The first time she seriously picked up a paintbrush, states Eva, was in 2006. This is somewhat incredulous to me, as her paintings show a maturity and skill level which would indicate Eva's having honed her craft for many decades.
It all began with a Japanese brush painting course, which got Eva hooked. She has studied under, and been influenced by, many watercolour artists including Ken MacFarlane, David McEown, Donnah Cameron II, June Thompson, Barry Coombs, Brenda Turnour, Brigitte Schreyer and Stephen Yau. Eva described in her lecture how she was advised early on to use only the best brushes, paints and papers, advice to which she fervently adheres to.
It was fascinating to hear of Eva's artistic journey and of the trials and tribulations of selling artwork, including interesting anecdotes of various buyers and their diverse reasons for purchasing her works.
Eva brought dozens of her watercolours for the attendees to enjoy, from her earlier black and white brush paintings to her often very colourful more recent landscape scenes, where the influence of northern Ontario and water is evident. We hope to see much more of this talented Estonian artist in the future!
Merike Koger
