More on the Prischedkos

The amount of interest in the two pieces I did on Viktoria and Slawa Prischedko has been considerable and they are amongst the top posts in terms of page reads. The Moulin de Perrot Academy of Fine Arts www.mdperrot.com/  is once again hosting both Viktoria and Slawa for a workshop entitled `Watercolor: shadows and light in watercolor' between July 29 and August 3rd. They are previouly teaching at Atelier-artimage, Dustal, France between July 15 - 21 with the same workshop title. On the Atelier site are two splendid galleries of their paintings www.Atelier-artimage.com  Unfortunately, like their website, you cannot download the paintings as some sort of block is in place.  The Prischedkos gallery is www.prischedko.de/ ADDED 11/11/2019: For the last two years the Prischedkos have been at East Devon Arts at Sidmouth, Devon. England conducting workshops.

 Slawa in centre with Viktoria next to him.

Viktoria will teach landscapes outside and in the studio and Slawa portraiture in the studio. Interestingly Viktorias class is in French with simultaneous translation into English. Slawas is in German with translation into French and English. Viktoria was born in Moravia and Slawa the Ukraine. Both are graduates of the Art Academy of Kiev. Slawa has his own teaching academy and both have featured in many exhibitions and belong to several art organisations. They are considered two of the leading watercolour artists, although previously little known outside Europe.

Moulin de Perrot list the materials Viktoria uses which I will detail again. For paper she uses Hahnemuhle 600g ("Moulin du Coq")  50 x 60cm. It says `this is not a regular product'(?)  Brushes are Da Vinci Nos 12, 14, 20 and 30. I presume these are the Cosmotop series and could be either the Spin round series 5580 or the Mix B round series 5530. The 5580 is a synthetic brush while the 5530 is a mixture of sable, squirrel and fitch combined with synthetic. Ken Bromley www.artsupplies.co.uk/ sells a heavy Hahnemuhle paper that could well be the one Viktoria uses, and Jacksons www.jacksonsart.co.uk/ sell the Cosmotop series. Also listed are Schlepper No 6 or 8. These latter are what we know as riggers.

Despite the amazing colour effects she gets in her paintings her palette is listed as (only!) lemon yellow, green yellow, transparent orange, perylene violet, french ultramarine and indigo blue. It has previously been said that these are a mix of Schminke and `Russian', presumably St. Petersburg/White Nights. Looking at her paintings I imagine the transparent orange is the Schminke colour that Jean Haines is ecstatic about in her latest book. The pigment (PO71 pyrrole orange) was until recently unique to Schminke, but Lukas are now offering a Permanent Orange which is the same pigment. Schminke is available from Jacksons and Lukas Great Art www.greatart.co.uk/  and Lawrence www.lawrence.co.uk

 The portraits are all by Slawa although I wonder if this one might be by Viktoria? It looks like her signature.

Slawas tecnique is different to Viktorias. Apparently he doesn't do any preliminary drawing for his portraits and, unlike Viktoria, paints in layers. I cannot find any information about his materials. I assume they may be different but who knows? They are both fabulous artists and it is a pity neither appear to have written any books nor made videos. can we live in hope?

Viktoria Prischedko (and Slawa too) - Wonderful Artists

This last week I received an e-mail advertising a new book from someone called Kees van Aalst, published by Search Press. The title is `Realistic Abstracts' and the cover had a stunning painting which turned out to be by Viktoria Prischedko. I'd never heard of her but intrigued started `googling'. 
I soon discovered her and her husband's gallery:  www.prischedko.de/  I assume he is her husband. Both are fabulous painters, she paints in watercolour and so may he but I'm not certain. Their styles are different but both paint realistic abstracts. This term defines an abstract painting with some areas of realism. At least that's how I interpret it. I also discovered another site which is an academy in France that runs painting courses where she features this year. It had  another stunning array of her paintings. http://www.mdperrot.com/page-peintre-en-38-prischedko.html

Watercolour by Viktoria Prischedko

Viktoria's Demo

I haven't got permission to post either of these but if asked to do so will remove one or both. As I'm giving both her and MD Perrot a plug perhaps they won't mind.

Apparently Viktoria was born in Moldavia and now lives in Germany. One of the results obtained when I googled her was a link to EPC in Catalonia, where I had the pleasure of painting on a Charles Reid course in 2008. She was a tutor on a course EPC held in Girona and the course notes indicated there would be a German translator present, so I take that to suggest she may not speak English. She appears to be a plein air painter.

The Moulin de Perrot (Academy of fine arts)  say , in the notes about her course, `you will be able to buy from Viktoria the paper and brushes she uses. `Hereafter is a list of what she recommends':

1-Paper-Hahnemuhle 600g 50 x 60cm

2-Brushes-Da Vinci No12,14,20 and 30. Also Schlepper Nos 6 or 8.

3-Colours- lemon yellow, green yellow, transparent orange, perylene violet, French ultramarine and indigo blue.

Regarding paper Hahnemuhle is sold by several UK outlets but I can't find a 600gsm paper in either Jacksons or Great Art so that remains a bit of a mystery. The brush list doesn't specify the exact Da Vinci brush but judging by the sizes quoted it  may be the Cosmotop Mix B round. I've never heard of Schlepper. Note added 17/02/011: Ken Bromley's latest catalogue just arrived lists Hahnemuhle "Leonardo" in 640gsm (300lb) with both Not and Rough surfaces on offer. Price is £26.60p for a pack of five 76cm x 56cm (30" x 22") sheets.  http://www.artsupplies.co.uk/

Colours? Only 6 incredible as that seems given the brilliant colour range in her paintings. If true certainly a great advert for a limited palette. What make(s) does she use? It appears almost certainly to be Windsor & Newton. I'm assuming these are watercolours as the course is called "Watercolor - the lyric magic of landscapes'. Incidentally if you go on the Moulin de Perrot site it looks a fabulous location. The prices seem reasonable but I imagine you'd need to speak French.

As far as I know this artist has written no books (so far) but to my mind illustrates just how many wonderful artists are out there waiting to be discovered. Obviously she is well known on the Continent but not yet in the UK. Her husband Slawa is also a terrific artist with a different more subdued style and a fantastic way with portraits, again combining abstraction with realism. With young British artists like Jean Haines www.jeanhaines.co.uk/ and Kaye Parmenter  www.kayeparmenter.co.uk/ also painting in this abstract/realism style I wonder if we are seeing a new trend?