It took some time (and effort) for Estée Preda to find her creative voice. After originally studying economics, she worked for 10 years as a video creator, making snowboarding videos for companies like Roxy. It was only four years ago that she really got into painting.
Her illustrations and paintings have a handmade, unpolished, quality to them that is well-intended. “I have a natural attraction for everything that’s handmade,” Preda admitted in an interview with the Tattly Blog. “Right now I’m really getting into fabric and embroidery. I work with yarn because it’s faster. I’m very influenced by folkloric textiles, especially eastern European folklore and embroidery.”
Her love of folklore comes across her work, with her aesthetic Romantic, and somewhat vintage. Living in a forest outside of Quebec City, Preda recalls growing up on folktales and Brothers Grimm; and amongst her other sources of inspiration, she also mentions William Blake and Romantic painters. “I always loved his [William Blake’s] poetry and I’m just discovering his art,” she stated. “He has watercolor works for Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. It’s dreamy and inspiring.”
“I’m also looking at Greek and Roman things lately,” she added. “I’ve rediscovered sculpture and the Romantics – how painters in the 1700s and 1800s were bringing back their inspiration.” Her artwork is equally inspiring.
