by Yelena Lev Navtikova

Artwork Description

Boundary Steward

36.0 x 48.0 inches

In Boundary Steward, I envision the wolf as a sacred steward of the veil between life and death. His role is not to threaten or to judge, but to maintain order with quiet authority—to keep the living protected from what they cannot follow, and to allow the dead to pass without disturbance. Draped in deep blue, he becomes the boundary itself: calm, unwavering, and necessary. The girl is a soul in transition. She rests against him with the softness of surrender, as if sleep has become the language of departure. I painted her in warm orange to hold the last light of the human world—tenderness, memory, and the fragile warmth that lingers at the edge of goodbye. Above them, the golden sky and two pale orbs suggest twin realities watching one another across distance, while the tall, bare trees form a corridor of passage. The dark planes beneath their feet read as steps of descent—stages of letting go, a path that only moves forward. This painting is my meditation on grief and mercy. It honors the moment in-between, when love must release what it cannot keep. Boundary Steward invites the viewer to see death not as rupture, but as passage—an inevitable crossing held with dignity, silence, and care, while a guardian remains at the threshold so that both worlds can remain whole.

Artwork Details

Medium: Painting Oil

Genre: Surrealism