There is something poetic about Anna Styrc’s paintings. On one hand, you can clearly see the contemporary look and technique, but the way she captures nature, the colours and the cosiness make her art so familiar. It has rhythm and movement that draw the eyes and once there, you want to stay forever like in a well-crafted poem that you read again and again.
For this blog post, we chose Summer Breeze, one of Anna’s most recent works. We talked to the artist and found out the inspiration behind it and the creative process. Enjoy!
Where did the inspiration come from for this piece?
After living in a big city for many years, being London-based I became more inspired by the natural world and the quiet and calming effect it had in my city-life. I often am inspired by the nature I see around me. My most recent work including ‘Summer Breeze’ was completed during the recent lock-down and I began to use different colour palettes and had more time to diversify and refine technique. With this painting, in particular, I took time to work on the fine details and add new aspects of nature with the flowers and the fields. I always try and put my own interpretation on nature with textures and dimensions but also through the colour pairings and the physical composition.
What is the creative process when creating your landscape paintings?
I start with using a dark base colour and then work with thicker paints to create the main framework, giving a dimensional base for me to build on. From there it is a lot of refining with adding leaves and working on the foreground. I often change the painting several times until I am fully satisfied with the result. When completing this painting I took several hours working and refining the details in the leaves and the flowers. In my work, I often referencing natural photography to get a realistic colour or shape.
How long would this work have taken you?
It’s hard to pinpoint a specific time-frame but this painting is more detailed and drying time between layers can vary but overall this can take between two week and three weeks. Often this does including re-modelling and also the finer details in the foreground.
