ANASTASIA JILINE
My work is all based on nature, and more specifically trees. I chose trees because I wanted to show their beauty, that most people don’t often notice and remind people to stop and look around sometimes. We are usually so occupied by other things, we don’t notice the beauty of nature that surrounds us.
The mediums to help me express nature are sketching, watercolour painting, paper installation and acrylic painting. I chose sketching to help me plan out my paintings and focus on the beautiful details of nature. I chose watercolour painting because it is a challenge for me and it is a medium that I want to improve on. I chose paper installation and acrylic painting because these are types of art that I really enjoy and do in my spare time, so I wanted to include them in my projects.
My artwork has really progressed since I started studying art. I have been really working on my sketching and painting skills. For example, last year, I worked really hard on a project where I sketched my shoe and during art summer camp, I drew a very detailed octopus. I also created an acrylic and watercolour painting / newspaper collage of a landscape with birch trees. The background was newspaper pieces with a wash of watercolour over it and I painted acrylic birch trees overtop. I also just started working on creating paper installation this Christmas break. For example, I painted with watercolour a piece of paper with different shades of pink. Then, I cut petals out and glued them together to make a beautiful paper rose that I gave to my mother for Christmas. This is how my art has progressed and why I feel confident with sketching, painting, and paper installation as my big project this year. I also want to use this as an opportunity to improve my skills with these types of art even further.
The artists that inspired me and that I researched are Cher Anderson, Bob Ross, Ellen Fuller, Tiffanie Turner, Sara Kim, Yuko Takada Keller, Ivan Shishkin, and Thomas Darnell. Ellen Fuller is an amazing acrylic painter who paints nature and wildlife. Her beautiful realistic acrylic paintings inspired me to paint about the beauty of nature. Her website (http://ellenfuller.com) shows her many elegant paintings.
Ivan Shishkin was a well-known Russian painter who painted intricate and detailed trees. I have known him ever since I was younger and his painting was on the wrapper of my favourite Russian chocolate. His paintings (https://www.wikiart.org/en/ivan-shishkin) inspired me to paint realistic trees.
Thomas Darnell is a great artist who paints gorgeous realistic flowers. Observing his detailed flower paintings on his website (http://thomasdarnell.com) will help me with the flowers on the cherry blossom tree that I will be painting.
Tiffanie Turner is a very creative paper installation artist. She specializes in paper flowers. The giant flowers she makes for her exhibits (http://www.papelsf.com) are stunning. She inspired me to start trying paper installation art.
The biggest challenge for me this year was the watercolour painting of a four seasons tree. I was putting too much water on the paper and it was shredding. However, Ms. Cragg inspired me to repurpose it instead of just throwing it away, so I decided to make it into paper installation flowers and leaves.
Some of my biggest successes this year were my inktober project, my mandala, and my identity project. My inktober project was a pen sketch of a set-up of pumpkins, a barrel of apples, and leaves that really conveyed fall. Drawing my mandala, it was a real challenge to make it symmetrical, but it ended up beautiful. It was made with warm and contrasting cool colours, like pinks and blues presenting calm. My identity project was a very detailed drawing of the St. Basil’s Cathedral in Russia. It not only represented my Russian roots, but the different colours also represented all the different challenges in life.
I hope that viewers of my art experience the beauty and calmness of nature. I hope it makes them feel inspired and helps them realize how amazing nature is. Most of the time we are so occupied by other things, we don’t recognize the beautiful nature surrounding us. I think that sometimes we should stop worrying about the future or the past and be in the presence. We need to be in the presence and enjoy the moment by observing how calm and beautiful nature is.