05:0./;-Y $ETAILED 3TYLE
Elena Kolotusha
Elena discusses her art and her love for still lifes.
I
was born in Russia and as a child
I always spent my spare time
painting and drawing. At that
time in the former Soviet Union, art
materials were quite expensive and
hard to find. But thanks to my mother
I have always had good brushes and
paints to work with. Later in my
teenage years I visited Moscow’s
and St. Petersburg’s famous art
museums and was fascinated with
the masterpieces of Russian, Dutch,
Italian, English and Spanish masters.
As a keen dressage rider at that time,
I was especially deeply impressed
by paintings depicting horses and
riders. So it was quite a challenge for
me later to learn to paint and draw
something else, not only horses.
I started my career as a visual
arts teacher in Almaty (Kazakhstan)
after graduating from Pedagogical
University of Kazakhstan (Art
Department). After moving to
Australia in 1998, I took my time
to adjust to a new life in a new
country and raise my family. I
started to paint again in 2004 and
took part in local art shows.
My artworks mirror my interest in
the natural world and I prefer to work
in a very precise and detailed style.
Recently, I won some art awards for
my still lifes, but there is another
theme I really enjoy painting – animal
portraits, especially close-ups. I
rarely show them on exhibitions,
because mostly they are commissions.
The reason I love to do close-ups