Show all images on one page	#004657 Title: Storm Artist: Valyalin Alexey Size: 6.5x8x2.5 Size (inches): 2.5x3.25x1 Price : $650 SOLD!

Once more upon the waters! yet once more!
And the waves bound beneath me as a steed
That knows his rider. Welcome to their roar!
Swift be their guidance, wheresoever it lead!
Though the strained mast should quiver as a reed,
And the rent canvas fluttering strew the gale,
Still must I on; for I am as a weed,
Flung from the rock, on Ocean's foam to sail
Wherever the surge may sweep, the tempest's breath prevail.

The poem above is actually only a stanza from the poem "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage: Canto the Third," by George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788-1824). If an artist were to materialize this stanza he would turn it into the painting found on this lacquer box by Fedoskino painter Alexey Valyalin. This composition is not unlike those painted by Ivan Aivazovskii (1817-1900), the greatest seascape painter of his time, and maybe ever. It is easy to see the influence Aivazovskii's work had on Valyalin's painting and how Valyalin tries to distinguish his work as original and unique from his predecessors.
This piece is Valyalin's original work that he composed by using the combination of sea waves and the ship to make it his own. Those who know the ocean, the sea, or just love to feel its life can understand the unlimited source of inspiration Valyalin has to work with. During his mandatory military service he was sent, after he graduated from the Fedoskino Art School, to the Russian Naval Fleet. There he fell in love with the ocean and decided to make it his primary source for finding thematic material for his paintings. He is young, willing to work hard to develop himself as an artist, and in the coming years one can expect many great works from his hand.
Oil-based paint is the primary medium used to paint this scene. The colors used to paint this scene reflect the marine and aquatic environment captured in the composition. The cool palette is soothing, even though a storm is about to grow to full strength. He is able to give the water its natural transparent quality, through which one can see the bow of the ship in the large wave in the foreground. Painting water is one of the most difficult things an artist can do. Valyalin has no problem doing this, which is evident in the great movement all throughout the rough surface of the sea. The birds to the left enrich the scene as they accompany the ship as it bobs in the ocean like a cork.
The decoration on the exterior of the box is almost as impressive as the composition on the lid. First the box was taken, before it was painted, and dipped into a mixture of turpentine, water and blue paint. The result of the dipping is the random swirling lines and paint that encompass the box's exterior. The gold line is framing the composition, as well as two parallel lines wraps around the sides of the box.
The box is constructed out of paper-mache. The interior of the box is painted with red lacquer. The box has a hinge to its left and rests on a flat bottom. Upon completing the work on this piece the artist writes the Fedoskino and his name at the bottom of the composition.