Anna Shevel

Joined Artfinder: Sept. 2025

Artworks for sale: 5

United Kingdom

About Anna Shevel

 
 
  • Biography
    My passion for art started when I was a small child, growing up in rural Ukraine during the early 1990s. At that time parents had to provide the nursery with teaching materials, and I was lucky that their work as an engineer and a librarian meant mine were able to obtain notebooks, pens and cards for me to draw with. I also spent time at the library with my mother, where I was inspired by book illustrations – especially botanical watercolours. One of my earliest memories is packing two cases for summer holidays at my grandmother’s – one for dolls and one for art materials! Growing up, I would copy my sister’s collection of greeting cards and spend hours designing original artworks to cover my schoolbooks. I vividly remember the first time I painted a tree and found it easy to recreate the accuracy and perspectives of the trunk, branches and leaves. My teachers spotted this early talent and nurtured it by encouraging me to enter my art into local competitions. My grandfather enrolled me into an after-school art club, and it was here that I developed my passion for colours and light, and for painting ‘en plein air,’ where I am inspired by the smells, light and changing views of the natural landscape. My favourite process is painting with contre-jour lighting, with the light source behind the object I am painting. At university I studied teaching and discovered my two favourite techniques: I enjoyed the challenge of hyperrealism for capturing realistic details, colour, and texture; and impressionism for the exaggerated colours and energetic brushstrokes used in my abstract landscape art. I became excited by the differences between graphic art and fine art, which led to a master’s degree in fine art teaching, and I subsequently opened my own studio and art club teaching children and adults. One of my favourite pieces was a small oil painting made ‘in one breath’ using a palette knife, depicting a grey winter landscape illuminated by a pink and orange sunset. I also developed a love of painting with gouache which I find more practical for painting en plein air, where I can build up the layers of light, dark and shade in one session. In 2022, I fled my native Ukraine to the safety of the UK, and now live and work in Hexham, Northumberland, where I have curated my own 6-week exhibition “A Feast for the Eyes”. I am currently exhibiting at the 2025 Northumberland Open Exhibition where my three selected works exemplify my artistic styles and passions: two oil landscapes using contre-jour lighting to highlight the water on the River Tyne and a golden field of hay, just after the balers finished working. The third is a hyper realistic fruit scone, oozing jam and cream – I love the fun this piece causes as exhibition attendees argue about the English ‘cream tea’ etiquette of whether to put the jam on cream or cream on jam!
  • Links
  • Education

    2009 - 2014

    Drahomanov National Pedagogical University

  • Upcoming Events

    There are no upcoming events

    Show previous events Hide previous events

    Previous events

    Event: The Northumberland Open Exhibition 2025

    Dates: 22 Feb 2025 - 1 Jun 2025

    Venue: Woodhorn Museum, Ashington, Northumberland, UK

    Housed in Woodhorn Museum’s stunning Workshop Galleries, the annual Northumberland Open is the largest exhibition of its type in Northumberland.

    Event: Feast for the Eyes

    Dates: 13 May 2023 - 30 Jun 2023

    Venue: Queens Hall, Hexham, UK

    6-week exhibition ‘Feast for the Eyes’, Queen’s Hall Art Centre, Hexham, UK

    Event: Group exhibition of paintings

    Dates: 1 Nov 2019 - 1 Dec 2019

    Venue: Svitlovodsk gallery, Svitlovodsk, Ukraine

    Group exhibition of paintings ‘Trio’, Svitlovodsk, Ukraine

    Event: City on an Easel

    Dates: 12 Oct 2018 - 14 Oct 2018

    Venue: Museum of History and Local Lore, Horishni Plavni, Ukraine

    Prize-winner in the Ukrainian national art competition ‘City on an Easel,’ Horishni Plavni, Ukraine

    Event: Ukrainian Independence Day exhibition

    Dates: 20 Aug 2014 - 20 Sep 2014

    Venue: Central Artist's House, Kyiv, Ukraine

    Participant in the Ukrainian Independence Day exhibition, Kyiv, Ukraine

    Event: My first private exhibition

    Dates: 1 Feb 2013 - 28 Feb 2013

    Venue: Gallery 'Sklo', Kyiv, Ukraine

    My first private exhibition, to launch my university’s private gallery ‘Sklo,’ Kyiv, Ukraine

    Event: National Olympiad, Mukachevo, Ukraine

    Dates: 13 Apr 2012 - 15 Apr 2012

    Venue: Mukacheve State University, Mukachevo, Ukraine

    Participant in the art universities National Olympiad, Mukachevo, Ukraine

Links


Education

2009 - 2014

Drahomanov National Pedagogical University


There are no upcoming events

Show previous events Hide previous events

Previous events

Event: The Northumberland Open Exhibition 2025

Dates: 22 Feb 2025 - 1 Jun 2025

Venue: Woodhorn Museum, Ashington, Northumberland, UK

Housed in Woodhorn Museum’s stunning Workshop Galleries, the annual Northumberland Open is the largest exhibition of its type in Northumberland.

Event: Feast for the Eyes

Dates: 13 May 2023 - 30 Jun 2023

Venue: Queens Hall, Hexham, UK

6-week exhibition ‘Feast for the Eyes’, Queen’s Hall Art Centre, Hexham, UK

Event: Group exhibition of paintings

Dates: 1 Nov 2019 - 1 Dec 2019

Venue: Svitlovodsk gallery, Svitlovodsk, Ukraine

Group exhibition of paintings ‘Trio’, Svitlovodsk, Ukraine

Event: City on an Easel

Dates: 12 Oct 2018 - 14 Oct 2018

Venue: Museum of History and Local Lore, Horishni Plavni, Ukraine

Prize-winner in the Ukrainian national art competition ‘City on an Easel,’ Horishni Plavni, Ukraine

Event: Ukrainian Independence Day exhibition

Dates: 20 Aug 2014 - 20 Sep 2014

Venue: Central Artist's House, Kyiv, Ukraine

Participant in the Ukrainian Independence Day exhibition, Kyiv, Ukraine

Event: My first private exhibition

Dates: 1 Feb 2013 - 28 Feb 2013

Venue: Gallery 'Sklo', Kyiv, Ukraine

My first private exhibition, to launch my university’s private gallery ‘Sklo,’ Kyiv, Ukraine

Event: National Olympiad, Mukachevo, Ukraine

Dates: 13 Apr 2012 - 15 Apr 2012

Venue: Mukacheve State University, Mukachevo, Ukraine

Participant in the art universities National Olympiad, Mukachevo, Ukraine


 

Biography

My passion for art started when I was a small child, growing up in rural Ukraine during the early 1990s. At that time parents had to provide the nursery with teaching materials, and I was lucky that their work as an engineer and a librarian meant mine were able to obtain notebooks, pens and cards for me to draw with. I also spent time at the library with my mother, where I was inspired by book illustrations – especially botanical watercolours. One of my earliest memories is packing two cases for summer holidays at my grandmother’s – one for dolls and one for art materials! Growing up, I would copy my sister’s collection of greeting cards and spend hours designing original artworks to cover my schoolbooks. I vividly remember the first time I painted a tree and found it easy to recreate the accuracy and perspectives of the trunk, branches and leaves. My teachers spotted this early talent and nurtured it by encouraging me to enter my art into local competitions. My grandfather enrolled me into an after-school art club, and it was here that I developed my passion for colours and light, and for painting ‘en plein air,’ where I am inspired by the smells, light and changing views of the natural landscape. My favourite process is painting with contre-jour lighting, with the light source behind the object I am painting. At university I studied teaching and discovered my two favourite techniques: I enjoyed the challenge of hyperrealism for capturing realistic details, colour, and texture; and impressionism for the exaggerated colours and energetic brushstrokes used in my abstract landscape art. I became excited by the differences between graphic art and fine art, which led to a master’s degree in fine art teaching, and I subsequently opened my own studio and art club teaching children and adults. One of my favourite pieces was a small oil painting made ‘in one breath’ using a palette knife, depicting a grey winter landscape illuminated by a pink and orange sunset. I also developed a love of painting with gouache which I find more practical for painting en plein air, where I can build up the layers of light, dark and shade in one session. In 2022, I fled my native Ukraine to the safety of the UK, and now live and work in Hexham, Northumberland, where I have curated my own 6-week exhibition “A Feast for the Eyes”. I am currently exhibiting at the 2025 Northumberland Open Exhibition where my three selected works exemplify my artistic styles and passions: two oil landscapes using contre-jour lighting to highlight the water on the River Tyne and a golden field of hay, just after the balers finished working. The third is a hyper realistic fruit scone, oozing jam and cream – I love the fun this piece causes as exhibition attendees argue about the English ‘cream tea’ etiquette of whether to put the jam on cream or cream on jam!