Painting Towards Joy with UAE-Based Watercolour Artist, Happy Watercolours

By Samira Banat

16th May, 2021

Born to two Ministry of Defence workers in a closed Soviet city located 400 kilometres east of Moscow, Natalia Vityugova carved out a colourful path of her own through the mountains of weaponry produced by the people of the city. Nearly 48 years later, Vityugova resides in the Emirate of Sharjah, UAE, working as a high school English and Literature teacher, a part-time watercolour artist, and a mother to four: her daughter, son and two cats.

"So then, art came back to my life - and it came like a wave."

Vityugova's art journey began when she was only four years old. Her mother guided her through the towering halls of a local art museum, where painted depictions of the earlier centuries mapped the walls. The framed pieces in the museum welcomed her into the vivid world of art, and soon, Vityugova found comfort in a nearby stationery, where her own artistry began: "I could spend hours just trying to pick new coloured pencils, albums, watercolours. Nothing could stop me."

While scouring the infinite art supplies on the shelves, Vityugova developed a particular liking towards illustrated books, managing to form an impressive collection of around ten copies of Cinderella, 12 copies of Sleeping Beauty, whose diverse range of pictures acted as inspiration.

Two years later, when she turned six, Vityugova's dream had come true as she walked through the doors of the art school she was enrolled in: "I learned all the basics of sketching, painting, composition. Every day was about painting, and it made me happy." However, the joy generated by the myriad of colours painted across each sheet of paper took a sudden drop. Instead, it landed amidst the musical keys of a piano.

At 14, she began attending the music college in her city, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia, and the piano swiftly consumed her life. "I can't explain it now, but there was no place for art in my life. I can't say like, I stopped being interested in it - not at all. I still attended exhibitions and museums. I still bought all the album's and adult art books, but I stopped painting myself, which is a pity in a way." Soon, as she approached her adult years and her schedule grew busier, art was buried beneath work, marriage and her two kids.

"So I tried yoga, I tried meditation, but these things don't work for me normally. And then, I realised that in my case, it was art."

In 2020, Vityugova was teaching her eighth year as a high school English and Literature teacher at an international school in Sharjah, UAE. Even then, glimpses of her passion for art made their way to the surface during her lessons: "It might sound surprising, but it is true. Teaching literature, I have many opportunities to discuss art because, let's say, we are talking about Renaissance. We don't just talk about literature; we talk about culture in general."

However, towards the end of the academic year, with the unprecedented emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, she could no longer share her knowledge of art and its history with her students. The government had imposed strict lockdown regulations, and along with other members of the community, Vityugova was forced to shut the door on her normal life. "At that time, I had to teach online, and in the evenings, I just didn't know what to do with myself because I'm quite an active person, but I couldn't go anywhere. So then, art came back to my life. And it came like a wave."

"Since then, there hasn't been a day that I have not painted. It's just a solution to all my problems."

As a means of coping with the uncertainty accompanying the ongoing pandemic, her kids' education and her mother, who was stuck alone in Russia, she began channelling her anxiety into a variety of activities: "So, I tried yoga, I tried meditation, but these things don't work for me normally. And then, I realised that in my case, it was art."

At first, her rediscovered enthusiasm towards painting was purely a hobby, and although she received the support of her friends and family, Vityugova felt her creations lacked something, and what they lacked was skill. Following such a lengthy break, she knew not to expect a masterpiece to be produced right away. Hence, Vityugova immersed herself in the digital spaces of Youtube, Instagram and online masterclasses, hoping to trigger key memories of the techniques taught at the art school she attended as a child. Not only did the online materials succeed at re-teaching her art, but Vityugova also discovered that her artistic path would embrace the gentle, faded washes of watercolour: "Since then, there hasn't been a day that I have not painted. It's just a solution to all my problems."

Over the course of the last year, her watercolour adventure has taken on the name Happy Watercolours (@happywatercolours), which also serves as her Instagram handle for the account that has garnered nearly 2,000 followers since she shared her first painting on June 7th, 2020. On it, Vityugova shares daily snippets of her art, the multiple events and exhibitions she has attended, including World Art Dubai in October 2020, as well as the awards she has received for her contributions to the country's art scene. "The first time I got invited to participate in an exhibition, I was quite surprised, because I didn't consider myself an artist. I felt like 'Oh my god, I'll be there with all those artists, you know, people with such tremendous scale, what will I do with all that?', but then it turned out to be quite a success", she shares.

"I don't paint just for the result. I paint for the process because I enjoy every minute of it."

Along with paintings she envisions for herself, Vityugova does regular national and international commissions. Additionally, last autumn, she illustrated a book of poems. She thinks back to the events that earned her exposure as a new artist and shares, "I met so many beautiful people, artists, producers. It was such a wonderful experience. And again, my art was exhibited there. People got to know me, not as a teacher, not as a person, but as an artist. So I started believing in myself."

Today, art flows through her life as radiant landscapes and portraits, despite the nature of her art medium being known for its subtle pigments. "I love bright colours, so all my paintings, although they're watercolours, are extremely bright. I get criticised for that quite a lot, but this is my style, this is my nature, and I think cultures go along with that", she explains.

As she leads me through her metaphorical voyages across the artistic plain, Vityugova concludes the interview with a confession: "I don't paint just for the result. I paint for the process because I enjoy every minute of it."