Natalia Domskaya is a young artist from Luhansk People's Republic. Now Natalia works as a teacher of fine arts at Sukhodol children's art school together with the teachers. Read about how Natalya became an artist, what her art says and what inspires her in an interview with the agency.
TELL US, HOW DID YOU DECIDE TO BECOME AN ARTIST? HAVE YOU DREAMT ABOUT IT SINCE YOU WERE A CHILD?
As a child, I wanted to be a builder, like my grandfather. This profession inspired me by the fact that he participated in the construction of the house where my grandmother lives now.
My journey as an artist began with the fact that I loved to draw and copy various illustrations. I still remember my first sketchbook and the colored pencils I was given when I was 6 years old.
I took dance lessons for a few years and from the class next door (it was an art class) children would come out with drawings and I always wondered what they drew. In 2006, I was enrolled in my first fine arts class. I quit dancing six months before graduation...but my interest in fine art has never disappeared. In 2010 I entered the College of the Lugansk State Academy of Culture and Arts named after Matusovsky in the artist-decorator. It was the most wonderful 5 years of training, new knowledge, new creative people and atmosphere.
Nowadays, creativity is considered an unprofitable profession, and parents often say, «Why do you need it?» and «What money will you get later?» I often think about it, but it was my mother who suggested me to choose a creative profession and always supported me. She gave me a big push to creativity.
Then I entered the Lugansk State Academy of Culture and Arts named after Matusovsky in «Design». All this time I was surrounded by great teachers and classmates.
As some people say «Artists are not born, but become?». I think this is my version of the life path, which has just begun.
WHAT DO YOU DO NOW?
At the moment I have been working for over 3 years as a fine arts teacher in a state institution in the Lugansk People's Republic - Sukhodol Children's Art School. I work with children and learn from them at the same time.
I work in a team with teachers who still taught me, they are like family to me. But most importantly, I work with my first art teacher.
In terms of creativity, do I paint a picture? No. I'm just at the stage of developing an idea for a new work. I don't know what technique it will be in, what material and what the ending will be. It's a mystery to myself as well. But I will open a little curtain - it will be the sun... There is so much lack of light and warmth in life right now.
I also draw portraits and copies of paintings to order. This is more of a practice for me, so my hand doesn't forget how to hold a pencil or a brush.
HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR WORK, WHAT IS IT ABOUT? WHAT STYLE, GENRE DO YOU WORK IN?
I have always been attracted to illustrations in children's books and fairy tales. I always wanted to plunge into a world that does not exist, so kind, bright and mysterious. Therefore, all my heroes are and, I think, will be unreal in life, but real in work. After all, it is so desirable, as in childhood, to believe in the world of miracles and fantasies.
I'm free floating. What the soul and fantasy asks for, then I draw. I don’t want to be dependent on existing styles, but I don’t think about my own yet. I prefer to create my own fantasy world.
HOW DID YOU LIVE THROUGH THE WAR? AND HOW DID THE WAR AFFECT YOUR CREATIVITY?
It never ended... When it all started, I was a 4th year college student, we were preparing for the summer session. Everything happened so fast that we couldn't even keep up with the news. Words cannot express my fear of everything that is happening.
You know, when the head is full of thoughts «the main thing is to survive» and «what will happen to us next?». You know, it’s hard to draw when your head is full of thoughts «the main thing is to survive» and «what will happen to us next?». But the study continued remotely until the connection was completely lost.
War is a very difficult topic not only for me, but for every person.
Now I understand that these years were probably the calm before the storm, I do not want to believe it, and I hope that everything will work out.
The war did not have any influence on my further work. Many artists paint a difficult wartime. Undoubtedly, we must remember our heroes and what happened then and now. This is a story that will always be with us. But I remain unchanged to my fairy-tale world and its heroes.
YOU HAVE A PICTURE OF «LADY INSOMNIA». TELL US WHAT IS IT ABOUT? AND UNDER WHAT CIRCUMSTANCES WAS WRITTEN?
I'll start with the circumstances. I have been to the artist's shop so many times and looked at acrylic, but all the time I did not dare to buy it, something stopped me all the time. In the fall, literally a week before my birthday, once again I went to the store, I thought: «Why not?», And made myself a gift. «Lady Insomnia» is my first acrylic painting.
The work is done in mixed media: acrylic, fabric, potal (gold leaf), contour. And everyone thinks that I used decorative paste, but I decided to experiment and took the simplest construction adhesive for ceiling tiles.
I like the night, and this is not my first work depicting the night time. There is something inscrutable and mysterious to me in the dark, I always look into the darkness and fantasize images. This is how the image of the girl-moon was born, who walks and dominates alone at night.
If we look at the picture, we see a face in the shape of a month. Here you can wonder why a month and in a dress. But you just need to take a closer look and see that this is the moon, just its half is hidden from our eyes. I love to notice the details around me, and I wanted the viewer to peer a little more into my work.
I have been asked more than once why the heroine's eyes are closed. I don't see her image with my eyes open. The lowered eyelids, the dark sky and the stars on it complement the fabulous mystery of the entire canvas.
WHICH OF YOUR WORKS WOULD YOU CALL THE MOST SIGNIFICANT FOR YOU? AND WHY?
I suppose each work is significant for the artist. It covers some period of life, a piece of the soul and some semantic message is embedded in each work, fully known only to the author of the work himself.
I just have a favorite artwork - «Winter Night». It is made in color graphics in a cold range of blue shades. You know, no matter how corny it may sound, it is my «firstborn». The creation of this painting was a very tedious process - thinking through the very idea, the details, in what technique and color scheme it would be. The more you work on a painting, the more familiar it is.
The artwork depicts a portrait of a lady-winter with a landscape in the background. If you look closely on a winter night, you can feel the silence of the forest.
WHAT INSPIRES YOU TO CREATE?
Books are certainly the most important sources of inspiration from year to year for me. But now it is the age of the Internet and in one click you can be transported to another world of creative people like me, from whom you can learn and be inspired.
I am also inspired by music. It doesn’t matter whether it's a melody or a song, by a Russian or a foreign artist, rhythm plays an important role for me, it creates a different mood and inspires me to work.
DO YOU HAVE AN ARTISTIC DREAM?
Definitely not. But every time I think and wish there were not 24 hours in a day, but at least 28. There is not enough time for personal creative activity.