EUGENIA GORBACHEVA – CAPTURING LIFE IN WATERCOLOUR

Eugenia Gorbacheva is a gifted watercolor artist whose works radiate beauty, harmony, and a mastery of color and form. Her relationship with art began early, she studied for five years at an art school before entering the Kosygin Moscow State Textile University, where she trained as a clothing designer. For a decade, she thrived in the fashion industry, creating garments for a renowned Russian brand. Yet in 2017, she felt the call of her first love, painting, and devoted herself fully to the world of watercolor.

Today, Eugenia blends her artistic roots with her design sensibility, creating paintings that breathe with atmosphere and emotion. Her subjects often include tranquil seascapes, rocky shores, and vibrant flower gardens, scenes she approaches with swift, confident brushstrokes and a dry-brush technique that has become her signature.

Her painting process is driven by inspiration. When a scene, whether witnessed in person or found in a photograph, moves her, she strives to capture it while the feeling is still fresh, often setting aside daily chores to paint. Simpler compositions, like sunsets over the sea, may take less than an hour, while more intricate works with architectural or nautical details require longer, though she prefers to complete each piece in a single sitting.

While Eugenia mostly teaches online, producing several recorded lessons each month, she also conducts a few in-person workshops annually. Live classes allow her to share techniques directly, guiding brush handling, paint mixing, and stroke application, while connecting with students who share her passion for watercolor.

When painting from a reference, she focuses on mood over minutiae. She avoids zooming in on images, simplifying compositions by removing unnecessary details. Her preferred canvas is A3 watercolor paper, and if stranded on an island with only three pigments, she would choose ultramarine, cadmium or vermilion red, and yellow. She favors painting in a single layer and treasures her Chinese calligraphy brush and palette knife.

A clear plastic board under her work helps her control the flow of watercolor and keeps the paper moist longer, an essential element of her technique.

Balancing her roles as artist, instructor, wife, and mother requires discipline. Mornings are her creative sanctuary, when she paints both for her students and for herself, “for my soul, without the camera,” as she puts it. Afternoons are dedicated to family life, though visits to her parents’ home allow for marathon painting sessions from dawn to dusk.

For Eugenia, watercolor is not just a medium, it is a language of joy, expression, and connection. Whether in the gentle wash of a seascape or the bold stroke of a blooming garden, her art invites viewers to step into a world where beauty is both immediate and timeless.

In addition to her impressive exhibition history, Eugenia's artwork has received recognition and awards from various organizations. Her painting "River and Cloud" received a prize from the sponsor at the 2nd RUSSIAN WATERCOLOR ARTISTS EXHIBITION at IWS SARE GALLERY in Moscow in 2020. Eugenia's work is characterized by her unique style, which combines a delicate approach to color and light with intricate attention to detail.

In June 2023, Eugenia released her book "Portraits of the Sea and Water: A Watercolor Journey with Eugenia Gorbacheva," which quickly climbed the bestseller list for July in the Painting section at Russia's largest bookstore, Labyrinth.

Overall, Eugenia Gorbacheva's dedication to her craft and her impressive exhibition history make her a rising star in the world of watercolor art. Her ability to capture the essence of her subjects through her use of color and form is truly captivating, and her work is sure to continue to be celebrated and admired by art lovers around the world.