I’m Ewa Czarniecka– Full Time Human Being, Artist, Wife, Animal Lover, Cat crazy ......
I was born in 1975 in the small southeastern Polish village of Krasiczyn.
I clearly remember the moment I was first inspired to paint. I was 13 years old and on a visit to my uncle's house I saw Bronislow Linke's 'Sea of Blood.'
The painting moved me and overwhelmed me emotionally. And so for my first painting I attempted to imitate it. Obviously it wasn't very good. But that experience was my first step in my artistic journey.
From a young age I always wanted to be a professional sports woman. I actually jumped 175cm in the high jump would you believe it? But even when I would travel for athletics camp I always took my canvases and painted. The other athletes took to calling me Ewa the artist. And eventually painting took my heart completely.
I attended university in Poland studying art, but I didn't really like it there. I'm quite a shy person, and I felt everyone there was very confident and quite overpowering. Maybe I was a little too sensitive? But it just wasn't quite right for me at the time. Around the same time I met who was to become my future husband and we decided to move to London.
London was amazing for me. It's where I first started selling my work. There is a street called Bayswater Road in Hyde park where on Sunday's artists would display their work on the parks railings, which is where I started out.
I would paint everyday. I was applying to show my work in some galleries, but was constantly rejected. I shut myself in my little studio and just painted more. I wasn't getting any recognition, but I was still an artist, and so I painted.
This was quite a dark time for me, but in hindsight it was very beneficial. It hardened me to the industry and gave me an opportunity to practice, experiment and reach a new height in my work.
Eventually it was my husband who helped me get out of the studio and put my work on display again. We started to travel to art fairs up and down the UK, and to my surprise I started to have a lot of success.
My work was selling and I was appearing in art magazines and catalogues and critics were staring to write about me, in a nice way. Everything was going well, but I still felt that something was stopping my work from reaching its true potential. And as much as I loved London and everything the city had given me, I felt it was the problem. Which led me onto now, the new chapter of my life and work.
My husband, myself and our 3 cats made the bold move of moving to the beautiful area of the Brecon Beacons in South Wales.
Where finally I feel like everything is in line to allow me to paint with no barriers or distractions. It's been a long journey to get to this point, but it's taken time to realise what I need as an artist to be consistently inspired. I still feel as excited about painting as I did when I was that 13 year old girl seeing Linke's work for the first time, yet now I have a whole lifetime of experience and practice to help me realise my vision.
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My style is something between abstract and Impressionism. I've always been been drawn to strong, rich colours and it sounds silly, but I like it when the painting screams. I've always heard paintings as sounds and seen sounds and paintings. And listening to emotional music is often the starting point for many of my pieces.
Depth is a characteristic of much of my work. I tend to paint in layers, and the build up of these layers helps give the impression of depth. As well as using thick oils and palette knives adding to the rich texture.
I have to admit I spend most of my time painting and I don't have any weird and wonderful hobbies, but I like long walks, especially now I live in such a beautiful part of Wales. I enjoy movies and cooking, and of course playing with my 3 beautiful cats.
If you'd like to find out more about my art please come and visit me at evaart.net where you can view my latest work and contact me directly.
