Andrey Potapov

Andrey Vladimirovich Potapov
Russian artist.

I am often asked the question: how long have I started painting? Where have I studied?

My love for painting came to life in me as soon as I was born.
During all my early childhood one of my favorite pastimes was the contemplation of the reproductions of old masters in Dutch and Russian painting. For hours I used to be looking at those reproductions, attempting to capture every stroke. During primary school years painting lessons seemed to me boring, monotonous, without any brightness. The passion to paint a picture awoke in me when we were given a homework to draw a landscape during one of our painting lessons. I was then in fourth grade. Suddenly something inside me was triggered and I started to copy a landscape picture of the Dutch painter Jacob van Ruisdael. In a week I brought the work I had done and showed it to my teacher, but he didn't believe his eyes at first, because usually I painted worse than many of my classmates. I was just not interested in drawing cubes and balls. Fortunately, that very moment two of my classmates confirmed that they had seen me painting that landscape. I scored A-double-plus. I was so inspired. When my mother noticed my success in painting, s...

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