Borbala Eszteri

Year of birth: 1993
Where do you live: Currently in Zürich, Switzerland
Your education: Fashion and style design
Describe your art in three words: Women in motion
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In your artwork, there is a strong sense of intuition. How do you balance the emotions and thoughts you wish to express with the technical aspects of painting?

Most of the time I start painting to a certain song. Music is like a switch on and off mechanism for me and I can listen one song multiple times, I mean really on repeat for hours to inspire me through the start of a painting process. It keeps me in one certain mood and helps me to focus.

You are self-taught in oil painting. What challenges did you face when learning this medium, and what drew you to it?

Yes, to this day I have never watched videos or read books to learn how to paint with oils. But even acrylic was new to me when I started painting.
First of all, I had no idea how slowly oil paint dries on canvas, and this fact made me work with it gently and slowly.
In fact, the challenge itself drew me to use oil, because acrylic is much easier to work with. It takes a lot longer and a lot of patience to work with it. It has even shaped my personality, and I have become much more patient in many areas of life than before.

Your artistic journey began with fashion design before moving to canvas painting. How did this transition influence your approach to art?

I really enjoyed drawing model sketches. With watercolor, it was so fluid to draw the lines, the clothes, and the figures. I think these sketches eventually led me to experiment with painting elongated figures.

What advice would you give to other self-taught artists who are trying to find their voice and style in the art world?

I would say put in the effort and invest the time to create something you can be proud of in your own eyes. A lot of people these days, when everything is so quick, expect quick results, even on canvas. I mean, Da Vinci spent 4 years painting The Last Supper, and it’s a masterpiece for the world. I think your voice and style will eventually find you if you spend time alone, creating and listening inward.

The figures in your artwork often seem to be in motion despite being captured in stillness. Can you elaborate on how you achieve this dynamic quality in your work?

My method is to draw the lines in one go. I try to draw the basic lines with charcoal or pencil and then apply the paint. Honestly my goal is, to achieve more softness in the movement, I often feel the figures are not smooth enough.
I learn by doing.

Your works often focus on the female form and movement. What is it about the female body and its fluidity that inspires your work?

On one hand, as mentioned earlier, it comes from the model sketch.
On the other hand, I am a woman, so I am more feminine than masculine and I love natural beauty, imperfection and the confidence that I try to express through my paintings: ultimately, women in motion.
The figures are often in a kind of dance-like movement, I think dance is fun, and you know, there is quite a lot of bad, depressing stuff in the outside world, I want to feel good when I look at my paintings. The dance, the movement, the flexibility, the colors and the flowers are beautiful and inspire me every day.

How do you decide on the colors and textures you use in each piece? Do you have a particular process that guides you?

Most of my paintings are mixed media, which means I use oil, oil pastels, acrylics and sometimes charcoal. This gives each piece a certain texture, sometimes a rougher texture, sometimes a softer texture, I like to work in multiple layers.
The colors have to be balanced. I paint over the colors several times during the process, as many times as necessary. My goal is to look at the work and feel that the colors are balanced, which sometimes takes a long time.