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.

Artist Of The Day - Sergey Temerev

Sergey Temerev is an artist from Saint-Petersburg, Russia.

Sergey Temerev

He is saying about himself:

"Watercolor for me is chalenge, passion, trial and rest."

Sergey Temerev  

He is graduated from Repin Academy of Fine Arts.

His main activity is painting and teaching in Stieglits Academy of Industry and Arts, specialization architecture and design.

Sergey Temerev

Enjoy my post, I find these works beyond good and bad, they are so delicious!

Dog Painting in Watercolor - 7 Steps

Combination of wet and dry approach - it is very easy! A watercolor dog portrait from my new tutorial video.

Konstantin Sterkhov. Gray Dog. 25x35 cm

1. Wash the whole sheet with thin burnt umber mixture.
2. Wash the gray mass of the dog in wet.
3. Modelling the shapes with darker gray in wet.
4. Lifting up the high lights while the painting is still wet.
5. Dry up all with a hairdryer.
6. Final modelling with dry brush.
7. Details with dry brush.

That`s it briefly. The whole painting takes about 20 min. Video in DVD will provide the details.
Also it will be one of the topics in my course in Akvarellcenter, Sweden in August, 18-22,
contact Akvarellcenter) http://www.akvarellcenter.com/

"Akvarellcenter" - Art Gallery from Sweden

Maria Ginsburg is an aquarellist, a participant of numerous exhibitions, the author of 6 books on watercolor painting in Swedish printed in over 200 000 copies by the “Semic” publishing house.

Maria Ginsburg. Landscape.

I was net surfing for some watercolor art and coincidentally found the site representing her works. I was very impressed. Then I also discovered that she teaches art in an Art Gallery in Stockholm.

Maria Ginsburg. Winter Landscape.

The “Akvarellcenter” is an Art Gallery and a place for watercolor courses. It was found in 2003. The aim of the gallery is to represent the art of the best world aquarellists to the Swedish audience. The exhibitions are arranged 2-3 times a year. Usually they are being opened by Council of the country where the artist comes from. There have been exhibitions and art courses by the artists from US, Australia, India, Belgium, France, UK, Latvia, Italy and Sweden (amang them Milind Mulik and David Taylor). In the nearest future there are planned the exhibitions and courses by artists from Austria, Lithuania, Spain and India.

There are also summer courses held in the “Akvarellcenter” in Dalarna, 190 km from Stockholm in a beautiful place near the lake. All the teachers from different countries will have an opportunity to have an exhibition before and while teaching. I am one of the artist invited to teach on 18-22, August. The topic is Portrait painting and Animals painting.

Konstantin Sterkhov. Girl With A Cat. 30x40 cm

Welcome to the course! Contact the “Akvarellcenter” for details. http://www.akvarellcenter.com/

I am on a long trip...

Dear friends, please wait a bit longer... I hadn`t had access to my computer for 2 weeks 2 weeks ago, now I am on a trip with some difficulties with Internet access. I hope to be with you again after 8th of April.

I am sharing with you some Russian Watercolors by an artist from St.Petersburg Elena Bazanova. I promiss to publish an interview with her in a week or so.

 Elena Bazanova. Cat itching.

  Elena Bazanova. Still Life.

Watercolor Perspective from Russia - K. Kuzema

http://kuzema.my1.ru/

A talented watercolor artist, widely recognized in Russia by watercolor lovers, representing the Saint-Petersburg watercolor society. He had been one of those who gave his efforts to revive the former Emperor Saint-Petersburg watercolor society after many decades of oblivion.

K. Kuzema. Evening Mood. 56x76. 2008

What the perspectives has watercolor medium? How had been changing the attitude to this medium during last years, last century in Russia?

Watercolor as medium has very misty perspective as the medium itself. Watercolors appeared long ago and considers “traditional” medium. Thus one shouldn`t expect a great support as if it was some up-to-date art. 

Also there is an opinion that watercolor technologies make defective product in cultural and material meanings. So we can`t expect adequate investment from the potential customers.

Such a situation doesn`t inspire young artists to become watercolorists. The World Watercolor Renaissance which had started in the end of the last century turned out a growth of watercolor popularity in home creativity.

 

Watercolor societies appeared a necessary but insufficient condition for uplifting the watercolor status in the system of cultural and material values. Nevertheless during the last 100 years, and particularly the last few decades watercolor techniques got strong up-grade from artists methodic and art materials. That gives a hope for watercolor surviving.

Thomas W. Schaller - Interview

I met Thomas on Facebook, and I saw a few works by him in the Watercolor Magazine. Short time ago I realized that I would like to know more about the artist but the net gave me too poor information. Then I asked my qquestions directly to Thomas.

When you started painting with watercolor? Did you ever try some other medium?

    In University, I studied painting in oil, acrylic, as well as various methods of printmaking.  But it was in architecture school that I first became drawn to the watercolor medium. I studied in the traditional Beaux-Arts   methods of precise pencil line drawing  with the application of layered washes of transparent watercolor.  These techniques have always resonated with me; and while much adapted and evolved over the years, have  formed the basis for all my watercolor artwork since.

Thomas W. Schaller. Man and Beast. 20x13`

How far can you go in imagination when you paint a concrete landscape?

Wet Technique from E. Bazanova

Elena Bazanova is a watercolorist from Saint-Petersburg. She comes from the artists family. She is graduated from the Repin Academy of Fine Arts where she developed her academic watercolor aproach. Some of her technique we can see from this video.
http://www.elenabazanova.ru/main.php