The artist Mariam Aslamazian 1956

Babken Kolozyan painted ‘The artist Mariam Aslamazian’ with what looks like oil on canvas, but it’s the brushstrokes that really grab me. They're loose and intuitive, like the painting was made in one breath, which is what I aim for in my own work. I love how the red of the artist’s coat pops against the muted greens and browns of the landscape; its almost as if the surrounding scene emerges out of this colour. Look at the way the light filters through the trees, dappling the ground with shadows – it’s like Kolozyan is trying to capture not just what he sees, but how it feels to be there, in that moment. I'm really drawn to the way he’s handled the branches of the tree overhead. The black paint is applied so thickly, almost sculptural, as though those branches might reach right out of the canvas and grab you. There's an expressive energy in Kolozyan's painting style that reminds me a little of Van Gogh, especially in his use of impasto and colour, but here it's tempered with a quiet, contemplative mood. This painting invites you to slow down and appreciate the beauty of the everyday, and the act of painting itself, which is something I’m always trying to do in my own work.