From vision to creation
1. INSPIRATION
Katia's goal is to capture the essence of the animals she paints; their beauty, intelligence, vulnerability and resilience. Although birds are one of her favourite subject, she also enjoys painting creatures she has encountered during hikes, travels, or some she might have seen on her trail cams. She is also drawn to painting endangered animals, as well as rescued species from rehabilitation centres and sanctuaries she follows on social media.
2. SKETCHING
In order to have an interesting composition, Katia creates several sketches before moving on to painting. She uses personal photographs and images she comes across online in order to study the anatomy of the animal so that she can paint them in a semi-realistic way. She prefers to limit the background and surroundings to a minimum and make the wildlife the true star of her art pieces.
3. COLOUR MIXING
Exploring colour palettes for harmony as well as contrast of the subject matter against the background is a crucial step. Katia gravitates towards bold and bright colours, because it not only represents her personality, but she likes seeing her art stand out in a room. Nonetheless, she does not shy away from using pastel shades when suitable, as these values tend to have a calming effect.
Katia also resorts to small containers when mixing paint, helping preserve mixed shades longer and allowing her to repurpose what's left into her next pieces.
4. GEL PLATE PRINTING
Katia creates mixed media pieces, which involves a Japanese paper printing and collage component prior to painting with acrylics. In order to create interesting textures during the printing process, she gathers natural materials from her backyard and hikes (she calls them "nature's treasures"), and combines them with man-made items around the home. By using a mix of botanicals and well-known objects, Katia highlights the human footprint on nature, and the importance of conservation, as well as the "reduce, reuse, recycle" motto.
The next step is to apply paint to her gel plate using a brayer. The collected materials are pressed onto the gel plate to create texture and patterns that are reminiscent of elements in the surroundings of the wildlife subject for that particular art piece. The textures are then transferred onto plain Japanese paper, which is cut into strips and adhered onto the canvas. When creating the collage background on the canvas, Katia pays attention to what has appeared on the paper and uses it purposefully to guide the eyes around the canvas. At times, patterns might have formed onto the paper, which evokes flower, wind, water, etc. These gems are what she loves about this printing process, and what makes her art unique.
5. PAINTING
After her collaged background is assembled, Katia moves on to painting her subject. This is where she uses her rough sketch to position the animal onto the canvas, while simultaneously letting the backdrop inspire this process. She likes to paint with flow and adds finishes touches with quick brushstrokes and dots, emulating movement and the uneasiness today's wildlife must feel in their shifting environment.