Peonies Print

My name is Anastasia Krivenko. I am a graphic artist, working in the soft pastel technique, charcoal and mixmedia, Member of The Cyprus Chamber of Fine Arts (E.KA.TE) and a member of The Pastelguild of Europe. I was born in Russia in Moscow in the family of an artist and grew up in a creative atmosphere. In 2003 graduated from the Moscow Pedagogical State University as a Master of Fine Arts during my educational years I had been practicing in such art disciplines like painting, academic drawing, composition, sculpture, print making, ceramics, woodcarving and other areas of fine arts and crafts. After graduation, I worked as a graphic designer and digital artist for many years. In 2018 I moved with my family to live in Cyprus. The stunning beauty of this island, with its seascapes, gentle sun and life-giving air reignited my passion to paint with my hands. Intuitively, I chose fragile pastel as the most tactile material capable of conveying feelings and emotions. Thanks to the soft pastel technique my paintings have a delicate velvety surface and a tender effect of soft flowing from one color to another is achieved. I literally draw with my fingertips without using any other tools, plunging deeply into the picture, weaving my feelings between spots of light and color. Though the seeming simplicity of the plots, my landscapes are distinguished by a special emotional fullness and airiness. I really love the border states of nature and the time of day: glimpses of the morning dawn or elusive beauty of sunset, an impending thunderstorm or evening twilight, when everything changes in seconds, in moments. These elusive changes cause internal excitement in me. Endless movement, variability, ephemerality of nature is the basis of my work. The island of Cyprus with its variety of landscapes: from the sea coast, multi-level hilly valleys, waterfalls to forest and mountain paths, is an inexhaustible source of inspiration and admiration for me. In my paintings I care not so much about natural authenticity, as about my own feelings and impressions of what I see. That's why the main things in my paintings are light and color, which I can convey with dry pastel, an amazing material, graphic and at the same time picturesque, very plastic and sensitive to my mood. Drawing with pastels, I gently shade the pigment with the fingers or, following my inner impulse, sharply and sweepingly apply the strokes with the edge of the crayon.