Botanicals 2020 Show

This show will run August 1-31, 2020. Artists from around the world were called to submit their work. There were 184 accepted entries and they came from 15 different states in the USA as well as 11 other locations: Canada, China, Czech Republic, Finland, India, Ireland, Russia, Spain, South Africa, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom. A variety of styles and mediums were entered, including but not limited to acrylic, colored pencil, digital, ink, mixed media, oil, pastel, photography, printmaking, and watercolor. The judging criterion was originality, interpretation, quality, demonstration of ability, and usage of medium. Other factors, such as the clarity of the images provided and their ability to be viewed online, also contributed to our decision. “Best of Show”, “First Place”, and “Second Place” winners received a monetary award in addition to special recognition.

We were very happy to donate 10% of all entry fees from this show to The Nature Conservancy. The mission of The Nature Conservancy is to conserve the lands and waters on which all life depends.Colors of Humanity Art Gallery, LLC is not affiliated with The Nature Conservancy. It is our hope that this small act of kindness will blossom and grow to help someone else.

Thank you to all the artists who participated! Your talents and skills gave us a diverse body of work to create this attractive show.

Buyers- Please contact the artists directly for sales. Colors of Humanity Art Gallery does not handle any part of the sale or collect any commission, it is solely between the buyer and artist. You may find a link to the artist’s website or email address below their work.

Xiaowei Liu, was born in 1983. He loved drawing since he was a child, and showed a talent for drawing that is different from other children. When he was in junior high school, his father found him a teacher to formally study drawing. From 1999 to 2003, he studied at the Liaoning Province Arts and Crafts School. From 2009 to 2011, he studied oil painting at the Repin Academy of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg, Russia. After returning to China, he has been engaged in art teaching and oil painting creation.

"Rose in a Bottle" was completed in 2020. The new crown epidemic broke out in 2020, but it did not affect my creation. I accidentally found Valentine's Day roses in the bottle very beautiful in my studio, so I was inspired. I found other objects, carefully composed the picture, and drew this work.

"I have been passionate about colored pencils since the time I was in Elementary School in Madrid, Spain.

When I was in College, I realized that all the self-taught techniques that I had acquired that far were not enough. I needed some formal training and guidance, and I found it through the lessons of Sarita Muñiz. I learned how to paint with oils and I was captivated by pastels. The new learning also helped me to still improve with colored pencils, and I realized that colored pencils were my technique. However, I felt that there was a long way ahead of me in order to become the best version of myself as an artist.

Over the years I have explored incessantly pastels and colored pencils, striving to perfect my technique, experimenting, trying out different brands of pencils and paper, and facing bigger artistic challenges every time. I attended pastel courses with important Spanish artists like Aurelio Rodríguez, Rubén Belloso, or Enrique Donoso. Through these masters I learned a lot of valuable techniques that I was able to apply with colored pencils. When I felt I was ready, I burned my ships and decided to devote myself exclusively to colored pencils.

Little by little, I realized that I could reach as much realism as I wanted using colored pencils. At the same time, the technique allowed me to communicate the strongest emotions. Colored pencils became my language as an artist. My work became meticulous, even obsessive, carefully observing the world around. I experimented with shapes, volumes, textures, and composition, trying to recreate the harmonious beauty of small objects of everyday life, which are a form of art for me.

I have always enjoyed capturing Nature. My first works with colored pencils were always botanical: mushrooms, fruits, Medicinal plants. A couple of years ago, I felt the drive to paint those themes again, and I discovered by chance a tree surrounded by ivy. I spent around two hours taking photographs

I was born in the city of Chaikovsky, Perm region. In the 1990s I worked in a folk craft workshop, specializing in artistic painting. In 2004 I moved to Moscow. Here I received a higher education in economics, but the desire for creative activity led me to the Surikov Art Academy, where I received additional professional education and, following the results of my studies in 2017, I defended my diploma in the painting program.

Since 2017, I have participated in over 20 exhibitions and art projects.

My paintings live in different cities of Russia: Moscow, St. Petersburg, Krasnodar, Ufa, Kaliningrad, Kazan, etc. Some have left for other countries: Israel, Switzerland, Greece, Ireland, Canada, China.

Member of the Creative Union of Artists of Russia and the Eurasian Union of Artists.

I love working with oils. It is a living, plastic material that is pleasant to work with. The premises in the art academy where I studied are saturated with the smell of oil paints, since then I love this smell, which evokes in my soul the anticipation of a miracle. I like the fact that you can make a thick smear and a transparent one with oil. You can write a painting textured, roughly, or you can subtly and gently, you can also use different painting techniques in one picture for greater expressiveness.

"Rustic bouquet" - In this painting, there are memories of summer in the village with the smell of field grasses, wooden boards heated by the sun, simple joys of life.

My Instagram: @chepkasovaart (https://www.instagram.com/chepkasovaart/)

Website: https://chepkasovaart.ru