Flash Back

I found one of my old watercolors. I used a different technique those days. It was many transparent layers. Now I tend to paint the whole thing all at once. But it was nice to remember...

Konstantin Sterkhov. Statue in the Park. 20x30 cm. 1996

Watercolor Of The Day

I saw it on Facebook! So touching)

Teo Van Der Broeck

Thomas Shaller - New Work

New exelent work by Tom. Enjoy!

Thomas Shaller. Portico Assisi. 22`x16`. 19.05.2011 

Painting a Dog - Video

Returning to a dog painting. Now in video.

Check the lesson Step By Step in my previous post.
Available in DVD with other 5 video workshops.

Master-class Sea Splashes

Some of my art-friend arranged a graphic exhibition in their gallery in the historic part of Saint-Petersburg. The good thing about it was that they arranged also master-classes with artists who were exposed. Most of my works there were seascapes, so it was the theme of my master-class.

Master-class "Seascapes"

The audience was of all ages - from 12 to 70 y.o. Within 2 hours I had demonstration of 5-6 works about seascapes - just some techniques of watercolor. I had a little problem for I forgot my hairdryer to dry up the painting, but it was solved very fast. I got one when painting the second work, so it went even faster when I got it.
Here I would like to show some cloudy seascape - simply the stages how to do it.

Konstantin Sterkhov. Sea Splashes. 35x45 cm, 2008

1. I partly wash the sky and water with ochre with some red, I keep some white areas untouched.

Wendy Artin - Fluid Sculptures

"When I paint statues, I try to see the people who originally posed for them. It`s very freeing - it breathes life into the statue."

Wendy Artin. Antinous. 30`x22`, 2009

About the models: "If I don`t tell them what to do, they do more beautiful and unuseal things than they would if I posed them... I can`t imagine holding some of these for 5 or 10 minutes, but they often do... On longer poses, sometimes I wet the page in certain areas before I start, and I control the wetness with the wadded-up paper towel that`s always in my left hand."

Some More Bollywood Relations

It happened that our relation to Bollywood was not over. 2 days after the Hermitage a friend of us met some people from crew from Hindie Movie shooting in St.Petersburg. The next day they called to determin the location of the shoot.
We didn`t want to miss the chance to enjoy a new experience. I picked up my children from school, and in a couple of houres we were at the spot. This time we met a Diva of Bollywood Bipasha Basu. She was stunning. She also got a little suvenier from me.

Bipasha Basu with my print.

We watched a little bit the process of shooting, some behind the scene stuff. There were also other actors as Jonny Lever and later Abhishek Bachchan. During the breack we enjoyed Indian cuisine (one of our favourite). That was onother day of great impressions. I want to share even though the impressions are not too artistic and have very little to do with watercolors.

Unexpected Meeting With Bollywood

I don`t know how many of my followers love Indian Cinema, but I do. Yesterday I had a master-class in one Saint-Petersburg gallery. It was in the very center, quite near the Hermitage. My family enjoyed the nice weather at the Palace Square.
Suddenly my children saw a group of Indians and rushed to get a camera. They recognized among them the famous couple of Bollywood Aishwariya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan. When I came back from the master-class they were very exited and we decided to follow the movie-stars to the Hermitage to have chance to see them close.

Aishwariya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan are getting a present from me.

Actually we didn`t wait long. They were on the way out very soon. I had a very plesent feeling from them when I saw them close. It was quite strange to feel them very familiar but to be aware of beeng absolutelly strangers for them. I gave one of the painting from the naster-class that I had with me to Abhishek who was surprised but pleased. Aishwariya called my children closer to shoot a picture. It was very nice experience indeed! Something to remember.

Sterkhovs and Bachchans)))

Actually any of Indian actors has more funs than any western artist for there is such a huge population in India. If everyone in India knows and love Aishvarya she got at least 1 billion funs)))

Master-class in Artist Union, St.Petersburg

It`s a shame that I couldn`t post anything for 3 weeks. I faced a problem with Internet Explorer, finally I installed Google Chrome, so I am back.
One of the events happened within this period was an exhibition in Artist Union, St. Petersburg called Zoo-culture. 4 great halls were loaded with graphic and painting works with all kind of animals. My watercolor work that I exposed there called "Love"

K. Sterkhov. Master-class "Swans"

Anyone could come to see master-classes organized during the exhibition. I was one of the artists demonstrating water-color techniques. The topic was "Animals", so I had chosen swans for demonstration.

Anders Andersson

I love to paint. Over the years it has been Christmas cards, T-shirts, helmets, ties, trucks, cars, adverts, book illustrations, caricatures, comicstrips. Some how I got stucked to the fascinating medium watercolour

Anders Andersson. Seagull.

How is it that one gets stuck on watercolour painting?
For me it's about curiosity and an exiting journey through chaos and order. The colour hue, the paper, the moisture in the brush, the individual character of each colour and your own state of mind make the watercolour so direct. You are always just a few brush strokes away from merely a flat muddy mess with no interest.

Anders Andersson. Bike.

Sometimes the colour seems to blend in a chaotic way. During the drying process the character changes with every second. Experiment by combining Ultramarine and Burnt Umber together. Sit an enjoy the drama that unfolds on the paper while this mixture dries. That’s how you get stuck on watercolour painting.