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Valeriya Yanushevskaya
Born 1973
Lives and works in London, UK
www.valeriya-art.com
valeriya.y.art@gmail.com
Valeriya Yanushevskaya’s creative infl uences draw strongly on the now largely forgotten nineteenth century Russian multi-layered
watercolour technique that applies paint in a dynamic impressionistic style and produces sophisticated layers of movement and
transparent colours. Yanushevskaya’s fashion training has brought with it a sensitivity to the human form, texture and colours alongside
other infl uences from other artists including Levitan, Chagall, Korovin, Van Gogh and Cezanne.
Yanushevskaya continues to explore the multi layered watercolour techniques “en plain-air”, in a diverse range of locations such as
Jerusalem, San Diego, France, Spain and London, where she now lives. Her subjects include landscapes, still lifes and portraits attracting
commissions from Europe, the USA and Russia.
Regent's Rain is a large watercolour capturing the end of a rainstorm on a February afternoon from the upper deck of a London bus on
Regents Street. Using the multi-layer watercolour technique, Yanushevskaya slowly built up the layers and forms. As the work developed
she became fascinated by the way that the painting breaks down at close range into expressive abstract forms that reassemble in the
eye at greater distances. This work has been important in developing her approach to painting and exploring the limits of multi-layer
watercolour and contemporary brushwork from other mediums.
Mown Grass was painted in the late summer on Hampstead Heath when the long grass had been cut at the end of the season.
Yanushevskaya was instantly captured by the lines of the lawn mower, the paths worn by a summer of walkers and the piles of mown
grass that helped add texture and contours to the hillside. The form of the hill was surprisingly complex, taking three attempts before
the subtle undulating contours had been captured. As a “plein-air”, artist her aim is to respond directly to the light travelling across
landscapes and capture fl eeting moments.
VALERIYA YANUSHEVSKAYA was born in Yalta in 1973. After an early introduction to fi ne art at the Vasiliev School in the Crimea she retrained during the
dissolution of the Soviet Union as a fashion designer at the Moscow State University of Design and Technology and later earned her Masters Degree at the
London College of Fashion in the University of the Arts. After a successful fashion career she has returned to painting. Recent exhibitions include; The Royal
Watercolour Society (RWS) Contemporary Watercolour Competition, Daler Rowney Prize Winner for ‘Birthday Wishes’. Bankside Gallery, London, UK (2013),
Bach Bernard, Le Puits Saint Jacques, Pujaudran, France (2014) and Society of Women Artist’s, Mall Galleries, London, UK (2014).
Right: Regent’s Rain, 2014, Watercolour.
h: 56cm w: 73cm, Artist’s Collection.
Left: Mown Grass, 2013, Watercolour.
h: 56cm w: 76cm, Artist’s Collection.
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