Original artwork description:

We have a canvas in front of us. Taking a palette knife, I use the tool to dial several shades of paint from the palette at once. The first stroke on the canvas leaves a trail in which different shades are intertwined. They fuse into each other, creating an interesting combination on the surface.

A lot of such picturesque brushstrokes on canvas allows you to create a unique palette knife painting. Each section created on the canvas is unique. It is impossible to take the same amount of paint twice, get the same color combination, or repeat the action with your hand. All this can be called spontaneous painting.

Spontaneous painting gives an extravaganza of brushstrokes, their intricate interweaving. The question arises: if we go outside, will we see the same thing? Usually the city looks in a rather restrained color scheme. Painting a painting using the palette knife technique, where the strokes are mixed on the surface, is not entirely plausible and realistic. I agree, but an artist has the right to make his own statement, to be able to portray his mood, his vision of the city's space. Of course, the phrase "I see it that way" is often perceived negatively, used to justify unsuccessful work. But let's give the artist that right and not criticize.

Realizing that a painting is an artist's statement, we can distract from reality and observe the course of his thoughts, what he wanted to say with his work. Perhaps the chaotic application of strokes with a palette knife symbolizes the dynamics of a large city, its unstoppable movement, and unpredictable nature. Even static houses, the weather, and the movement of people and cars are never at rest. These are structures that constantly change their state of color and movement. One of the artists, commenting on his work, explained the large amount of red in it as a reflection of his own injury – a broken leg. The red color in the painting is not the color of blood or pain, but perhaps the anxiety that gripped the artist. The result is a picture with the advantage of red as a signal color. Here we understand that the artist relies not only on nature, but also on his inner states.

In the works of many artists, the state and language of painting come from the mood, from inner feelings. These experiences often dominate the nature they portray. At this point, we begin to distinguish the master from the neural network or the photographer, allowing the artist to express himself with the help of the textures that he applies to the canvas and these incredible plexuses of paint on the canvas. For example, the distorted images of Pablo Picasso may have reflected his inner world. And studying his biography, his relationships with customers, we can see in some works an element of mockery of his popularity, the fact that buyers often pay money for the name, and not for the content of the painting. This, of course, pleased the artist in terms of financial well-being, but it was disappointing as an author, his name began to be valued more highly than the content of the paintings. But this is a personal choice of the artist.

Speaking about palette knife painting, we can identify several areas of creativity. This is both a fine brushstroke and a dense mixing of shades on the palette. In this case, each shade is superimposed on its place, the transition is smooth, the shadow does not contain inclusions of other colors. This is a more thoughtful painting, in which you can lose some movement. Sometimes we write almost without thinking, turning on the internal motor, a certain rush, and the work is filled with a lot of spontaneous decisions, transferring the energy of the artist. That's how I created my work "City on a Sunny Day". I did not set myself the task of drawing in detail. The dark spots may be human figures. The colored spots show cars driving deeper into the painting. And despite the fact that the painting is executed in a spontaneous manner, its image is completely read by the viewer's gaze.
This is an important point that I try to keep in my work.
The painting is sent in a roll

Materials used:

acrylic, acrylic lacquer

Tags:
#palette knife #urban landscape #abstract urban #city street #spontaneous painting #urban environment #urban atmosphere #urban movement 

City on a Sunny Day (2025) Acrylic painting
by Alexander Zhilyaev

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Original artwork description
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We have a canvas in front of us. Taking a palette knife, I use the tool to dial several shades of paint from the palette at once. The first stroke on the canvas leaves a trail in which different shades are intertwined. They fuse into each other, creating an interesting combination on the surface.

A lot of such picturesque brushstrokes on canvas allows you to create a unique palette knife painting. Each section created on the canvas is unique. It is impossible to take the same amount of paint twice, get the same color combination, or repeat the action with your hand. All this can be called spontaneous painting.

Spontaneous painting gives an extravaganza of brushstrokes, their intricate interweaving. The question arises: if we go outside, will we see the same thing? Usually the city looks in a rather restrained color scheme. Painting a painting using the palette knife technique, where the strokes are mixed on the surface, is not entirely plausible and realistic. I agree, but an artist has the right to make his own statement, to be able to portray his mood, his vision of the city's space. Of course, the phrase "I see it that way" is often perceived negatively, used to justify unsuccessful work. But let's give the artist that right and not criticize.

Realizing that a painting is an artist's statement, we can distract from reality and observe the course of his thoughts, what he wanted to say with his work. Perhaps the chaotic application of strokes with a palette knife symbolizes the dynamics of a large city, its unstoppable movement, and unpredictable nature. Even static houses, the weather, and the movement of people and cars are never at rest. These are structures that constantly change their state of color and movement. One of the artists, commenting on his work, explained the large amount of red in it as a reflection of his own injury – a broken leg. The red color in the painting is not the color of blood or pain, but perhaps the anxiety that gripped the artist. The result is a picture with the advantage of red as a signal color. Here we understand that the artist relies not only on nature, but also on his inner states.

In the works of many artists, the state and language of painting come from the mood, from inner feelings. These experiences often dominate the nature they portray. At this point, we begin to distinguish the master from the neural network or the photographer, allowing the artist to express himself with the help of the textures that he applies to the canvas and these incredible plexuses of paint on the canvas. For example, the distorted images of Pablo Picasso may have reflected his inner world. And studying his biography, his relationships with customers, we can see in some works an element of mockery of his popularity, the fact that buyers often pay money for the name, and not for the content of the painting. This, of course, pleased the artist in terms of financial well-being, but it was disappointing as an author, his name began to be valued more highly than the content of the paintings. But this is a personal choice of the artist.

Speaking about palette knife painting, we can identify several areas of creativity. This is both a fine brushstroke and a dense mixing of shades on the palette. In this case, each shade is superimposed on its place, the transition is smooth, the shadow does not contain inclusions of other colors. This is a more thoughtful painting, in which you can lose some movement. Sometimes we write almost without thinking, turning on the internal motor, a certain rush, and the work is filled with a lot of spontaneous decisions, transferring the energy of the artist. That's how I created my work "City on a Sunny Day". I did not set myself the task of drawing in detail. The dark spots may be human figures. The colored spots show cars driving deeper into the painting. And despite the fact that the painting is executed in a spontaneous manner, its image is completely read by the viewer's gaze.
This is an important point that I try to keep in my work.
The painting is sent in a roll

Materials used:

acrylic, acrylic lacquer

Tags:
#palette knife #urban landscape #abstract urban #city street #spontaneous painting #urban environment #urban atmosphere #urban movement 
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Alexander Zhilyaev

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Location Russia

About
Alexander Zhilyayev was born on January 8, 1968, in a small industrial city in Altai. The Altai krai is the boundless steppes, ancient rocks with caves of primitive people,... Read more

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