DPW Spotlight Interview: Natali Derevyanko

Each week we will spotlight a different DPW artist who will give away one of their best paintings. To enter to win Natali's painting, "Water and Flower" go to Daily Paintworks and click on the link at the top of the page announcing their interview.

From Natali's DPW Gallery:

I am a Ukrainian artist. I paint from my childhood always and everywhere. I like oil painting. That's what I do not get tired ever. I graduated from the Lviv National Academy of Fine Arts. I am member of the National Union of Artists of Ukraine. Today, I teach design, illustrate books for kids, participate art exhibitions and I paint in my studio.

Tell us a bit about how you first started painting. 

I've been drawing since I was a kid. My father kept my earliest works: our cat, Chernysh, and the portrait of the teacher of kindergarten, Anna Nikolaevna. Then I started visiting the studio, then the art school, then the school and then graduated from the Lviv National Academy of Arts.

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

My work completely depends on the moments of my personal life. A new period in creativity depended on the period of my life. My first works were on a sacred subject, because I lived in Lviv and discovered a sacred part of myself in a new way. When I had a family and children, in my work there were princesses, knights, castles and various kinds of animals whom children love. Now children grow, require a lot of attention and time and can only realize themselves in small paintings. When children grow up, I will move to a new stage of my work, I will start to paint giant landscapes.

Water and Flower
(click to view)

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

What mediums and genres have you experimented with? 

In adolescence, I tried all the graphic techniques, but the love of color still won. I wrote a lot of watercolors alla prima. It was landscapes and still lifes. I love acrylic for its versatility. I painted acrylic icons. He reminded me of the egg tempera used by the old masters. But absolute love is oil. It's texture, saturation and transparency can not be compared to anything. With oil I write everything: figures, portraits, landscapes, still lifes and even children's illustrations. Five books were published with my oil paintings.

Which ones have "stuck" and which ones have fallen away?

Watercolor I now do not paint. But I dream to return to watercolor. I'm inspired by its transparency and romance. Acrylic is in my closet, while it does not interest me. Oil forever.

Yellow Roses
(click to view)

Which ones are you looking forward to exploring?

I want to study botanical painting. There is a fine line between graphics and color. This fascinates me. Also I'm interested in portrait. I would very much like to study the similarity more deeply, to convey the image.

Who or what inspires you most? 

I have no problems with inspiration. The source of inspiration can be anything: the babble of a son, the whims of a daughter, sunny hares on the wall, a fresh flower, a yellow leaf, garden bouquet. Yes anything! I have many sources of inspiration.

Forsythia
(click to view)

What techniques work to ensure that you make time for your art?

Time is a problem. I have a workshop, but I do not have time to go there. So I organized a corner with an easel and paints at home. The colors are always open, the canvas is ready for use. As soon as there is a half an hour of free time, I sit down to paint. In the summer when it gets light early, I paint in the morning. Everyone sleeps and I can study painting quietly. Now when the children are in school and kindergarten, I have three hours, which I dedicate to painting.

How do you generally arrive at ideas for your paintings? 

Ideas do not give me sleep. Sometimes I start a new picture, although I have not finished my previous work. Because I want to transfer to the canvas of interesting falling shadows, or a new flower. Most important ideas come during the drawing process. Each line, every smear pulls new stories that you need to be able to see.

Pomegranate
(click to view)

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

I love the process and the result and so far there have been no burnout problems. There is a shortage of time, I always want to draw, I do not have enough time to get tired of drawing. I get tired physically because I put a lot of energy into my work. But if the topics and genres are exhausted, new ones come into their place.

I also teach at the university. Communication with students keeps me on my toes. To be aware of new trends pushes me to a constant search.

For You
(click to view)

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

Now I'm learning to appreciate the present and strive to convey the beauty of the environment. I'm learning to find beauty in everyday life. I'm learning to draw quickly. I want to achieve negligence and not be a perfectionist.

What makes you happiest about your art? 

The opportunity to see the beautiful around myself, create here and now, to enjoy the process and result, makes me happy.

Thanks, Natali!

© 2017 Sophie Marine