Artist Bio
Story of Natalie Makletzoff
Here is the artist already formulating the painting in her mind from the photos taken with her technology.
As a child of four years old, my father, an architect, engineer and artist, sat all of us children down and taught us to observe before teaching us the alphabet.
I drew an apple and then practiced the letter A. At thirteen years of age, my father told us the story of how he survived the Russian Revolution when the White Army was starving after being chased out of Russia by the Red Army to the Crimea. Here, he drew portraits for the Officers in charge in exchange for a pound of butter and other food. In this introduction , he showed us how to sketch portraits successfully achieving our likenesses. Every summer, as we were growing up , our whole family would venture to Northern Ontario. It was here we would go out into nature to sketch what we saw… I found this the greatest challenge as a young person. At 15 years of age, I took a life drawing class in downtown Toronto on Yorkville Street with Rowley Murphy, who had also taught the Group of Seven. At 22 years of age, I studied Design Arts at Seneca College and then after running my own small Graphic Arts Business decided to attend York University to Study Fine Arts and Education. Here, I discovered my love of painting. Since then, I have painted with acrylic, oils and most recently have fallen in love with watercolour. I’ve also become enamored of landscape painting.
As a studio major in university, it was an Art History Course that allowed me to approach painting with more confidence. Just as my father had introduced me to observation, my art history professor introduced me to HOW the great painters built their work from the first layer of paint to their final result!! It gave me such insight into chiaroscuro (use of light and dark to create a three dimensional look on a two dimensional surface) of the greats Rembrandt and Rubens.
Pointillism, Impressionism, abstraction, dadaism etc too were painted with words by my professor. I also understood how history was influencing art’s inceptions and changes. My favourite historical painter is Cezanne and I liked the British cloud painter John Constable, as well as the atmospheric work of Joseph Turner. It was a very rich education for me and led to me attempting to paint. An early replication of Cezanne’s Green Apples sold to a fellow student in the first year I painted. My Painting professor exclaimed as he critiqued all the students' term work that “I truly was a painter.” This was very encouraging. I never looked back, I was definitely a painter.
Having an amazing father and the rich enlightening education has made me who I am today as an artist.These days, I am inspired to record the vast beauty of the Northern landscapes and waterscapes throughout the seasons. Each image is my attempt to capture the light and its effect on the scene and synthesize its quintessential beauty for others to be able to enjoy.
Here is the story recorded of a journey I took to find our long lost Russian family. My father ,born before the 20th century, was forced out of Russia during the Russian Revolution in 1918 and left behind a daughter with my same namesake ; he never could find her again in his lifetime. This tells the story of my finding my Russian family.
Title : Russian Daughter