Today we interviewed Eva Bratopoulou. An artist who makes magical paintings with animals, ocean elements, mythology and female forms. In this blog we will dive a bit deeper into her world of art.
What do you love to paint?
I wish my works to evoke positive emotions to viewers. For this reason, I choose to paint whatever makes me feel love, beauty, and magic. This can be a beautiful face, an underwater composition, an animal, flowers, while I am also drawn to surrealistic compositions.
Have you always been a painter?
I have always been a creator, a painter, an artist in my soul. Since I was very young, I painted and made things. Only through creation do I find meaning and purpose in my daily life. However, since I am fourteen, I have worked as a saleswoman, a hotel employee, in the creative department of an advertising company, and as a customer service supervisor at a bank. Today, I also teach painting to children.
What do you love most about your job?
I always wake up with inspiration and enthusiasm when I have a new project in mind. The anticipation of bringing my ideas from the abstract to the physical world is a driving force in my life. This is passion for creation!
Are you able to make a living of it?
Staying in a small place with a 3-month tourist season makes it difficult to find enough buyers for my artwork throughout the year. I have tried to make online sales through my website and social media, but the results are not yet satisfactory. Although my income has increased through the lessons I give to children though it is not stable as the number of children fluctuates. For these reasons, I have maintained my position at the bank and do both jobs simultaneously.
What do you hope to achieve in 5 years?
In the next 5 years, I hope to have developed a more recognizable and unique artistic voice. I want to hold exhibitions in significant galleries in Greece and abroad, have a large and sunny studio, travel more, sustain myself through my art, and be free from my job at the bank.
In what kind of space would you love to hang your art?
I create my artworks in order to bring joy and enhance the energy of the space for any collector who wishes to purchase them. Therefore, I want to see them in the homes of people who recognise the value of art in their everyday lives.
Some artworks are created instinctively, without thinking about where they will be placed, and after their completion, I imagine the ideal space for them to be hung.
Other artworks are created with the specific space in mind where I would like to see them hanging. For example, I have created several pieces that would be suitable for a simple bedroom or living room, while I have painted a piece with a woman sitting at a table full of delicious food, or compositions with fruits. These paintings are intended for a modern kitchen with character.
Additionally, I consider the bathroom to be very important space in the house, as it is the space we visit several times a day and the space where we wash our faces in the morning to wake up and start our day. Therefore, it is a space that deserves attention and careful decoration. I have paintings with mermaids or Aphrodite that perfectly match a simple white bathroom.
What inspires you?
I find it very easy to be inspired when I feel good about the environment around me. I can draw inspiration from anything beautiful that exists around me. I am attracted to anything that emits love and magic. A beautiful face, a flower, the sea, a song, or a poem that creates images in my mind, even an other painter's artwork.
What artists do you admire?
My most lovable from the greatest painters are Gustav Klimt and Paul Cezanne. From recent painters, of course I admire all the Milan family fror their persistance to depict beauty, I love John's Valyrakis effortlessly creation, I admire the Italian's Marco Grassi luxurious abstract portraits, I found the Spanish cubist Miguel Angel Belinchon Bujes (Belin) unbelievably inspiring and I have a serious crush with Nathan's Preston (prestonpaperboy) art.
How do you get in touch with your collectors?
I have developed friendly relationships with most of my collectors.
Some invite me to their homes to ask for my opinion on where the artwork they purchased should be placed, while others send me pictures of it in their homes. My work at the bank helps me maintain a relationship with them, as many of them come and ask me about upcoming exhibitions and new artworks, knowing that I work there. In addition to that, I am quite active on social media and communicate with them there, while also keeping them informed about my exhibitions through email.
What would your dream studio look like?
I have imagined so many times my dream studio and every time I add a new detail! I'm dreaming of a spacious high ceilling, full of natural light, studio that create a sense of freedom and allows the creation of larger artworks. Ample storage space for art supplies, tools, and finished works would help keep the studio tidy and efficient.
I would divide it into three sections, one would be the space where I would paint, the other would have 3 large workbenches that would allow me to do painting lessons for children and the last space would be an exhibition area with a modern comfortable living room where I could invite people to see my latest works.
Finally, it would be amazing if it had sea view!
What has been your coolest project so far?
I believe that all artists fall in love with the latest works they create when they let themselves be free to express. My latest work was such a piece, for which I had no expectation to become something significant for me. I simply wanted to challenge myself to paint a face without depicting the eyes, as I believe that the soul of a portrait comes through the eyes. So I started painting a half-face, adding abstract elements, flowers, whales, and waves. As I was painting it, I never believed for a moment that I was creating something worthy of being included in my upcoming exhibition. There was no initial thought on how it would be completed or what it would mean. I created an abstract surrealistic piece that I fell in love with as soon as I saw it completed. Suddenly, a whole story and a title that represented it were revealed. It is called "Whale's Love Song".
