The article is dedicated to composing and painting a floral still life in multi-layer watercolor. The author, drawing on his more than half a century experience in creative and pedagogical work, reveals major challenges faced by artists. The primary focus is directed towards a particularly demanding task of arranging a still life ensemble harmonious in terms of color, with flowers occupying a central place, while all other elements (stems and leaves, vase, background, etc.) play a role of a tactful and apt “accompaniment”. In this regard, the author examines successful tone and background choices for flower still lifes, taking into account the peculiarities of color perception depending on the color palette of the surrounding environment. Using his creative work as an example, the author unveils the key principles behind arranging and painting still lifes with bouquets of blue, white, yellow and red flowers, field herbs, as well as floral still lifes on deep dark backgrounds. The author explores the question of proper layer-bylayer transmission of chiaroscuro, light and shade. Likewise, the most common difficulties connected to watercolor painting, as well as the best ways to overcome them are delineated. The article is intended for teachers and students of art schools at all levels; it will also be of interest to professional artists as the author offers solutions to complex problems arising when one works with color in a particularly exigent multi-layer watercolor technique.

The article is dedicated to the formation of Valaam’s own school of painting for monks and novices of the monastery. This process consisted of several stages connected to both the historical development of the monastery itself, as well as the expanding influence of the Russian Imperial Academy of Arts. The official establishment of the painting school, which trained artists according to academic methods, dates back to the late 19th – early 20th centuries. The entire preceding history of the monastery paved the way for the inauguration of the school. In particular, the monastery gathered a carefully selected collection of engravings and reproductions of famous religious paintings, art manuals, human anatomy atlases and picturesque copies of popular works of art. Construction of the new Transfiguration Cathedral, to be supposedly painted by monastery artists, provided the main impetus for the eventual opening of the school. Gifted Valaam monks Alipiy (Konstantinov) and Luka (Bogdanov), as well as a student of the Russian Academy of Arts, V. A. Bondarenko, taught at the monastery’s school. Among some of the most diligent students of the school were hegumen Gavrill (Gavrilov), the main proponent of its establishment and its trustee, along with monk Fotiy (Yablokov), the future head of the icon painting workshop. The school continued to operate until the monks of the Valaam Monastery were forced to flee to Finland as a result of hostilities that broke out in the archipelago during the Soviet-Finnish war of 1939–1940.

The present study examines the principles of conveying the third dimension in landscape painting. The author analyzes the recommendations provided in J. Littlejohns’ manual entitled “The Composition of a Landscape” [London, 1931]. J. Littlejohns describes four methods of showing depth in a landscape painting, each illustrated with pictorial composition schemes: 1) portrayal of long roads, which allows one to unveil the plasticity of the land surface; 2) creation of a “route” for the viewer by means of a well-thought-out arrangement of natural landforms; 3) introduction of vertically and horizontally flowing streams of water on different picture planes; 4) depiction of cloud shadows on a distinctly hilly landscape. The author of the article compares the schemes contained in the manual of J. Littlejohns with the works of G. G. Nissky, which enables readers to comprehend and reflect on the compositions of the masterpieces created by a prominent figure in Soviet art; on the other hand, Nissky’s landscape paintings open for a deeper understanding of the meaning and effectiveness of the methods proposed by J. Littlejohns. The outlined composition techniques are certainly relevant for contemporary artists (painters, graphic artists, animators, designers, etc.) as they make it possible to achieve the plastic expressiveness of a three-dimensional space in a twodimensional image.

Changes in the formulation of pigments and paint binders and the presence of additives used in the history of painting can complicate the interpretation of analytical data and may influence the characterization of the materials used in artworks. The limitations of the common analytical tools used to identify potential paint components including metallic driers, pigments, and the inorganic substrates of lake colors may also make analysis more difficult. X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) spectroscopy is a common non-destructive technique used to collect inorganic elemental information from artworks. Advancements in XRF technology now permit the gathering of data from multi-layered paint systems and scanning technology can help characterize pigments across the entire surface of an artwork. These tools require an even greater understanding of the potential materials in an artwork to avoid misinterpretation of the data. The authors tested XRF’s ability to characterize lead, manganese, and cobalt driers. The presence of metallic driers could have an impact on the interpretation of the inorganic components in paint films. Lake pigment substrates often contain aluminum, tin, and calcium salts. The detection of these ions was also studied. Finally, the XRF detection of aluminum in lapis lazuli samples was assessed. These three groups of materials were also mixed with driers and/or other pigments to determine whether the presence of additional metal ions inhibited the detection of the characteristic elements. The authors used a Bruker ArtTax Micro XRF and a handheld Bruker Tracer III-SD XRF unit with and without a vacuum or helium purge for these experiments.