Painting With An Opposite Hand

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Are you right-handed? Have you tried to write with the left hand?

Or, maybe you are a left-hander, who thought about drawing with the right one?

Try it! It is fun!

Those thoughts came to me when a couple weeks ago I've pulled my working arm in the elbow area. The pain was almost unbearable. It is better now.

I have put my right arm to rest for a day and did everything (EVERYTHING!) with the left one. Not an easy task, I can tell you.

I took a brush, placed my paints and water on the left side and dove/dived in.

I thought why not: 

- progressive deafness profoundly influenced Beethoven's compositions

- Degas' retinal disease influenced his late style 

- Even so loved Monet's Lilies were painted by him when his eye sight declined

And here is my attempt: The roses in my backyard. 

I've used a brush to draw instead of the pencil, then started painting applying the strokes one-by-one. No washes, no precise lines. At the end I grabbed a sponge and dabbed the rocky wall texture in. Maybe that was a secret of Impressionists: they worked with opposite hands ;0) ???

Quite new experience! 

Try doing something with the opposite hand. 

It is a fun challenge

 :0)

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Original Painting Roses is 12"x16" on Strathmore 140lb Cold Pressed (painted with the left hand)

Red, Yellow, Blue And A Little Bit of Orange - Watercolor Demo at Coffee Break

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Demo at Coffee Break started with bright Red on my brush. I, all of a sudden, wanted to begin not with Wet-On-Dry technique as planned, but with Wet-On-Really-Really-Wet.. 

I splashed some water in random places on the paper and made them red allowing the paint to flow down creating the stems of the flowers. My model was a recent loose painting of Red Puppies, which I created using the same technique:

After the first painting was done, I've made a few more cards with Wet-On-Dry technique "pulling" images from my memory. 

I hope everyone enjoyed the day. 

But the most people having fun, I believe, were I and these young visitors 

:0)

Colors Of Russia Art Show and FREE Demo in San Francisco

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Above is a little flyer about a new Art Show. My artist-friend Vera Lysenko and I decided to paint a series of painting depicting Russia. San Francisco has a big Russian community and these series of paintings will be enjoyed by a lot of people.

I've made 12 miniatures and divided them into three groups.

Fist group shows the city where I was born, the great Saint Petersburg:

The next group is showing Four Seasons. Yes, there are all four in Russia even though sometimes it feels like half year of Winter:

Last group of miniatures shows one of the famous cathedrals, 

The Church of Our Savior on the Spilled Blood. I used to live 5 min walk from this gorgeous historical monument:

This coming Saturday I'll be in San Francisco for the Art Show  reception and I'll give a demo on how to paint cute greeting cards using wet-on-dry technique and basic watercolors. 

4601 Geary Blvd, San Francisco, California

(2:00pm - 3:30pm)

Needless to say, that everyone who can come is welcome! 

:0)

White White Oleander With NO Whites

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Do you see white flowers? 

Aha, it is a White Oleander, the one that is growing down my street.

 This yet poisonous (see the story here ) but such beautiful bush amazes me each time when I take a walk in the neighborhood.   

And now I'll explain why I asked about white:

I painted these Oleander flowers without using any white color, and on a top of it there is not even a  spec of white paper left on the painting. Before I began to paint, I made a good "rainbow-ie" wash on the paper. Then I dried it nicely, reserved the space for the middle of the flowers and started playing with one wash after another on the flowers' surface.

Yet the real magic began when I worked on the background. The so-rather-not-white flowers all of a sudden became united and quiet white against the dark of the background colors.

I love that kind of magic!! 

:0)

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Original painting White Oleander is 20"x16" on 300lb Arches professional watercolor paper

Oval Paintings?

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SOLD

 (prints are available) click on the name of the painting

French Roses painting

Last weekend I was talking to a potential customer who was specifically looking for an odd shape painting. I showed pretty much all my paintings, but they were all not odd, they were squared...

Then, I started putting some thoughts into the request and it occurred to me, that it is quite easy to make pretty much any shape with the square/rectangular painting as long as composition allows.

Then I started playing with the paintings images that I have and PhotoShop in order to create ovals. And I was surprised how pictures transformed. For me personally, they started looking a little rustic, antique, and charming.  

Here are just a few as an example.

Florals look lovely in the oval shapes, aren't they?

SOLD

 (prints are available) click on the name of the painting

Tea-time Roses painting

SOLD

 (prints are available) click on the name of the painting

Rose In The Blue Vase Painting

SOLD

 (prints are available) click on the name of the painting

Transparent Butterfly painting

Landscapes look almost like somebody is peeking through the binoculars: 

SOLD

 (prints are available) click on the name of the painting

The Girl And The Ocean painting

SOLD

 (prints are available) click on the name of the painting

Positano Italy painting

SOLD

 (prints are available) click on the name of the painting

Lake Tahoe, California - painting

Fruits and berries are just asking to "oval" them due to their natural roundness:

SOLD

 (prints are available) click on the name of the painting

Cherries In The Bowl painting

SOLD

 (prints are available) click on the name of the painting

Pears and Coffee painting

Lemons painting

Portraits definitely remind some old style photography ( except that they are just in color):

Rainbow Breeze painting

SOLD

 (prints are available) click on the name of the painting

Peekaboo painting

Sweet Dreams painting

Still Life paintings look sweet in the oval shapes too:

Still Life With Onion, Lemon, and Ginger painting 

SOLD

 (prints are available) click on the name of the painting

Shell and Pearls painting

Still Life With Garlic And Olive painting

Even mademoiselle Eiffel Tower got its rustic look peeking at us through the oval shape:

SOLD

 (prints are available) click on the name of the painting

Eiffel Tower painting

What an interesting transformation!!! 

:0)

Travel Sketches Book is Published

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My business plan for this year included publishing one or two books with my art. 

One book is out! 

Yey!

I started with publishing a small 26 pages, 9"x6" book that contains 70 travel sketches. Some of these sketches I made for NY Library between 2010 - 2013; and, some were created for one upcoming art show in San Francisco. 

I thought it would be great to combine all of them in one book 

The e-book in 

PDF file

$3.60

Anyone can order by clicking on this

  LINK 

The hard copy is on Blurb.com below:

LINK

Travel Sketches by Irina Sztukowski | Make Your Own Book

Sweet Memories

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One mysterious thing happened to me a few days ago. 

I had to paint a cat, who died last year. For this sweet memory artwork, the owner sent me a photo. Together with the first photo, she sent a picture of her new cat. Ok, I thought, I'll place both cats on one painting. The cat that was gone will be on the framed photo and the alive one will look through the window. 

Just as I was ready to paint I've learned a terrible news: the other cat was found dead on the street next to his house. So sad...

...I started working on the painting. My plan for the composition did not change, except, that for some reason I decided to place a mouse next to the first kitty. The same toy I placed on the window. Why? I had no explanation, but "why not, each cat might have a mouse-toy at some point, right?"

But how little I knew. When the painting was delivered to the owner; she almost burst in tears. Her beloved cats were "speaking" to her from the painting looking so much like in real life. She also asked how I KNEW about the mouse story. What story?!

 And here it goes: 

When the first cat died, she packed all his toys and placed them to the attic. Yet one toy was missing: his favorite mouse. Later, when she invited a second pet, he found the toy and it became one of his favorite, as if the first cat passed it to the new one as a generous gift.

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Original Painting Sweet Memories is 8"x10" on 140lb Fabriano Watercolor Paper

Inspiration Point - Orinda - California

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Last Saturday plein-air outing with CWA group brought us to Tilden Park in Orinda hills. Gorgeous place, and the name of the view point is quite matching - The Inspiration Point - beautiful California landscape. 

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Original Painting Inspiration Point is 10"x14" on 300lb Watercolor Paper

Hibiscus

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Here is a simple hibiscus flower. When it was the right season, I saw it every day going down my street. When the light was right, I took a photo. And when the time was right, I painted it. 

Personally, hibiscus flower reminds me a happy dancer whose skirt is spinning in the air with the speed of Nature.

Later on, I've learned so much about this simple, yet quiet interesting flower. 

From online research, I’ve discovered that there are several 

 hundred species of Hibiscus Flower are known in the world. It has so many

 uses in so many areas. For example, in landscaping, it is used to

 attract butterflies and hummingbirds. But not only beauty of the

 flower is useful; there is also some hibiscus species that are used in

 paper production. 

In everyday life, hibiscus leaves would make you

 a sweet refreshing tea. Yet not just that: in some regions of the

 world hibiscus is used as a vegetable and as natural food coloring.

 Some countries such Haiti, Malaysia, and South Korea chose this 

gorgeous flower as their national symbol. And  as the symbol, the

 red hibiscus is traditionally worn by Tahitian women. When tucked

 behind the ear, it indicates that the woman is single and ready for a

 marriage. 

The social aspect of the hibiscus is competing with its

 medical use. Besides hibiscus tea, which by the way is found to

 lower high blood pressure; its roots are used to make various

 mixtures believed to cure cough, hair loss or hair greying. 

(courtesy of Wiki)

Wow! What a flower!! 

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Original Artwork Hibiscus is 20"x16" on 300lb Watercolor Paper

Red Poppies Between Apples - Follow-up On Disney Open Studio Event

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The weekend at the Walt Disney Family Museum went great. 

While painting Apples and waiting for the Stage #4 to dry, I offered to show students how to paint a simple poppy flower with wet-on-wet technique. 

I had a few flowers pinned on a board for a better visual experience and my original painting Poppies Field:

It was interesting to see how much fun the students (from age 4 to  60+) had watching the paint intermingle while creating a new unpredictable pattern.  

(Photos by my sister, Maria Batkova)

Also, my sister, like a true "paparazzi", caught me thinking about a new project :0)

 (I guess I was counting how many poppies to place on the blank paper):