Olga Retunskaya – Friday Night Guest – October 18, 2024
(Submitted Taline Kavoukian)
Born and raised in Kerch, Crimea, Olga graduated from the Kharkiv State Academy of Design and Arts in the specialty “Designer of industrial products and teacher”. After working as an industrial/cabinetry designer, Olga turned to painting and hasn’t looked back since! Olga has lived in Vernon, BC since Oct 2022.
Over the last seven years, she has won awards in juried international watercolour painting competitions and has participated in Ukrainian, Russian and other festivals and exhibitions. Watercolour painting has become Olga’s passion. Her favourite subject matter is portraiture and figure drawing, and her two daughters serve as her artistic muses. She has a daily art practice, and believes firmly that “quantity of work ultimately brings quality of work”.
Olga shared with us some of her favourite art tips:
- The ideal distance from the subject should be no less than two to three times the size of the object.
- Inspiration is more important than a good reference. Remember the feeling!
- Knowledge of anatomy and proportion is useful as a way of self-checking but should not guide the composition.
- Look broadly when sketching and without too tight a focus. Attention to detail creates distortions in the drawing.
Her colour palette is comprised mainly of a warm/cool in each of the primaries: cadmium yellow/lemon yellow; pthalo blue/ultramarine blue; magenta rose/geranium/cad red.
Olga talked us through a recorded demonstration of a watercolour portrait. She explained her process from the photo reference, to a 5 step value scale thumbnail, to colour thumbnails of warm and cool colour schemes, to the final results. It was fascinating to see her use of darker values, even for child portraits. Her favourite brush is a Chinese Calligraphy brush made of weasel hair with a synthetic center. https://a.aliexpress.com/_mMO3imo
She concluded her presentation with a shorter demo in oils, explaining that while the materials are different, the principles are the same. Attention to light/shadows, shapes/lines, and a strong composition are paramount. She is somewhat unconventional in her approach to oils, as she doesn’t worry about beginning with dark values: rather, she encourages us to begin with what seems clear and understandable to the painter. Thank you, Olga, for an inspiring and informative presentation!
https://allmylinks.com/olga-retunskaya
