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?

Salon de l'Aquarelle de Belgique - The Watercolour Fair of Belgium

Every two years a major watercolour exhibition is held in Namur, Belgium. This is said to be one of the largest art exhibitions in Europe and attracts thousands of visitors.  It started in 1989 and the most recent in 2011 attracted artists from 20 countries. The artists are described as `prestigious artists selected during severe selections'. The biennial exhibition lasts three weeks and attracts visitors from far and wide. Namur is claimed by the organizers to be `the European Capital of watercolor (sic)' After each exhibition an Art Book, is published which presents:

 `a work in colour of each exhibiting artist and a series of articles highlighting the richness of watercolour in all its facets'. 'The next exhibition will be held from 11 May until 2 June 2013 in Namur-Expo, which is a new location first used by the association last year.The space, large and clear, give more relief and value to hundreds of works submitted by the watercolors (sic) of 20 different countries'.

The book (200 pages) can be purchased and costs 39 Euros. Postage ?

Two views of the Exhibition

`Winner Jose Mespouille'

I'm not sure exactly what this artist  has won, whether it be overall winner or in a particular section.  If any French or Belgium readers of the blog can tell me more I would like to hear from them. The painting to the right of him is by a different artist. I have looked at all the 198 paintings and none, as far as I can tell, are attributed to Jose Mespouille

Alexandra Prischedko

 Slawa Prischedko

Viktoria Prischedko

These are paintings from the Prischedko family, which are amongst the 198 shown on the website. They are a wonderfully varied set of paintings, full of colour and in many cases very adventurous. You can easily see the `realistic abstract' theme epitomised and given publicity by Keest van Aalts book `Realistic Abstracts'. The standard is generally very high. I have selected a number after looking at all 198 but I'm sure most of the others are equally worthy. Many of the artists are unknown to me and, while I haven't gone through the complete list, I was unable to find out much if anything on quite a few. Viktoria Prischedko is becoming very well known and my posts on her are the most popular on the blog. Enquiries on Google brought up information on a number but mostly from gallery or referral sites. I shall keep looking.

Roland Palmaerts

Eric Laurent

Yaohua Yan

Yves Rabin

Odette Feller

Stephan Heurion 

Gerdes Marijke Wiedijk

 Jean Verbecelte

Cao Bei An

Detlef Rhodius

I think that will have to do for now. I may do a second batch if there is sufficient interest but as I get relatively few comments it is difficult for me to judge. I may not have the names exactly right in some cases so apologies over that. Corrections welcome.

A word of warning the website www.salon-aquarelle.be/ is easy enough to access but has (largely) proved impossible for Google translate to change into English from the original French. Why? Somehow or other I did eventually get two pages to translate, including the important opening one,  but this was after much trial and error, and exactly how it came about I can't explain. It has proved difficult to repeat. To look at the paintings click on `photos' in the top right bar, then when they load click on each one individually to enlarge. 

I'm starting to wonder if I can organize a trip to Namur next year.

More on Viktoria Prischedko

Viktoria demonstrating

The interest in this artist has been considerable, one of the most popular posts recently, and I determined to find out a little more about her tecnique.

I've confirmed she uses Hahnemuhle 600gsm (300lb) rough paper which she lies loose on a plywood board. After an initial sketch with a soft pencil both sides of the paper are wetted with a sponge. She immediately dabs with a paper towel the focal point, approximately one third to two thirds vertically and horizontally, and some other places that are important in it's composition. Once she starts painting she varies the tone between warm and cool to determine relationships. Mostly she paints wet in wet but keeps the paper towels handy to dry off where she wants to place details.

She uses a lot of pigment and a little water for the detail. Lemon Yellow is an important colour used to contrast with dark colours in the background. Apparently her people are always Lemon Yellow + Orange with some Ultramarine. Paints are `Russian' (St Petersburg?) and Scminke. This is logical as she is originally from the old Soviet Union (Moldavia) and currently lives in Germany. She uses 3 - 4 colours up to a  maximum of 5 for each watercolour. Colours are Orange (Scminke), Ultramarine, Violet, LemonYellow, Green Gold.  I'm amazed at this with the riot of colour she creates. Looking at her paintings it is difficult to reconcile some of the above, at least on some of them. This additional information was obtained from a piece  on his website by a Dutch artist Dominiek Reynt Jens, who attended a course in 2009.

Nothing much to add on brushes which are described as `Da Vinci-type filbert sable in thickness and type 30/20/15/10 (broad brushes with fine tip) and a fine tug for details'. Quite what a `tug' is I'm unaware - could it be a rigger? Note Added: 01/05/11 .I looked up `tug' and eventually found someone selling them. They appear to be riggers.

Although virtually unknown outside the continent of Europe she is a very highly regarded and popular artist. Although her approach couldn't be more different than the path I am currently (trying) following I think she is a fabulous artist and should be better known outside her home turf. Do look at her website which is also for her husband ( I presume) Slawa. I am on the track of more great European artists and hope to feature others in the coming months.

Once again I make the proviso that I don't actually have permission to show the above paintings but as I am promoting the artist and have no commercial gain in mind hope this is okay. I will remove the material if asked to do so. Her website gallery is: www.prischedko.de/

Gerda Mertens - A Way with Trees

Some years ago I was very interested in the English landscape artist Edward Wesson. Wesson was something of a cult figure with an enormous following and several books have been written about him and his paintings. One of the best known was by Ron Ranson and I remember Ron writing that `Ted', as he was commonly known to friends, had `a way with trees'. This lady also has `a way with trees'.

Recently I became aware of the artist Viktoria Prischedko and that led me, quite by chance, to Gerda Mertens.

Gerda Mertens - the lady on the left.

I'm not absolutely certain I've identified Gerda correctly but I think so. This is taken I believe at the Dum Pingo Vivo group that she runs in Balen, Holland, although when I say run it does appear to be a very co-operative organisation involving much discussion as well as painting. She runs numerous weekly courses in Holland and at least one in France.

Gerda graduated in 1980 as a secondary school teacher of Plastic Arts (what is that?) at the Sint-Maria Institute in Antwerp. Her education appears to have been comprehensive involving a 35 hr week and several different teachers, each a specialist in their particular field.  Still more education took place, both domestically and abroad, including a spell at the China Academy of Fine Arts, studying Chinese painting. 

She likes  a variety of subjects, buildings and landscapes predominating. She also favours painting plein air. What struck me most were her tree studies.

What do you think of that lot? I love them and already I'm pondering how I can incorporate this free and colourful approach into my landscapes.

What is her approach? Her drawing style is described (in her words) as  `a mixture of intuitive and analytical'. I'm not quite sure how I interpret that, perhaps someone can enlighten me. 

Gerda's preferred palette comprises 10 colours. Two yellows, two reds and two blues with cold and warm versions of each, making four of each type. That makes twelve by my calculation not ten and her signature colour is Burnt Sienna which she describes as `a must'.

Paper is either hand-made or machine made, and brushes a natural hair/synthetic  mix, both flat and round. No indication of what makes she uses nor, in the case of paints the specific colours. 

These are other examples of her style as applied to buildings. You have this slightly distorted effect, more obvious on some paintings than others. On Wetcanvas I posed the question about this rather different approach and a Danish member replied that this was a currently popular vogue in watercolour and there were many  Continental artists doing it. He gave a link to another artist called Voka www.voka.at  (Please note:There appears to be a problem with this link. When you click on it an `Oops this link appears to be broken' appears. Follow the suggestion it then gives to click on www.voka.at  and you should get there.   As with Viktoria Prischedko the approach seems to apply various degrees of realism with abstraction and even distortion. I like some of it and some I'm not so sure about. 

I confess I don't have permission to show the above paintings but as I have no commercial objectives, and am  highlighting the artist, hope this is acceptable. If advised otherwise I will delete them (and the post!). Her website which enlarges on the above is : www.gerdaaquarel.be/

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?