In the Depths

I started painting “In the Depths” in March 2021. I had already decided that its main detail would be an anchor, but I let my son Henris make the first brushstrokes. He was two at the time and loved to express himself on canvas. His strokes later grew into a motif that looks like a dolphin or a small whale, a descending anchor and perhaps a few rays of sunlight in the depths of the water.

Back then I spent a lot of time in my new flat in Klaipėda, Lithuania, in one of the most unique streets in the city, that was not bombed during WWII. There is a maritime school nearby, so every time I came back from this summer residence of mine I saw anchors. Naturally, one day I wanted to paint one.

I worked on the painting whenever I came to my hometown, and only finished it in 2026 - so on and off it was painted over five years. This year I noticed that the place I am in very strongly shapes the subjects of my paintings. Klaipėda is a port city, and ships and anchors are what make it distinctive.