I would like to express my gratitude to my friend Charles Mandel, who encouraged me to watercolor painting, and my Mom, who makes my work possible.

I did not choose watercolor painting. But watercolor painting chose me.

I am a Belarusian artist. I studied at the Belarusian State Pedagogical University to become an artist-teacher. After graduating from university, I worked in a printing house as a designer for several years. I did computer sketches for covers, labels, albums and many other printing products. I was successful at my workplace, but the office atmosphere did not match my freedom-loving nature. I quit my job and became a freelancer.

I studied three-dimensional programs on my own and worked in the computer games industry for 15 years. I created lots of three-dimensional houses, monsters, ruins, and crumpled tanks. My child grew up. I saw that he plays a lot of computer games. My work began to burden me. I was not sure if I was doing something good for the children.

I left my work. It was a shock for my family. I started retouching and colorizing old photos remotely.

I met an excellent customer from the USA. For several years we restored old photos of American baseball players. It was a great interesting work. Some of my colorizations are in National Baseball Hall of Fame. You can find my colorings in the online magazine Daily Mail. 11:50 BST, 26 May 2017, which is a British daily. And you can find my colorings in magazines Baseball History & Art.

We did a great job. Next my customer began to encourage me to paint watercolors of American baseball players.

Watercolor portrait! Its impossible. Watercolor is not suitable for portraits. I was sure that it was impossible.

But I did not want to lose the job. I had to agree. I had some of the most difficult months in my life. I forced myself to learn painting with watercolor. I did not expect that I would succeed, but still I hoped that I could manage.

A few months later I had a product for my client. We made 96 watercolor portraits for one year. All of them were purchased by collectors. I look forward to a series of baseball cards made from those watercolors.

I received touching letters from the relatives of the baseball players. I think that we did an excellent job.

I had a disagreement with my favourite long standing customer and had no job for three months. I used that time to create my portfolio and was honoured that my first independent work, “This Wheel Needs Repair!”, was accepted and included in the 2019 IWS Hungary Calendar. I am honoured.
My fifth independent work, “What Does She See?”, was selected for the Fabriano Acquarello 2019 Exhibition. Painting “Discovering the world” was accepted for II International Watercolor Triennial – Varna 2019.
Painting “Coquette” won the second round of the competition IWS Poland 2019 Step by Step.
And also I became the winner of the Global Watercolor Society GAWA in the senior category and received a scholarship to participate in international watercolor exhibitions. Very exciting.

Academic art 19th century had a great influence on me. Peter Sokolov and Karl Bryullov. And also emotional realism – Steve Hank.

I have now a unique technique for multi-layer watercolor. I do not mix colors on the palette. But I make thin layers of pure colors on my work. I get an amazing result, which is only available in watercolor painting.

20-year experience as a graphic designer has become for me a huge support in watercolor painting. I photograph and process the photos myself. I control this process and I know how to do well for watercolors.

I had a very sharp transition to traditional artists. Painting is an element that has a very powerful effect on a person. It took me away and I had to use all my willpower to control it. I do not need additional incentives for inspiration. Yet I have to make an effort to focus on everyday things. I immerse myself in the process of painting. I love the characters I paint. I feel their joys and sorrows. It is amazing.

 

Exhibitions and competitions

Winner of GAWA Annual International Watercolor Scholarship – 2018
Member 2019 IWS Hungary Calendar
Member Fabriano In Acquarello International Watercolor Exhibition 2019
Member II International Watercolor Triennial – Varna 2019
Winner second round of the competition IWS Poland 2019 Step by Step
Member III international watercolor biennial CASTRA 2019
Member Fabriano In Acquarello International Watercolor Exhibition 2020
Winner first round of the competition IWS Poland 2020 Step by Step
Artwork Worth Exhibiting Award IWS FIRÇA International Online Watercolor Contest 2020.
5th place in the CATEGORY WATER COLOR – HUMAN FIGURE in the in the competition American Art Awards 2020.
Finalists of the festive Competition Step by Step 2020
Member First International Online Juried Exhibition “Brushstrokes of Harmony” 2021. IWS California USA
Finalist International Watercolour Masters 2022 CONTEST
Selected artist in thes prestigious “Everything New” International Elite Watercolor Exhibition Hong Kong 2021

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