Anna Rogala: You Can Do More!

Wenecja

What is a better way to end a fantastic year than looking at some fantastic artwork? Known as Yelou on deviantArt, Anna is an otherworldly talented painter who specialises in watercolour and whose gallery is simply exquisite. She is also one of those kind souls who answer my fanmails ;) I literally jumped up and down for a good half an hour when I heard from her. Let’s meet Anna Rogala: 

>+ Please introduce yourself and what you do (your real job/profession and how it is related to the arts you make) 
My name is Anna Rogala; my profession is graphic design, which I studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw from 2003 to 2008. Now I create graphics such as posters, books, catalogues; and paint, draw, as well as looking for new jobs related to arts.

>+ A quick description of your artwork 
My artwork is generally based on portraits, which I try to do with every technique I know. I love to paint and draw people - they are the most interesting, various, unpredictable, and beautiful things to depict.

>+ How is watercolour different from other types of traditional art?
Watercolour is for sure more difficult - if you make a mistake, it's really difficult to change it, sometimes even impossible. That's why you have to know what you want just from the beginning. Watercolours are delicate, full of light, give lots of possibilities to play with their thin layers and with letting them mix on a paper. Watercolour works are always unique - it would be much more difficult to copy them than acrylic works for example. 

Two Me

>+ What is your process of producing a piece? How do you draw with such precision (in watercolour, no less! which is one of the most difficult medium to have control over. And you do it with such ease that makes people envy)? 

;) Working with watercolour, I usually draw a very light sketch in pencil, just to compose the portrait or scenery, anyway everything must already be in its place and faces must be exactly like models' faces - in good proportions and as similar as possible. Then I put a lot of water on the whole paper and add some colours in different places (thinking of course about final look of the work). This is a kind of base - relations of dark-bright and warm-cold
colours. I tilt the paper and move it to let colours mix, and then wait until this first layer dries. When it is, I start working on little parts of the work, putting more (transparent) layers where necessary. Sometimes I use masking fluid (when I need to leave brighter spaces), and tissues (not to let colours diffuse too much). Every time I use few kinds of brushes - thin ones to draw details and thick ones are for putting a lot of water at the beginning.

>+ If possible, could you send us pictures of your work in progress (like a step-by-step kind of thing)
Yes sure! (as posted below) 

Palermo

Hermanos

Glasses

Turquoise

>+ In your works, what theme do you pursue? 

Portraits, people in different poses, people of different characters, faces and expressions. I also like towns and sceneries - they are great themes for watercolour. I plan to do some kind of abstract acrylic paintings with sceneries and iconic Italian views. 

Karmelowa

Piratka

Monte Pulciano

Amsterdam

>+ What do you like and dislike about your works? 

I like to start doing them, I don't like finishing - as I never know if it's time for finish or no. If I don't finish, there will be always something to add. And this is the easiest way to destroy the work... Sometimes, when I look at my "step-by-step" photos I can see that the best moment was just before I put the last corrections...

>+ What is your dream project? 
I love series; I'd like to do a series with Spanish women, which I've already begun. There are also books for children - I have some ideas and would like to realise them.

>+ Name three artists who inspire you 
I don't know to be honest. The fact that I like El Greco, Carpeaux or Mucha is still not the reason they inspire me - they are more like historic figures who I look up to, but not necessarily find inspirations from. In contemporary art maybe 5% of the works really inspires me. But there are things I simply see and pass by (in shop, at gallery, in newspaper, and from the Internet), which authors I don’t know, they tend to give me whatever I need to start working on a new piece.

>+ What's the best piece of advice you've been given? 
Something like "You can do more; try to look for new solutions, new styles, new techniques. Go ahead and don't stop". I think it’s really inspiring.


>+ Thank you Anna. Good luck and keep us posted on the children books - we would love to be one of the first to review them. 

H.N.