September 22, 2016. Oil on canvas. 15 x 20cm Cosmos Hotel, Moscow, Russia

On my last night at Moscow, I looked out my hotel window and found the night view fascinating. 

There were not much tall buildings in Moscow city centre. Most of them were old buildings more than 100 yesrs. Russia was a nation who treasured their past and were very dedicated to preserve the history. 
But among them, within our view, there was a 300m high TV station tower miles away. TV had attractive leon lighting making it very visible even from far away. 

Another prominent feature was the highways mapping the city. Moscow might have the heaviest traffic in the world. Peak hour was unbelievable. Even at 9pm at night, the cars were barely not moving at all. They brightened the highways and roads like a sparkling spider’s network connecting every part of the capital of This iron curtain country. And forming interesting composition in my painting. The traffic jam was a amusement to a painter, yet it was a big headache of the citizens. There was an idiom which said that Moscow people did not believe in tears. It had described how people suffered from the traffic jam problem in this famous city. Yet Moscow citizen still insisted to drive. Even though their 80 years old metro was very well connected with over 100 stations.

My 1st night view plein air painting was difficult and the work not really good. But this was a memorable night, a first trial, at a beautiful city.