Entirely self-taught, LANA PRIVITERA’S work is exquisitely detailed. The watercolour artist tells Niki Browes about her art and teaching
AFTER GROWING UP IN SPAIN and attending the Fine Art School in Zaragoza, Lana Privitera worked in advertising before moving to the States. Poor eyesight led to her giving up her art in 2002, but 12 years later a new specialist was able to help with her sight and she returned to painting full time. She specialises in creating detailed still lifes in watercolour and her work has been recognised in competitions throughout the world. Among others, she is a member of the American Watercolor Society (AWS) and the National Watercolor Society (NWS), and has been an art instructor for 15 years, now mostly offering online workshops and demos.
I am a self-taught artist in every medium.
From an early age I drew very detailed subjects and trained myself to see values and contrast. At first, I used charcoal and graphite, or pastels for commissioned portraits, and over the years I have done quite a few pen and inks and oils. I have also painted murals in acrylics, designed dolls, painted props for theatre performances and enjoyed doing wood carvings and clay sculptures. But today, watercolour is the medium that suits my needs the best.
Every watercolourist has tricks and techniques to help develop a painting.
I work with multiple layers with a minimalist palette. Depending on what I’m painting, it might take up to 10 layers of overlapping hues to achieve the effects and depth of value I want. The most important factor is to dry each layer thoroughly before applying the next. My first layers are always painted with staining colours that sink into the paper; that way, when I apply the next layers, the first ones remain undisturbed.
Ideas come to me at random times: while cooking breakfast or doing the dishes.
I have many objects bought at yard sales, secondhand stores and on eBay. Having an abundance of props at home makes it easy to choose a subject to paint. But, most of the time ideas pop into my mind as soon as I buy a new teapot, vase or teacup that has an interesting shape. My brain goes full-speed, visualising all the possible ways of using it. Even though I’m not a painter who focuses on social issues, sometimes I like to pretend that the objects in my still lifes are human. I design those scenes to bring attention to certain behaviours and problems. My painting Lessons not Learned is an example of that: an allegory about international wars. The
