We live in a contemporary world and generally accept the things the way they are without much analysis. Do we spend much time pondering over how this or that aspect of modern life influences our every-day activities, our view of reality and our place in society? We are getting used to the surrounding environment from the very moment we are born. For the duration of our life we adjust to changing surroundings, however, we try to create the conditions of life that would fit our personalities in the best way possible. Obviously, there are some factors that predetermine each human’s way of being. Our lifestyle also depends on a popular culture that pervades everyday life of society at a given period of time. How do we actually define popular culture? I understand it as a set of ideas, viewpoints, opinions that are considered to be preferential within the mainstream of a specified culture and are accepted per an informal agreement. However, pop culture looks different for every particular person. At the present moment of my life I am a student concentrated on studying, rather modern and sociable, without many creative talents, comparatively practical and down-to earth. I realize that the world I live in looks totally different to some artist, for example, since he is probably much more inspired and focused on his creative work rather than on practical problems. Observing the surrounding reality with the eyes of someone else can be truly useful for getting a general understanding of the world; for this reason I would like to imagine a typical day in the life of an artist and realize how he sees the things that I see in my own way, as well as what he sees that I do not.

Artist’s income obviously depends on whether he is recognized by the general public and whether his works are frequently sold. This circumstance determines his way of living, for instance whether he lives in a fashionable district, in a spacious comfortable house, or whether he has to rent a poorly furnished apartment which he mostly uses as a studio. Personally I usually meet those artists who spend most of what they earn to replenish personal supply of working materials such as canvas, oil paints, brushes, etc. Thus he probably suffers regularly from the lack of available funds. However, he cannot quit painting for a while and earn his own living by working as a waiter/dish-washer/office messenger or whatever, as most average young people would usually do. He has to work on his skills and his technique every single day. He wakes up and goes to his studio, where nobody but unfinished drawings and empty canvas waits for him.

He probably does not care much about how he looks in the morning and what he wants to put on today. His clothes are old-fashioned, worn and somehow weird. He does not spend much time on various activities connected with keeping the house. In short, all his life is a total chaos except but the time when he draws. His had is full of ideas of what color range to use, how to set light and from what angle to depict a chosen object. When he travels on public transport, which he most probably does all the time for the lack of funds to keep a car, what does he notice? Oh, I beg he notice everything that could become a subject for his paintings: unusual beautiful faces, curious emotional expressions, eye-catching expressive postures.

When he walks the streets he sees much more than any normal person could ever see. He notices the combination of colors, the balance of shapes, the harmony of movement. I believe he prefers pure nature to concrete jungles of a noisy city. He finds most of what he observes ugly and inappropriate. However, when he sees something beautiful, he cannot stay indifferent – it takes his breath away. His eyes can see what no one else can see, and he takes pleasure in phenomena that most people do not even notice. Apparently, he is well acquainted with numerous celebrated works of art, and the views he observes remind him frequently the paintings of his favorite artists.