Pastel Autumn Radiance, artist Elena Polovna-Vasilyeva

• Artist: Elena Polovna-Vasilyeva
• Title: "Autumn Radiance"
• Year: 2022
• Size: 35 × 50 cm
• Materials: paper, oil pastel; unframed
• Original handmade artwork

"Autumn Radiance" is a vertical landscape in which the viewer seems to look at a pond through the waterside thickets. In the foreground dense grasses and plumes rise up, with silvery flower heads resembling wormwood or wild grasses shining among them. The middle ground is taken up by the dark surface of the water with turquoise and blue reflections; behind it stretches a strip of shore, and above it all tower branching trees and bushes with thin spreading twigs. The upper part of the sheet is filled with an evening sky in pink and crimson tones that passes into a green and blue band of distant forest. The tree branches in the foreground form a kind of lattice through which the water and sky shine.

The work is executed in oil pastel on paper. The artist builds the image from many short vertical and diagonal strokes that overlap one another and form a dense, vibrating surface. The shapes of the trees and grasses are generalised, and colour becomes the main means of expression: it does not copy nature but conveys an impression of it. The artist's signature in Latin letters is visible in the lower right corner. The direction of the strokes changes from plane to plane: vertical in the sky, sharp and fan-like in the grass.

The colour scheme of the work is extraordinarily rich. Deep blues, violets and burgundies sit beside bright flashes of red, emerald and turquoise, while the pink sky gives the composition a glow that justifies its title. The contrast of warm and cool tones creates a sense of twilight, when the last rays of the sun tint the air and the waterside thickets sink into shadow. The atmosphere is mysterious and festive at the same time. The silvery plumes in the foreground serve as a light accent among the dark thickets.

Elena Polovna-Vasilyeva is a Ukrainian artist and art historian. In 1996 she graduated from the Dnipropetrovsk State Art College named after Y. Vuchetich, and in 2002 from Dnipropetrovsk State University, where she studied in the department of fine arts and design.

Its compact format allows the work to be placed in a study, bedroom or hallway, or as part of a gallery wall with other works on paper. The work is unframed, so the owner can choose a frame and mat to suit their interior — a light mat, for example, will emphasise the depth of colour. This landscape will make an original gift for a woman, a colleague or a business partner who appreciates bright, expressive graphic art. The rich palette looks good on a light wall.