About
Welcome, my name is Camilla. I’m a self-taught oil painter, and this is my first chapter of being a full-time artist.
The whole thing started in February 2021. I decided to try something new in my life, went to the shop and bought some art stuff. I’m a person with many talents and hobbies, but at the same time I quickly get bored of everything. I used to sing and play the piano; now I’m in love with classic literature, fashion and healthy lifestyle. So, there was a thought that my sudden passion for painting would be another passing fun.
When I took paints for the first time – I everything en the room became quite dirty from them. The sharp smell of wrongly chosen thinner spread throughout the room so it was impossible to breathe. Brushes refused to obey. I was trying to paint a very simple landscape with the help of some YouTube tutorial, but nothing worked out. Then I thought that painting might not be my destiny and threw the paints behind the closet.
After 2-3 weeks I decided to finish my landscape with calmness. Well, I’m obsessed with art, museums and galleries…and all these activities of educated heroines from the novels of English Classics - if I were them! So, my landscape turned out to be not successful. Then I `forced myself to continue watching different tutorials and trying painting over and over. My results proceeded very soon and I started to post my works on Instargam “for fun”, but my friends liked them very much. This fact motivated me to do better. My university lectures were online and so I had as much fun as I could: I was painting every day for hours. At the end of the summer I completely stopped watching tutorials and started to paint 3D drops of different colors. Speaking about my technique, I use my critical thinking regardless of whether it is reference photo or a real object - I look at it and analyze all the layers in my head, shades and lights. What about the colors, at first I created them randomly by imagination, but then I discovered that can mix any colors that I see around me. More about the color mixing. Each time it got better and better. I’ve started to experiment with colors and details adding clouds and creating true seascapes.
Where are the drops – there is water. That same summer I started
to paint water – I was so excited because it was something truly extraordinary and challenging for me. My skills improved and improved. This winter I started to post my videos on TikTok. After some time I got my first million views – and on reels as well. That was a truly perfect gift and strong motivation to create new content.
I think another secret of my success should be mentioned. I used to draw well from my childhood. At school my drawings would always hung on the “roll of honor.” Even when I was in my second grade, I was sent to some drawing competition. As a teenager I used to draw different portraits and cartoon characters with a pencil. However, I always thought that drawing wasn’t so “cool” and rejected my mom’s offer to go to art school. But apparently this talent was waiting for its finest honor and became very useful to me. So if you found yourself having a neck for something – It’s worthwhile to think about the development. Perhaps this will help to find your true purpose.
More about the technique
The helpful thing I noticed while studying painting is “taking pictures” of water in your head if you paint from nature and trying to memorize its position in static. If it’s a photo reference, the accuracy of each detail should be taken into account. This requires a lot of practice and patience. Another point is sensitivity to colour, this is important in every area of painting.
Speaking about my technique, I thin out oil paints to a liquid state with the help of odourless diluent (isoparaffin hydrocarbon) and paint with layers. I think the oil free diluent facilitates layer drying process that enables to make a painting hyper realistic.
Speaking about my technique, I thin out oil paints to a liquid state with the help of odourless diluent (isoparaffin hydrocarbon) and paint with layers. I think the oil free diluent facilitates layer drying process that enables to make a painting hyper realistic.
On color mixing
How do I mix colours? Honestly, l’ve never dived into the mixing theory. l’ve always done it on the basis of intuition. But it seems to me that the key to success is in your “well-watchness” and imagination. For example, often when I go somewhere or do something, I always pay attention to things that surround me and the shades of them. There’s a vase and there’re flowers in it, and the flowers are white, but if you get a better look, you’ll see that they’re not actually white (in this case I start to scroll in my head which colours can be taken to mix shadows/lights of petals, stems, a vase, water in the vase. It works with everything: the sea, portraits, trees.. Take time to look at the actual photos, zoom in and think, what colours should you take to mix the colour of the sand? What about its shadow? Don’t neglect black and brown shades, they help to achieve naturalism and avoid your painting being artsy.