Lidia Likhacheva

As anyone, I'm inspired by other artists' work. I'm in awe of Mucha, Gaudi, Klimt and Kandinsky. They fired my imagination and shaped my vision of art. Recently, I've fallen in love with fluid art, especially the Dutch pour technique. Easy though it may seem, it's far from being easy. Fluid art is random, unpredictable, wild and unruly. And that's what I like about fluid art techniques. Curiously, I challenge myself to taking control over the effects produced by pouring or blowing paint on the canvas. The knowledge I get from experimenting narrows the gap between a picture I've got in my mind (which is by definition perfect!) and its physical reflection on the canvas.

In a way Dutch pour could be used as a cure against perfectionism. Going for perfectionism in Dutch is penalised immediately. If you don't stop at the right moment, colours start losing their vibrancy, and the composition deforms under overlapped layers of paint. Experimenting with different shapes, colours and mixtures is the most exciting and worthwhile aspect of the creative process. It's virtually impossible to make two painting alike. They always differ!

I draw inspiration from beauty in its different forms: flowers, gardens, forests, rural and marine landscapes... I feel elated when I paint and hope there's an "elation print" left on my paintings.