the hitchhiker and we would share stories. That's how I discovered a spot called Captain Coop and spinning dolphins. Other times I would hear stories about 100 year old tiger sharks and Humpback whales that come to mate and bread small calfs. And it's all very fascinating.

Each artist I think is on a mission to find himself/herself. For some it takes just a walk around the block and they find themselves, for me it takes to fly half of the planet. One beautiful morning I was visiting the Akaka waterfall, it's a spectacular site on the east side of the island, where rain forrest and volcanic mountains create waterfalls. It was around 8am when the sun would bath every plant in that area in its best colors and texture, lights and shadows would mingle and create something magnificent that i never noticed. It was the moment of clarity that gave me the signal to capture this beauty. "The Majestic One" is an oil painting on canvas 55 x 60' that captures this moment as I'd experienced. It concludes the second chapter and my second trip to the Big Island.

Coconut Groove

Back in 2004 in January there was one of coldest winters in New York City. At that time I was a junior at college and we were on the winter break. Me and my friends organized a trip to the Big Island also called island of Hawaii, an adventure of a lifetime! We did not stay in the fancy resorts, neither some overpriced hotels...instead we camped on the beach! 10 of us had some the best times. Daily we would discover a new wow place in the furthermost point from the main continents in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Waking up with the singing of the colorful birds, for a few weeks the idea of Utopia did really exist not only on the pages of the book but in reality. I guess when for the first time you discover azure colors of the ocean, warmth in the air and aloha spirit, it's hard to get back to reality. First time being in the exotic places,one is in constant amusement. We went hiking in the rain forrest one day and met a native Hawaiian, who just killed a pig and was skinning it on the tree. The experience was if you just met Tarzan in real life. He was surprised to meet a group of young kids from New York, and said to say hello to the Big Apple from untouched forests in old Hawaii.

On a personal note, I was very inspired of the far land and its beautiful state and atmosphere. After I got back to NYC, the cold weather was still in control, I thought of the landscapes and the idea to return to the island one more time. And it did happen, and not only once.

This painting is my memory or translation of the first encounters with the majestic beauty of the Big Island.
Oil Painting on canvas, 30 x 40'

Music Poster for Jan Britten Owen

I was asked by one of my friend Wendy to design a poster for her husband Jan Britten Owen, he is very talented musician, songwriter and performer with big admiration for the Beatles! He will be performing in St. Petersburg in Russia in a few weeks at famous Liverpool Bar and Experimental Sound Gallery-21.

St. Petersburg has a lot of history. When i grew up in Ukraine, during CCCP era, the city was called Leningrad. It was named after Vladimir Lenin, who in 1917 infamously took over the Winter Palace and out-ruled the imperial Russia killing Romanov's family and aristocrats. Thankfully today it's no longer called Leningrad, St. Petersburg was very prosperous modern city, when Peter the Great ( Pyotr Alexeyevich Romanov) ruled the Russian Empire in 17th century. He would bring the best french and european architects to construct palaces, churches and villas for the city.

Anyway, the poster is actually designed in Russian Constructivist style, I used strong russian-looking typeface, called Red October. On the bottom there is a shape of Avrora ship, the war ship that gave signal for the Revolution of 1917.

S.O.S. Haiti needs your help poster

I was touched by the recent news from Haiti, unexpected earthquake that devastated vast part of Haiti, especially it's capital Port-au-Prince. I have never been to this city, but I visited Santo Domingo in Dominican Republic on the other side of the island Hispaniola. This was in 2004, I befriended many people and artists, and heart about the Haiti, theirs struggle and political instability. Many Haitian would come for work to Dominican Republic.

With my friend Jonathan we went to Santiago, the city in the middle of DR, there we visited one of the old cigar factory. He said that majority of the workers were from Haiti. Haiti is one of the poorest countries in the world with unstable government and collapsing infrastructure. They completely are dependent on international rescue help.