(photograph © Kiwidutch)
Whenever I see a painting or art form, my mind often wonders about the space in which it was made.
I imagine large studios, some clean and tidy, others chaotic with things strewn around the “work in progress”.
I know that Dutch houses don’t have a lot of space to spare and so then I wonder how they manage to work in their small spaces. I was offered a tour of the paintings various rooms in Natalia’s home, and that included a look into her little studio.
Once upon a time I painted in acrylic paint too, loving the fact that it is a quick drying medium, and that I could build up the images using layers.
I was delighted to see that acrylic is Natalia’s chosen medium too, because it’s a paint often classed as a poor relation to it’s more famous cousins: oil and water colours.
In fact this is far from the case, used well, acrylic is often the favourite of many artists who paint in a super realist style, and love the near photographic results that can be achieved using acrylic paint.
For instance, check out Jason de Graff if you want to see exactly what I mean.
Natalia Stefanova’s work space is a tiny room, well organised, paints on a rack to one side of her workspace.
The width of the room is pretty much what you see in the second photograph, it’s not too much deeper either. Painting some of her bigger works must have been a tight fit.
An article written by Ine van den Boer for “ArtiBrak” was in Dutch, so Himself helped me out by providing an English translation:
“Natalia Stefanova – phantasy rooted in Russian tradition”, “Magic realism – Natalia uses acrylic paint on paper or canvas. She has chosen acrylic for a reason.
“With acrylic paint you can realise the effects of all techniques and materials, such as oil paint or water colours, depending on the substances you add. “she explains.
Often she applies a base of textured paint or gesso which gives her art a weathered wall look. At first she painted figurative still lives but slowly her work developed towards a sort of magic realism. Figures from tarot cards are a source of inspiration, and alchemy and mysticism too, about which she has many books.”
This studio space may be small, but it has a window for natural light and enough space to work…. and work it certainly does because Natalia is a prolific artist, with many beautiful paintings.
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
(Below) Latest work in progress…
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
