During the period under consideration, watercolor has been enriched with new trends, which "in Kyrgyzstan develops in line with the visual arts of the republic, which has formed as a realistic school, primarily striving for a figurative understanding of nature, having as its ideal the expression of the artist's idea and intention in a plastically clear, cohesive form."
The truthful depiction of reality, conditioned by the realistic method of creativity, lies at the heart of the works of all Kyrgyz watercolorists, but they differ in the range of themes and issues, their attitude towards the traditions of watercolor painting, and the nature of their creative search, resulting in the breadth of the imagery they create, as well as stylistic diversity.
Watercolor is one of the main lines of A. Mihalev's creativity. The famous Soviet graphic artist D. Shmarinov highly appreciated the artistic merits of Mihalev's watercolors, speaking at a meeting of artists from Kyrgyzstan with art historians from Moscow in 1958: "His watercolors are very delicate in color, very artistically executed, and, as a rule, accurately observed; they possess a sharpness of vision inherent to Mihalev." Most often, Mihalev depicts Kyrgyz nature in his watercolors, emphasizing its epic character. His watercolors are painted lightly, transparently, with a lyrical feeling ("Silver Mountain," 1969; "Morning at the Lake," 1970; "River Atbashinka," 1977; "Mountains Behind Kochkorka," 1978; "High Sky," 1978; "Road to Naryn," 1979; "Panorama of the Atbashin Valley," 1979). Mihalev has also created a number of concise and expressive watercolors during his trips abroad ("Algiers. Kasta Street," 1966; "Island of Sicily," 1966; "Helsinki," 1973; "Twilight in Gothenburg," 1973).
