So, I am in the south. In Moscow, I took the first available train gong south. He dropped me in Minvody at midnight. A summer night! A real dark, warm night! How I yearned for a summer night with its sky like blue velvet dotted with diamonds! I had to wait for the first commuter train for 3 or 4 hours. I certainly did not enter the waiting room and went to the small garden near the station. The plants there were probably scraggy but they seemed to me luxurious. I stroked kans, smelled boxwood and got enthused over everything.
Rain clouds were coming, summer lightning were flashing, the thunder was rumbling somewhere.
A few heavy drops fell and the air got smell of rain. Sleeping was out of question. I sat down on a bench, pulled out a sketchbook and tried to depict what I saw. It was my first drawing from life...