Do you want to know more about painting, contemporary artand the secrets of recognized masters? I share the best experience and useful information for artists, a collection of paintings for designers and gifts for connoisseurs of beautiful things. Welcome!

My name is Yulia Mamontova, I am an artist from Moscow and I am glad to see all of you here!

If you have opened the blog, it means that you are interested in art or you love painting, you are on the art scene and engaged in creative activities and design or you are looking for paintings for the interior or choosing a gift. Then we have things in common and obviously we can be useful to each other!

Any friendship begins with acquaintance, that’s why I will tell you a little bit about myself, about creativity for the soul, my works and exhibitions.

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Now I am going to answerto a frequently asked question, why do I sign works with the name of  Yulia Mamontova, although my original surname is Zabrodina (married name). I took the pseudonym for my artistic creation, inspired by the family history: my great-grandfather Vasily Mamontov was a Russian merchantand it is important for me to preserve and continue thehistory.

I was born in the Komi Republic but now I live and work in Moscow and often travel to Europe and the USA. I combine all this with raising two children, who are introduced to art and beautiful things from the bottle up.

I’ve always wanted to be an artist and I painted from an early age. Brushes and paints accompanied me as a hobby throughout my studies at school, university, at a time when I was running my own business. Gradually, the passion grew into something more: I began to form as an artist in adulthood, but consciously and from the bottom of my heart.

In 2014 it was possible to plunge into the world of art and start a professional career. My family and friends contribute to that goal: they supported my endeavor and I’ll be forever grateful to them.

Incredible teachers have made a huge contribution to my professional development.

• The Surikov Art Institute in Moscow. Thanks a lot, Voronova V.O. and Kuzmin R.A.for the basics of composition, painting, academic painting. Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design (London, UK).
• Under the patronage of Michael Major and Roger Gill I sharpened my portrait skills.
• Otis College of Art and Design (Los Angeles, USA). I studied the delicacy of encaustic under the direction of Pamela Smith Hudson.

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I have had the privilege to learn from the best professionals, learn their secrets, and gain invaluable experience. And still I keep doing it: I communicate with contemporarymasters from different countries, visit exhibitions and galleries wherever I go, try to find time to learn and discover new things.

I believe that a contemporary artist is always looking for himself, that’s why today I paintpictures of different genres, styles, themes, techniques, and use everything that my heart is set on:

1. Classical contemporary painting. I like to paint architecture in this direction. The classic approach helps to reveal the historical theme as much as possible, to convey the mood and atmosphere of beautiful places. History is a source of inspiration for me.

And what is important: nowadays classical painting is the best-selling painting in Europe and the United States. According to foreign colleagues, professional works are more precious, although until recently, connoisseurs of painting preferred abstractions, as is currently in Russia. What can I say, it is fashion. I advise artistsnot to abandon the classical painting, but to develop in this direction.

2. Encaustic – is a technique of painting with the use of hot beeswax with pigments. It is distinguished by its durability, paintings can preserve their original state for centuries. Have you heard or seen the famous Fayum portraits paintedwith wax? So now these portraits are in the Pushkin Museum in Moscow.

Encaustics is not very popular in contemporary Russia yet. It is something new that is well-forgotten old. I want to change it and re-attract interest in incredible technology. You can use wax to draw paintings of any genre, extraordinary abstractions and create unique decorative collages.

In the encaustic technique, I like to write on a marine theme and motives-the result of my passion for yachtingand in addition the technique it self disposes of wax paints is that they freeze quickly andyou should work with them very fast, thoughtfully. Non-standard tools are used: hairdryers, burners, special palettes. The process itself is very exciting. I will tell more about it in the original program “The revival of encaustic in Russia” on the channel “ArtVesti”. Meanwhile, you can watch the interview on the topic here.

3. Author’s technique “Orichalc”. Сontemporary paintings written by this technique turn out to be unusual, suitable for exclusive, refined interiorsand which can light up and set the mood for any premise.

The combination of oil paints and brass shinegive the works a certain flavor. They differ in “playfulness” – they change depending on the lighting, shimmer pleasantly, glow from the inside and have a magical attraction.

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Participation in charity eventsplays an important role in my work. I held a master class for children from an orphanage (more), previously I participated in a charity fair in the United States (more), held a charity exhibition together with the Gosha Kutsenko Foundation “Life with cerebral palsy”(more).

Painting gives the opportunity to share goodness and not only financially. I am sure that goodness multiplies goodness and art changes the world and can make it better. I put my heart and only the most favorable messages into each painting.

Life, like art, is multifaceted. It is always a pleasure to open new horizons for development, to strive to do something important in this world. One of the opportunities for this is friendship, mutual support and cooperation. I am open to any suggestions and ready to share it myself.

One of the areas that I have been interested in lately is paintings in interior design. I had to deal with it after moving from an apartment to a house. A competent designer helped me to choose in which room it would be better to hang an oil painting, in which one — a decorative panel, in which one — a print picture. And now I have an offer for designers: access to my paintings in different styles to create unique design projects (you can find them here).

I am also happy to communicate with curators and galleries, and I am open to exchange my artistic experience, joint creative projects, collaborations and exhibitions. I believeit’s very important for the development of the artist.

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One of the most striking in recent years for me has been working in the Studio “Classic” by Igor Raevich with amazing patronage, interesting colleagues and exhibitions (instagram.com) in Moscow and joint projects with Daria Rusakova from the Chirino-Said Art Gallery in Miami.

Practice and short internships open new experiencing growth, communication in a professional environment helps to work productively, participation in group exhibitions and associations allows you not to fall out of the contemporary context, continuous movement and development make it possible to reveal all the creative edge of yourself. I wish you all the best and suggest we continue to go towards that goal together!

Let’s be friends, share knowledge and just talk about painting and contemporary art.

Check out my blog on the site yuliamamontova.com and follow me on Instagram instagram.com.

Sincerely yours, Yulia Mamontova, contemporary artist (Russia, Moscow).