Painting Colors of Change, artist Serhiy Shvydiuk

• Artist: Serhiy Shvydiuk
• Title: "Colors of Change"
• Year: 2022
• Size: 65 × 55 cm
• Materials: canvas, oil
• Original hand-painted artwork

The horizontal landscape "Colors of Change" shows an autumn pond surrounded by trees. Most of the canvas is taken up by a calm water surface reflecting orange tree crowns and blue sky. On the far bank there is a strip of golden grass, and above it trees rise: in the centre a small dark tree with a rounded crown, on the right a tall blue tree, on the left lush orange crowns. At the left edge a green bush hangs over the water, and the foreground is framed by branches and leaves through which the viewer seems to peek at the pond. The Latin signature "Shvydiuk" and the year 2022 are in the lower left corner.

The painting is done in oil with short dynamic strokes that bring it close to Impressionism and Post-Impressionism. The artist models foliage and reflections with many touches of colour, so the water surface seems to move and the trees to tremble in the wind. Forms are generalised, outlines are soft, and in places the border between bank and reflection disappears, turning the landscape into a single field of colour. Colour becomes the main means of expression rather than a mere description of nature.

The palette combines fiery orange, copper and gold with cool turquoise and blue notes of sky and water. Juicy emerald and grass-green patches of the bush and foreground recall summer giving way to autumn, while pinkish glints in the water add lightness. The painting conveys the feeling of a clear, warm autumn day, the quiet by the water and the moment when nature is especially generous with colour, which is exactly what its title speaks of.

Serhiy Shvydiuk's artistic vision was shaped by the painting of the Impressionists, the avant-garde of the 1920s and 1930s and contemporary art. Besides painting, the artist has experience in graphic techniques such as lithography and engraving.

The 65 × 55 cm size makes the painting versatile: it will fit well in a living room, bedroom, kitchen-dining area, study or entrance hall, in an apartment, a country house or an office. The warm autumn palette creates cosiness and goes perfectly with wooden furniture, natural textiles and shades of beige, khaki and terracotta. The painting will make a pleasant gift for a woman or a man, a colleague or friends for a housewarming, for anyone who loves landscapes and the painterly atmosphere of golden autumn.