What is it about miniature representations that make our hearts explode with happiness? It might be the amount of work and patience that goes into each piece, or it might be the sheer size of it. Whatever it is, we’re always delighted to run into miniature artists.
Most recently, we’ve come across Dina Brodsky’s miniature paintings. As it turns out, painting small comes naturally to Brodsky. “When I paint small I’m like a fish in water,” she shared with Whitehot Magazine. “I am much less comfortable painting on a larger scale, and very few of my large works hold up as well as the miniatures.”
Her miniatures include representations of natural landscapes, animals, and architecture. There’s also a series dedicated to seemingly empty rooms, finely painted—a sort of peephole, presenting snapshots of everyday life.
According to Brodsky, her painting technique relies on a combination of classical oil painting techniques (15th century Northern Renaissance methods and 17th-century Venetian techniques) alongside contemporary materials such as mylar and plexiglass.
“When I was studying, the things I had trouble with had more to do with drawing, proportion, perspective, anatomy, architecture,” she notes. “I feel like I am still catching up and trying to master a lot of those things. But color has always come organically.”
Born in Minsk, Belarus, Brodsky moved to the US in 1991 where she studied at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, before earning her MFA at the New York Academy of Art. These days, she also runs online seminars, teaching others how to build an engaged community online, so as to enhance their online presence.