When I was little, my mother sent me to an art class. I went there all the time, learned to draw in different techniques, different kinds of illustrations, and I was pretty good at it. During this time, I drew a lot of pictures which now decorate walls in my aunt’s apartment and one picture I presented to my grandmother for her birthday. But time passed, I stopped going to classes and took up sports, since then I have never picked up a brush again although many people said that I had a talent…

Most likely it passed down to me from my mother; she is very good at drawing, and in general she has a very fascinating and challenging hobby – she is an icon painter. I am always amazed when I see her work, because I can’t imagine how you can draw such things with your hands.

I have never gone back to painting, but I decided to try my hand at something else. Nowadays, “painting by number” is very popular – it’s when there is already a sketch on the canvas, and each part of the picture is numbered, and you have to color it. It sounds simple, but in fact it’s also hard, interesting, and turns out very beautiful, almost like a real painting.

I commissioned a painting “Seascape,” and as soon as it was delivered, I sat down to paint it. After two weeks of actively painting, I got bored again, and I abandoned this activity for a very long time, periodically painting for 30 minutes a month. But then I decided that I wanted to finish this landscape and began to draw actively (especially since the time came again, as I was studying remotely.). I painted every day, and there was very little left to finish, I thought that by the beginning of March the picture would be ready. But, the war began…, and the picture remained at home. But I know for sure that after our victory, I will go home, and I will definitely finish it, because the war made me realize that I will never put life off on “Monday” again, because at 5 am one day life can “cut short” and all plans will no longer be a priority.

When I arrived to a safer place in Ukraine, I chose another plot for my new painting, but I did not start painting it, because it was unclear what awaited me the following day. And I do not want another painting to be abandoned. So I decided that when I returned home, I would definitely start painting it, and those peonies in the picture (yes, it must be a beautiful, bright picture of peonies) would be associated with this period of my life, no matter how hard and terrible it was, with our victory, and the beginning of “the life from scratch,” although it would be better to say, with the continuation of life. As I want, dream and see…

Р. S. The photo is the same “seascape,” however, this is an old photo, in fact there has already much more drawn, I just did not have time to take a picture, I wanted to do it just on February 24, but my plans for life have changed slightly, but nothing, I finish drawing and be sure to take pictures…