I have a winner!

Couple weeks ago I found out that one of my paintings, Fiesta, has won a 1st place award in the Annual Art Competition held by the Artists Magazine. My entry was in Abstract/Experimental category, Student division. The image of my painting will be published in the December 2019 edition of the magazine.

I have submitted my entry into this competition back in February, very close to the deadline. Obviously, I wanted a shot at being recognized and that’s why I have entered, but have not thought about it hardly at all after I hit the submit button. Nicholas Wilton, an artist I greatly admire, have taken a workshop with, I am also a member of his Life2Art academy, recommends for artists to practice rejection. We, artists, invest so much of ourselves into our art and it does hurt when the recognition is not as forthcoming as we would like it to be. But rejection is part of any artist’s life and it is important to develop a thicker skin to it. Entering competitions, applying for shows, seeking gallery representation are ways of getting our work into the world but it’s important to remember that any rejection is just an opinion of one (or a few) person on a particular day about the work we put in front of them. It’s not objective by any means and is not a judgement on all our work or our artistic potential. Following this advice I kept entering competitions here and there, trying to stay cool when the results where in and my name was not on the list. And then, voila, I have a winner!

When I received the e-mail about this award, I was on Palma de Mallorca island in Spain taking a painting workshop with the above mentioned Nicholas Wilton. It was extra special to be able to share the great news with my fellow artists. And, yes, I shed some tears of happiness.

Here is an image of the winning artwork. This piece is sold, the new owners were very kind and let me borrow it to take some additional high quality photographs of it.

Fiesta, 30x30 inches, mixed media on cradled wood panel, 2018

History

My work usually consists of layers on top of layers of paint and marks as I search for what it is I want to say. Sometimes I have an idea or inspiration that I would like to apply to my work and then as I start painting it might get abandoned. The key for me is to surrender and not fight the direction the painting is taking. It’s easier said than done. I do often get lost in self doubt as my inner critic tears apart whatever it is I have painted so far.

I like to photograph my work as it progresses. When the painting is complete, it’s interesting to me to look at the progression photos. Looking back gives my an opportunity to evaluate what areas I should have kept and what moves I could have avoided. It’s all part of the learning.

I recently painted this piece called The Blue of Sea and Meadow. It’s 30x40” on cradled wood panel. I think this painting has particularly interesting history, it started very different from where it is now and went through a pretty ugly middle stage.

The photos are listed in order of progression.

Starting. Just playing. Loose, bold, carefree.

Still in the play stage

Fell in love at this stage but pushed myself to continue. 

Fell out of love completely. The voice in my head started it’s criticizing routine. It take time and patience to learn how to hear it but not listen to it. I’m not there yet.

At this stage I was trying to cover up the red. Too much of it.

The very ugly stage starts here.

Because I didn’t like any part of it at this stage, it was easier to make risky moves. Nothing to loose. I decided to add a diamond pattern.

Looks a bit like a tablecloth pattern my aunt had on her kitchen table when I was little. I still didn’t like any of this. But wanted to pursue the idea of diamond shapes.

None of this was to my liking. I figured anything I do at this stage will be an improvement.

Started covering up some of the diamond design with blue and white. Started liking where this is going. Decided to try to achieve a nice balance of geometry and loose marks.

Finished painting. I like how small bits of previous layers can still be seen in some places.

Thinking aloud

It’s no secret many artists look at other artists’ work. Mainly to obtain new ideas, get inspired, learn new techniques, and last but no least, to compare their work to others. And this last one is a minefield that should be navigated very carefully. Being an emerging artist that I am, I’m guilty of looking at a lot of art. I get lost on Pinterest, Saatchi, and Instagram at least once every day if not more. And at times, when I’m not careful, I can spirale down into thinking pattern that undermines my confidence as an artist. There is a lot of great art out there, and I want to get to where I feel my work is strong and stands out. I work hard at my art. I paint everyday and dedicate most of my free time to learning about art, reading, and lately journaling. I constantly keep reminding myself that I can only make my own art and develop at my own speed. I should truly compare my art to my past works and not to works of other artist, who might be way ahead of me on their artistic journey. I know I have it in me to create, we all do, it’s part of human nature. It all comes down to training the creative muscle, growing it, enriching my life’s experiences to fill my inspiration well.

So I made a promise to myself, every time I see art that attracts me, instead of thinking, I can never do this or how do I paint like this, I will take the time to really dig deep and ask myself what I love about the art I’m looking at. Because once I’m clear about what I truly love, what inspires me I can then bring it into my art, in my own way.

This idea is not mine. Early this year I participated in a 12-week Creative Visionary Program (CVP) created and lead by an amazing artist and teacher Nicholas Wilton. Many times in this program he talked about getting clear about what we want to say with our work, and about discernment. And I thought I got it, but I didn’t follow it. I relisten to a lot of talks Nick gave as part of CVP and I finally understand how crucial and valuable this advice is.

Introduction

It’s about time for my first blog post on this site. I have been working on adding images and descriptions and frankly just figuring out how to work this site for a few months now. I have no experience managing websites, it took me a while to learn how to navigate the inner workings of this thing. Luckily, a dear friend of mine was gracious enough to start it for me. She does web design for a living. My first blog post is definitely overdue. So here we go.

I’m Ulyana Stebelska. I’m an abstract artist. I’m also a chemist, a mom, and a wife, but I will be mainly focusing here on my art practice. I started painting a few years ago. I always wanted to paint and wondered what it would be like if I could paint but I believed this is an area for which I had no talent. You see, I had a close childhood friend who had these amazing abilities in many different areas. She could draw, she could paint, she played piano and violin, she danced, and was a top performer academically. None of those things were easy for me. And the products of my creativity paled in comparison to hers. And this caused me to start believing that I can’t do anything creative because I lack talent for it. A lot of time has passed since then and, as often happens as we mature, some of my self limiting beliefs needed to be challenged. I didn’t consciously set out to challenge my believe about not being creative. It happened by chance (or, I like to think it was serendipity). I invited my girlfriend to a local paint and sip event with the intention to just have a good time and was forever hooked as a result. The painting I produced at the painting event wasn’t a masterpiece by any means but I fell madly in love with the process. I loved handling the paint, mixing it, seeing how recognizable shapes appear on the canvas. The colors stimulated me visually. I had a blast. I few months later, my husband went on a fishing trip. I was on my way home from work, thinking what I will occupy myself with in the evening after my daughter goes to bed. And I thought of painting, and my years long imagining and wondering about what it would be like if I could paint. I went and bought some basic painting supply at local arts and crafts store and that evening was the beginning of my painting journey. My first attempts were disastrous, of course. But I could not stop. And night after night, I would pull my supplies out and paint, paint, paint.

My very first painting supplies. I’m so glad I took this picture.

I was very strongly attracted and interested in painting abstractly from the beginning of my artistic journey. Abstraction offers unlimited freedom of movement and expression. I love the raw emotions just colors and shapes alone can evoke in a viewer. There is so much to read in how the painter applied the paint, what tools were used, what color was chosen and how it was placed. The response from these elemental things could be so powerful. And that’s what I strive for in my work. I want to make paintings that bring joy to the viewer and offer a moment of visual pause amidst the business of one’s life.