Inside the Studio

Natalia Baykalova

Favorite material to work with?
Oil and canvas

What themes do you pursue?
I like to explore people’s deep feelings, express their emotions which maybe they cannot feel or figure out yet, and reflect it all through the beauty around them.

How many years as an artist?
Four years as a professional artist after seven years at art college.

Sketchbook – do you use one?
I don’t use any special sketchbook, but I like to make sketches on paper. Usually, I use black watercolors, coal pencil, and white gouache.

Most important tool you use?
Different kinds of brushes

Where is your studio?
Heliopolis, Egypt

Process> Concept or Process<Concept
Concept, then process

Why do you make art?
To find myself in my art

Art school or self-taught?
Art school and art college

Favorite font?
Arial

Tattoos?
Not yet

Prefer to work with music or in silence?
Silence

Everyone has a vice. Care to call yourself out?
My husband

What’s around the corner from your place?
A park and a commonwealth cemetery

Where can we find you outside the studio?
Horseback riding

Who are your favorite writers?
Margaret Mitchell and Arthur Conan Doyle

What could you not do without?
My family and friends

Day job?
Artist and photographer

Food or sleep?
Sleep

Were you popular in high school?
No

Would you rather see your art on a t-shirt or on a billboard?
T-shirt

Would you ever figure model naked?
Of course

Traditional or conceptual?
Conceptual

What do you collect?
Shoes and art

Favorite contemporary artist?
René Magritte, Jack Vettriano, and Tamara de Lempicka

Use anything other than paint?
No

Oil or acrylic?
Oil

Figurative or abstract?
Figurative

Representational or surreal?
Representational

Is painting dead?
Never

Favorite brush?
№ 24

Palette knives?
Yes

What do you wear while you paint?
My husband’s white shirt

Painting inside or outside?
Inside