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WATER-
COLOUR
W
hat is art? What is a painting?
Why do artists paint? Such
questions arose early while I was studying
at the Academy of Fine Arts of Kiev,
Ukraine. To me, painting means learning
to focus and a yearning to understand.
With time a painter improves his or
her technique and tries to develop his
or her own style, but subconsciously
there always remains the quest for
understanding.
Essentially, my paintings are
about visibility (making the invisible
visible.) Invisibility is hard to grasp. Is
everything we see real? If so, how do we
express this emotionally? Whenever
I decide to represent something
on paper, I choose elements I care
about. For my work, the real world
is not significant but my thoughts
surrounding this reality are real.
Expressing thoughts is difficult but
transposing ideas and feelings to
paper is not necessarily easier. Of
course, there are things we all see and
recognize in a similar manner. They,
however, are being blurred through
thoughts, feelings, emotions and actual
situations. My paintings are actually an
illusion about real depictions veiled but
recognizable elsewhere.
When I started to paint, I used to
go on location to learn more about
shapes and visual laws. Gradually I
disconnected myself from objects.
My emotional reaction toward objectshad become more important than the
objects themselves. This development
meant one more step away from reality.
The result is no abstract art but a
combination of reality and elements
of abstraction and at the same time
the visual recollection of an object.
The purpose of the painting process
has shifted. Experiences and feelings
are playing a more important role; the
documentary character no longer stands
in the foreground. Nevertheless, I stick
to the idea of the character on site.
Drawing from memory, I experience
that the true essence of a particular
moment is maintained. Every location,
no matter how often it is painted, never
recurs visually in an identical manner
because new thoughts, emotions and
memories emerge each time.
When choosing an object I never use
photographs but develop an idea based on
several sketches that I put together using
my imagination. I choose a composition,
collecting points of reference about
elements seen before but now transposed
to an interpreted structure.
Each moment, each day varies.
Whenever I remember something today
or think about it tomorrow, it is again
linked to a different expression and a
different atmosphere. The perception
is subjective. When asked about the
technique, I ponder carefully and find
that it also corresponds to preliminary
thoughts. I like the fact that thewatercolor technique “wet in wet”
comes close to the natural development
and process of life.
This spontaneous medium combines
action and reaction including three
basic tools: water, pigments and a wet
sheet of paper. However, we have to take
into consideration the drying process
that requires 30 to 40 minutes. In other
words, the painting has to be completed
very rapidly. At first, the pigments flow
fast and spread quickly over large areas.
Gradually, this process slows down
while the paper goes on drying. On
account of this, the composition has to
be thoroughly thought through before
I get down to work.
This will help me to fully concentrate
on the flowing color and interact with
it, quite a sensitive procedure involving
a series of factors such as paint, brushes,
paper, room temperature, etc.
Before painting, I prepare a rough
pencil drawing with accents and contrasts
serving as a basis for the composition.
Furthermore, I pay attention to
relationships and proportions in order
to create a recognizable reality. Later,
the sketch will enable me to focus solely
on the flow of watercolor pigments.
The painting becomes then an interplay
between lightness and weight, light and
shadow, shape and form resolution.
Sometimes I need several weeks before
deciding on a composition I like. But
I also leave room for creativity. DuringAura and Atmosphere
through Color
The colors in Viktoria Prischedko’s watercolor paintings
correspond to the emotional state of the sceneViktoria Prischedko
GERMANY
DEMONSTRATION