"There is enough ugliness in the world" • Janet Pulcho

Painting with aquarelle or watercolors is faster than for example working with graphite. Yet some artists spend weeks painting with this material. Meet Janet Pulcho today who is a master of watercolor floral paintings in large format and who shares her journey on her Instagram account, followed by thousands of enthusiasts who got inspired by her wonderful artwork.

Hello Janet! Let’s start from the beginning. How long have you been involved in the visual arts in general?

I have been involved in visual arts for about eight years. Now I can say that it’s an important part of my life.

Do you still remember the moment when you were first introduced to watercolour technique?

I can’t remember the first time but it must have been in childhood. Two years of studying in the academy I was painting mostly with oil and drawing with graphite pencils but I always imagined how to paint everything in watercolor, all those beautiful sceneries and still lives.... Then I started painting more with watercolor about ten years ago.

Are you self-taught or have you attended any watercoloring courses?

Oh yes, I think that studying is really needed. When I was studying in high school I was preparing to enter university by taking private lessons from a very cool watercolor artist who finished Repin Academy of Fine Arts. He was the first person who helped me to develop my interests for watercolors.

At first it was very hard, because he retaught me to paint watercolor. He explained all those things which had helped me to develop my skills further. Studying in an academy was a great experience for me as I was studying in the faculty of Fine Arts. It took me five and a half years and I graduated with a masters degree. During the whole studying process I was mostly practicing academic style painting. Only in my fourth year of studying I discovered botanical illustration, which developed into these huge floral paintings of mine.

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People often use watercolours to create rather smaller paintings but you do the opposite. What's the largest work you've created?

The biggest one was 125 cm x 150 cm. I always work with big sizes, but this one was the biggest.

Wow, incredible. How long does the whole process take to complete one piece?

It usually takes me two weeks to finish. For a small painting it can be approximately a few days. I cannot say how many hours it takes. When you work with watercolor you need to work really fast, because while the paper is wet you need to colour all the important pieces.

Who is your favourite artist and what do you admire most about him or her?

I can’t name only one person but I really like French impressionists and some modern artists.

You paint flowers most often, why is that?

I like florals for their esthetics. There is enough ugliness in the world and I believe that my paintings can bring something beautiful and inspiring to other peoples life. I also love to paint watercolor portraits, but I do this really rarely.

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Have you ever tried to paint an abstract composition or is it simply not your cup of tea?

I used to create abstractions while studying, but I realised that I like semi-abstract and fine art better.

Which products from the Koh-i-noor range would you recommend to other artists?

I can recommend my favourite products from Koh-i-noor and those are pencils for academic drawing and colourful aquarelle pencils for sketches in my studio.

That sounds good. Thank you for a nice interview, Janet!