Anton Pavlenko

Since childhood, I’ve developed a deep appreciation for the beauty of nature and will always be captivated by it. If we speak out of the abundance of the hearts, then the same is true of the art we create. I paint because I love every living thing I see around me and have a strong desire to capture any form of this life on canvas. If others can sense that spark of life in my work, then I consider myself to be a successful artist. While teaching myself to paint in the Pacific Northwest, I’ve come to believe that nature is my best teacher and subject. Therefore, I take every opportunity I can to paint outdoors en plein air. I enjoy using bold colors, various textures and unique perspectives in my work and choose to paint in oils because of their versatility and ability to capture all the colors and textures of life.

 

HOW IT ALL STARTED:

I was born in Ukraine which is where I have some of my earliest memories of drawing Russian cartoon characters at an early age. For as long as I can remember, even before learning to read or write, I was always drawing something. My family immigrated to the United States when I was about 5 years old. Here I continued to draw and eventually took up oil painting as a teenager. We came to the States with little money but I received lots of loving support from my parents--they were my biggest fans and only art collectors at the time. I'm grateful for the unique way my father encouraged me to continue developing my art skills. Instead of earning an allowance like most kids my age, I earned a couple dollars by selling my drawings and colored sketches to my dad. Once I finished a piece, he would appraise it and offer to pay me what he thought it was worth. So if I wanted to earn more money, all I had to do was work harder at creating a masterpiece that would really impress him! At a young age, I was excited to learn that my artwork had some kind of value.

Though I later attended a few art courses at Pacific Northwest College of Art in Portland, I still remained mainly a self-taught artist. As I got older, my young ambitions and dreams of becoming a famous artist had begun to slip away due to the typical "poor starving artist" talk I received from people giving me honest career advice. So instead of living poorly and having my grandchildren profit from my paintings, I decided to lay my art aside to pursue a 'real' career in business. I attended college for 3 years but never graduated with a degree. After marrying my beautiful wife, Anna, and somewhat settling down, I felt guilty for burying the artist inside me years ago. So one day, I blew the dust off my easel and began to paint just for good old time's sake. Soon after, I took a step of faith by commiting to paint full-time and have been doing so ever since. Today, I live and work in Portland, OR and am constantly being inspired to paint by the nature that surrounds me.