Anna Shesterikova

Mission San Juan Capistrano

2024

I spent my childhood and youth in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatski, where I finished secondary school and art school. Thanks to my parents, who took a great interest in tourism, I was able to visit many interesting places in this beautiful land. The Kamchatka Peninsula, lapped by the Pacific Ocean, is the land of volcanoes and geysers, ice-cold mountain streams and thermal springs, the land of a long winter, an empire of rare plants and animals. The love of this rigorous and unique land has stayed in my heart forever and can be seen in my poetry and pictures. I am grateful to my first teachers Y. E. Koldayev and P. K. Derevyanko, who have awoken the artist within me and have taught me many mysteries of this trade. In 1988 I entered the applied art faculty of the Moscow Textile Academy. Two years of hard work forewent it. During my study I took part in several student exhibitions. Furthermore, at this time I painted traditional works of art like Easter eggs and «matreshka»'s. It was a very useful experience and I can say with pride, that my work now decorates many houses worldwide from Japan to Mexico. Our family has been living in Switzerland since 2001. In Switzerland I especially like springtime, when valleys are in flower and snow still lies in the mountains… the fabulous contrasts! I always admire the Alps and mountain lakes. I like to stroll about the ancient medieval streets of the cities. The originality and diversity of European centers of art amazes me - imperial Vienna, medieval Venice, antique Rome, Paris, full of architectural contrasts. I often carry my impressions of the trips onto canvas and paper. Besides landscape, an other direction of my creative work is the portrait. It is very important for me to convey not only similarity of appearance, but also a personality. I like very much to work on children's portraits, which I mostly paint in water-colors. These reflect especially brightly the softness and freshness of a children's skin and the expressiveness of a glance. In spite of the difficulties, which a painter faces in a work with water colors (this technique doesn't allow corrections), it has been interesting for me since studentship. Developing every next theme, I try to give my most completed vision of the world, to look at it in a new fashion and to not be limited only by blind imitation. Using different methods of painting and graphic arts is interesting to me. Water colors, acrylic, pastel crayons, ink, pencil... . The various interpretations of the same subject is interesting too, be it a flower, a landscape or abstract composition. My inspiration comes not only from nature, but also from music, poetry, literature and theater.