Such fine paintings

I needed to see some inspiring landscape today, since I’m busy hemming dresses and baking cookies for my kid’s wedding. Providentially, I received a link to this slideshow of Frenchboro Island (ME) paintings by Daud Akhriev.

The Maine coast was not (believe it or not) designed primarily for tourists; it is above all a working waterfront, with equipment that is—if we’re honest—rather homely. Akhriev is so inventive in his compositions that he doesn’t need to romanticize that industrial grit out of his landscapes. The surge and motion and energy of the working waterfront is all there.

Akhriev was born in Kazakhstan in 1959. He graduated from Vladikavkaz Art High School and the Academy of Fine Art in St. Petersburg (then Leningrad) Russia, under the tutelage of Professor/Academic Piotr Fomin. Following his graduation, Akhriev moved to the United States, where he lived and worked for 20 years.

Currently he lives in Andalusia, Spain, and is an exhibiting member of ASPAS and ESPES. He is a signature member of Oil Painters of America.

His Russian training is apparent in his paint handling, which hews to their tradition of sparking, energetic brushwork. It’s also apparent in his superlative drawing skills.