Valentina Vladimirovna Khlebnikova is a talented artist from Mezhdurechensk, who celebrates his native region, its unique nature and its people in her art. She specializes in landscape painting. In her work she depicts the landscape of Mountain Shoria in all its beauty. Her landscape paintings bring to life the young cedars, the slim birch trees, the fast-flowing mountain streams and the dense forest. As if frozen by her brush, nature lends a part of its charm to the artist’s paintings.

In her watercolor The Crag, Valentina Khlebnikova depicts a Siberian landscape in autumn. The scene is dominated by rocky crags, a reddish- brown in color, with a sparse cover of deciduous and conifer trees. In the foreground there is a rapidly-flowing mountain river.

The cloudy sky forms a background to the work, giving this attractive landscape a special, rather fragile charm. The whole scene is full of the abundant colors of autumn. Here bright leafy tones, ochres, yellows and swampy greens dominate. The whole landscape is filled with an atmosphere of harmony, calm and tranquility.

The region of Mountain Shoria, which inspired the artist to paint this picture, has long been inhabited by the Kuznetsk Tatars, who venerated the natural world around them. These indigenous people believed that the mountains had the power to live as humans. They told stories of how the mountains moved around, travelling from one region to another, fighting and even marrying each other. They saw geographical features as living beings, and the names of the mountains were also those of the mountain spirits.

In Shorian folklore the lord of the mountains sometimes brings news of the coming autumn. As the legends relate: “At this time of year, when the withered grass collapses and the leaves fall from the trees, the ears of the mountains are better able to hear. It is then that the lord of the mountains calls.”

In order to avoid the wrath of the lords of the mountains, water and forests, and to be sure of their benevolent support, the Shorians carried out various rituals. For example, to ensure the safe crossing of a mountain river, they threw pieces of food into the water to appease Sug-Eezi, the water spirit. And when travelling across a steep mountainside, they hung scraps of white, red and blue cloth or locks of hair from horses’ manes from the branches of the birch trees, or threw pieces of different types of food at these trees. Often they beseeched Tag- Eezi, the lord of the mountains, to look kindly on them and bring them good luck.

Valentina Klebnikova has succeeded in depicting the mysterious, fantastic and striking beauty of Mountain Shoria in her work.