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RPC: Transformation

2022

When I saw Rosa transforming bacteria wearing green gloves, I realized that she could be portrayed "as is," without inventing anything: the colors, lighting, reflections, and reflected light from the red floor all added up to an interesting portrait. But as I approached completion, I realized that apart from the aesthetic image, I didn't see any meaning in it comparable to what I had put into the previous works in this series. But maybe it's just enough if it is pretty? Here, RPC performs bacterial transformation. The ability of bacteria to uptake foreign DNA, i.e. be transformed, was first shown by Griffith in 1928 and interpreted by Avery, McLeod, and McCarty in 1944. Frederick Griffith's experiment was elegant: he had two pneumococcal strains, one was rough and harmless, but the other smooth one was virulent. He injected them in mice and obviously, the mice infected with the virulent one died of pneumonia, but not those injected with the nonvirulent strain. If he killed the virulent bacteria with heat, they could not infect the mice. However, when he injected mice with a mixture of living nonvirulent bacteria and killed virulent bacteria, the mice died. Griffith could isolate both strains from the blood of the dead mice. He concluded that the harmless strain acquired something, the "transforming principle", from the corpses of the virulent bacteria and became virulent itself. This something was later identified as DNA. Molecular biologists further adapted bacterial transformation as an easy tool to amplify DNA sequences of interest. In nature, it is a form of horizontal gene transfer between microorganisms, contributing to their diversity and evolution. And their ability to kill us, of course.

Watercolor, 32x46 cm.

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Osiris 2020-2021

- I want to see green, the color of eternal life! That is why the face of Osiris was green when he was resurrected.

- I think about that too when I look for GFP-positive cells...

I made a sketch for this back in 2020, started painting it in watercolor, and ruined it beyond repair. So, in December 2021 I tried gouache I realized that the best use for it for me is to overpaint bad watercolor pieces, and I am quite happy with how it turned out.

Gouache, 18x26 cm.

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Annwn

2024

WIP on YT

This is probably the first time I took a commission because I couldn’t resist painting this romantic sow on top of a mountain as a birthday gift for the lady who took the original shot. It instantly reminded me of an episode from the Mabinogion where pigs are wonderful beasts from the other world.

So they went unto Math the son of Mathonwy. “Lord,” said Gwydion, “I have heard that there have come to the South some beasts, such as were never known in this island before.” “What are they called?” he asked. “Pigs, lord.” “And what kind of animals are they?” “They are small animals, and their flesh is better than the flesh of oxen.” “They are small, then?” “And they change their names. Swine are they now called.” “Who owneth them?” “Pryderi the son of Pwyll; they were sent him from Annwvyn, by Arawn the king of Annwvyn, and still they keep that name, half hog, half pig.” “Verily,” asked he, “and by what means may they be obtained from him?” “I will go, lord, as one of twelve, in the guise of bards, to seek the swine.” “But it may be that he will refuse you,” said he. “My journey will not be evil, lord,” said he; “I will not come back without the swine.” “Gladly,” said he, “go thou forward.”

The Mabinogion, translated by Lady Charlotte Guest

Chalk pastel, 30x40 cm.

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Hourglass 2023

Waiting for another PTME. A quick wet in wet practice. Reference by www.instagram.com/sealtail/ from Kamchatka.

Watercolor, 23x31 cm

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Sweet Initials: KLC 2020

KLC, the ice queen from the Andes, is preparing cryosections of human kidney specimens.

Watercolor, 21x29 cm.

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Sweet Initials: SB Annunciation 2020, updated in 2024 This is the last of the lab portraits that I have not yet shared on Cara. Originally painted in 2020, I fixed the most glaring mistakes in perspective last week and recorded the process. So if you have not watched my presentation of this series, please do.

Watercolor, 21x29 cm.

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Sweet Initials: JL 2019 Looking for a screwdriver in the lab workshop. Watercolor, 21x29 cm

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Öö

2024 My 1.5th attempt at color pencils. Reference by Ago-Jüri Leimann. Color pencils, ca. 23x31 cm.

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Sentinel

2024 and 2017

It is a remake of an old watercolor idol on the Emajõgi river bank from 2017, this time in chalk pastels.

30x40 cm.

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JM 

2019, updated in 2024 Watercolor, 32x46 cm.

I'd like to share the series I completed in 2019-22 before I part with the originals. 

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You Gave Me Paws

You probably never expected me to paint naked furries, but here I am. Someone did not want to model properly and was given paws as punishment. He must be thinking: "okay, I can learn to type this way, but how on earth am I going to deposit [materials for thin-film solar cells]?!" And please forgive the pun in the title.

Chalk pastels, 50x35 cm.

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Off the Edge of the Map The painting from the video below. Reference by S. V.

Soft pastels, 30x40 cm.

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The new video in which I briefly discuss the highly controversial topic of talent is now online. The timelapse accompanying it is by far not the best demonstration of my abilities, but rather a relaxing work from a reference by the amazing Stanislava and I love collaborating with her. This piece is much more abstract than what I usually do, but it was fun for a change. On the other hand... learning to paint is like going off the edge of the map, so metaphorically it is very fitting.

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-A Drop of Fire- 2023

I never knew that a watercolor painting could look like this. Moreover, I never knew that my watercolor painting could look like this. Until I painted it.

Reference by Sergey Sosonyuk.

Watercolor, 23x31 cm

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-Pyromania- 2023

This one was stressful, as I recorded the whole painting process on video. Check it out on my channel!

Watercolor, 31x23 cm.

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-Frohe Weihnachten- 2023-24 I painted this one for the most part last December and added some minor details when I returned to Berlin in January. This is what campus Buch looked like with a rare combination of snow and Christmas decorations. Rare, because it'd been +10°C for the week to follow.

There's something about the "Christmas tree" that is actually a deciduous tree covered in ivy and the red lights coming from the "dark rooms" instead of garlands. I wanted to add some green accents, but there wasn't a single distinctly green pastel in the set I packed for the holiday.

30x24 cm.

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-Morpho menelaus-

2022

Soft pastels, 24x30 cm.