Anton Dymtchenko is a visual artist from Montreal, QC. He completed the Drawing and Painting Program at the Florence Academy of Art (Italy) between 2012 - 2015. Upon his return to Canada, he illustrated for the Montreal Botanical Garden. In 2017, he settled in Quebec City to produce works in a personal style, blending reality and imagination. Below, Anton shares the inspiration and process behind his unique paintings and tips for practicing mindfulness in nature.

I was raised in the middle of a big city, surrounded by bricks, asphalt and cement. Of course, there were city parks and even a botanical garden but nothing you could call “the wild”. That kind of environment felt normal to me for two decades. As I wandered in wilder places during my twenties, a sense of peace slowly settled upon the anxiety of my urban life. As I finished my artistic training, the source of that newly found well-being trickled into my art until it took over completely.

On spending time outdoors

I try to adapt all my favourite activities to the outdoors, especially during the warmest half of the year. As often as possible, I go outdoors to paint, write, read, walk, run, eat, and spend time with loved ones. I am typing this very sentence on my tablet computer while sitting on a bench in the Plains of Abraham park.

Every square kilometre of Canadian wilderness has its story to tell. I am happy to explore the depths of the woods, the top of a hill, the shore of a river or the open air of a valley. Nature has no hierarchy of beauty. Every tree, every leaf, every nook can be enjoyed for its uniqueness when we dare to look close enough. I have observed thousands of trees; I have drawn hundreds and I have yet to find a single one that isn’t beautiful. So, I cannot choose one area or even a few. My favourite place in nature is the one I am lucky to be part of in the present moment.

On creating art inspired by nature

Needless to say, nature is my main inspiration. Most of our modern troubles come from trying to separate ourselves from it. In my art, I express a sustainable harmony between humans and our natural environment. I aim to illustrate a unity between consciousness, anatomy, and nature. To do so, I blend reality and imagination to tell a compelling story within the picture. This is the best way I see to contribute to human well-being with the skillset of a visual artist.

A FAVOURITE PAINTING AND THE INSPIRATION BEHIND IT

My latest work, “Eye of Nature” embodies everything I mentioned previously. As I was walking alone in the woods, I observed my surroundings. Then, a peculiar idea came to me: “What if I am as much the observer as the observed?” Surely, the trees, the grass, the bugs, the birds must be feeling my presence as much as I am feeling theirs. Nature must be looking at me as much as I am looking at it. Maybe it sees me through my own eyes. Maybe I picture myself as separate because of the imaginary boundaries of my ego. What if I drop them to connect?

Anton’s advice for getting outside and unplugged

My main advice would be to use nature as a target of meditation. What I mean by that, is to train one’s mind to focus on the beauty of nature every time unwanted thoughts appear. For instance, during a walk in the park, one’s mind might be fragmented by thoughts about an unpaid bill, problems at work, the memory of an ex or a hundred other things. Every time such thoughts appear, one can always redirect focus on the crunchy sound of dry leaves, the warm rays shining through the canopy, the smell of blooming flowers or a hundred other things happening in the biosphere. This process is accelerated for me because I must observe nature attentively to turn it into art. I suppose my case is similar to botanists, zoologists, geologists, hiking instructors, scientific filmmakers and other professionals working in nature. But that kind of peaceful focus is available to all people.

Thank you so much, Anton!