DPW Spotlight Interview: Beata Musial-Tomaszewska

Each week we will spotlight a different DPW artist who will give away one of their best paintings.

To enter to win Beata's painting, "Orange Triangle" go to Daily Paintworks and click on the link at the top of the page announcing their interview.

From Beata's DPW Gallery page:

Hi, I'm Beata, cheers from Poland. :) I graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdansk, Faculty of Painting. Just after the Academy, I started working as a 3D animator and a special effect designer. That's what I still do, but now at a big production house in Warsaw. So my professional life is filled with advertising, movie production, and a computer as the only tool. (click to read more)

Tell us a bit about how you first started painting.

I have a funny association with that kind of question because my boss used to say to us (just for fun), "Tell me how your adventure with the film first started." I'm working for an advertiser which makes special effects for commercials and movies. But I laugh and call it “show business.” :)

But seriously, I started drawing intensively when I was thirteen. It was one year before my high school of art exam and it was my first instance of daily painting - I would draw at least one picture a day. These were figures, hands, feet, just to get proportion. So I passed the exam with flying colors.

Orange Triangle
(click to see original image)

Enter to win by clicking on the link at the top of the home page announcing Beata's interview.

Did you have any stops and starts in your painting career?

Yes, of course. Well, actually no, because I have never really started my career, so I couldn't stop it. ;) I graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdansk in Poland, Faculty of Painting. Just after the Academy, I started working as a 3D animator and special effect designer. It was my second love - the movies. That's what I still do for a living but now I do it at a big production company in Warsaw. So my professional life is filled with advertising, movie production, and the computer as my sole tool of work. I have been painting in digital world. So now, I am trying to rebuild my connection between my brain and analog brush. :) But I still miss the ‘undo’ option. :(

Blue Horse
(click to see original image)

What mediums and genres have you experimented with?

My biggest experiments ever were during my studies, while I was working on my diploma. I created four big format (2/3m) pictures, each of them in a different technique. I put them together, into a cube standing in the center. Then people could watch them walking around, between my pictures and numerous billboards which I had hung earlier on the walls. It was a clash of two completely different esthetics - the colorful billboards and my pictures.

Small Violin
(click to see original image)

One of the pictures was a painting on a metal board. I treated it with acid (to achieve the rust weathering effect), then oil paint and finally a blowtorch. The other one was made of expanding (polyurethane) foam - deeply textural. And the next one was encaustic. I tried to show two starkly contrasted esthetics - juxtaposed together, and the dissonance between them.

Who or what inspires you most?

I don't have one favorite painter, but I love many of them: Hals, Broughel, Velazquez, Goya, Guardi, Van Gogh, Boudin. From within Daily Paintworks, I particularly admire: Krista Eaton, Jacqueline Gnott, Faith Te, Arena Shawn, Carol Marine, Barbara Jaenicke, V Yeremyan, and many others.

Grebe
(click to see original image)

How do you keep art "fresh?" What techniques have helped you avoid burnout and keep your work vibrant and engaging?

I get bored very quickly, so I prefer to paint in the same breath, meaning in one day and the next one. Additionally, I often change the subject and technique, and take up new challenges in order to not get stuck in a rut. I am not afraid of kitsch. Now, I am painting animals, landscape and people. That is what I really enjoy. I love nature but isn’t it ironic that I live in a big city? I happen to live in the capital of Poland. But to feel better, ten years ago I built a house in the countryside thirty-five km from Warsaw where, because of traffic jams, I can spend only weekends.

What do you feel you are learning about right now as an artist?

Patience and more patience, humility, and how to cut down on my living expenses. You know, artists are always poor but I'm overparticular both in life and painting. So that is what I strive against the most.

Orange Flower
(click to see original image)

What makes you happiest about your art?

Meeting new people, both online and in real life. For me, painting eliminates boundaries and distances between people. In addition, it makes me happy when I can give somebody a bit of joy and reflection. I also like be my own boss - that means freedom for me. I would like to thank you for offering me the opportunity to promote my work. You give people lots of fun. My kids say it's much better than Facebook. ;)

Thanks, Beata!

© 2014 Sophie Catalina Marine Cruse