Written by Hi! I’m Katiya Che. I’m an artist from Novosibirsk, Russia. My city is in Western Siberia and we have long and snowy winters. That’s the reason why after getting tired, creativity-wise, of greyish-white landscapes I love creating bright and joyful pictures.
I started my painting life back in 2004, at the age of 20. My first teacher trained me to paint classic landscapes and taught me to see the world through the eyes of an artist and to love the process with all my heart.
The first materials I had consisted of basic works such as pencil and watercolour pictures. A few years later I started using oil paints, and stopped using watercolours. At that point, I felt that true paintings should be created in oil.
My higher education didn’t have anything to do with creative work but I’ve always had a dream to become a designer. Three years passed and that dream of mine came true as I ended up becoming a furniture designer. For quite a long time, I did both my main job and painting but since I taken up some other hobbies such as yoga, travelling, learning English, and charity activities in orphanages, it didn’t make it possible to devote much time to painting. These other things also demanded a considerable amount of time.
As a rule on my holidays, I did my best to make some sketches and notes and to take plenty of photos which I could later use. On the road, I prefer using a Moleskine sketchbook, a small set of watercolors “Saint Petersburg”, Prizmacolor crayons, liners, a white gel pen, some Ikea brushes.
When I’m traveling I always visit galleries and any other art museums. I’ve been to galleries of New York, San Francisco, Moscow, Saint Petersburg, New Delhi, Istanbul, Lahaina, Tashkent, Da Lat, Marrakech.
In 2012, I came back to study at the art studio for the weekends. I had quite an intense schedule at that time, since I was working a lot from Monday to Friday and spent all my weekend painting. At the new studio, I was focusing on chromatics and composition.
I found out I was pregnant when I was travelling in Morocco in September 2015. Obviously, when I came back home, I worked less and focused on family. That was the period when there was some spare time to return to watercolours again.
I started a separate Instagram account for my creative works. These days there are so many great artists all around the globe who share their works on Instagram. And that’s fantastic. You can keep track of the works by this artist, far away in the US, or that illustrator, in Japan, and get updates about where some Russian artist is currently travelling and which sketches he’s making. The borders between countries have become so vague, therefore we can see the world through the eyes of various artists, which is so inspiring.
Along with that, media and technology have made it possible to study online with many well-known watercolour masters from around the world. This is what I’m doing a lot. My motto now is to study every time and everywhere and to paint as often as possible.
I’m a mummy in the daytime and an artist at night when my family is sleeping. Women of my country have a big priority, as according to the law, we can take a paid leave to look after a baby. I’m using this free time to develop myself as a watercolour artist.
So I started my artistic life from watercolours and after a while having tried numerous technics came back to my roots in watercolors.
I see watercolours as an explosion of light, a beauty of hue gradients, and the spontaneity of colorful splashes. It’s hard to use watercolours but the result you get is worth it. I’m determined to master this technique.
Katiya Che
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Beautiful painting, amazing, love your story too
Thank you!
Thanks for sharing your journey and illustrations too! What a refreshing work 😍
Thanks for sharing Charlie 👍🏼
Thank you Shenal!
Really beautiful paintings! I really liked the one with those cuteass pandas <3 keep doing what you do 🙂
Thank you! Pandas as well my favorites 🙂
Beautiful story! Thanks for sharing, Katiya. I needed the encouragement today! And yes, I really love the pandas, too. 🙂
Thank you so much! 🙂
You’re welcome! 🙂
Lovely to meet you, Katya, and beautiful work!🌺
Thank you so much! 🙂
Hi Katiya, Your panda steals the show it is so cute and funny. I like the wet on wet technique you used to make it so fluffly ! Thanks for sharing your story.
Thank you Agnes! I’m so happy you like my art! The wet on wet technique is my favorite now!
Beautiful artwork. My favorites are the florals and teacups, but they are all wonderful. Congratulations to the newest addition to your family.
Thank you Laura!
And thank you so much for congratulations!
Hi Katiya, I have to agree, I love the Pandas, too, but all your work is beautiful. I love the brightness of the whale, that really pops! Thanks for sharing your story, and also congratulations on the new addition to your family.
Thank you Laura! I’m glad you like my pandas 🙂
Thank you for congratulations!
I’m sorry for my mistake.
Thank you Sharon! I’m glad you like my pandas 🙂
Thank you for congratulations!
Such beautiful and delightful paintings Katiya, and I noticed that you’ve travelled to the island of Kauai! That photo immediately caught my eye as I was born/raised there. What a lovely reminder!
Thank you very much Rowena!
Yes, I have been there. It’s a lovely place! Moreover, this island is very special for me. My husband and I got married there. You are lucky to raised there 🙂
Katiya, your life story is so impressive, especially when it’s understood how young you are. You’ve accomplished a great deal, making so much of opportunities to learn and grow as a person, and to share your gifts with the world. Which is, as you’ve noted, becoming borderless.
Thank you so much Sharon! I appreciate your words.
Absolutely love the notebook sketches for their story telling impact but ofcourse your other work is delightful also.
Thank you! I really like to draw the sketches. Now I particularly like to do very quick sketches without rough draft by the pencil.
Your paintings are full of light and color. You are already very skilled and can only get better.
Thank you Sharon!
Your work is amazing! Thank you for sharing it with us.