Q: What made you to become an artist?
A: I think I was born this way :) I started to draw before I started to speak, and I've been drawing for all my life. About 4 years ago I decided that art has to be my profession.

Q: What was the most inspiring (thing or person) for you in the beginning?
A: Cartoons, I still can watch them for hours.. Brothers Grimm's stories, children books. When I was a little girl I had some books with fairytales without illustrations and I remember already trying to illustrate them back then.

Q: What kind of art interested you at the time?
A: Figurative. I liked to enter inside the painted world and I can't really do that with abstract paintings.

       

Q: How did you learn the drawing skills?
A: I studied architecture for a year, then I decided to be an artist, and I did some distance studying.

Q: How long have you been working as a painter?
A: Four years.

To talk about your style could take a whole year (laugh). Seriously, I've seen a lot of fine artists in my life, but your paintings are something that I find really touchable and fascinating. How would you describe your style in one word?
Thank you.. I think if I want to describe my style in one word it will be “dreamy”. Someone said that it's creepy and sad at the same time, I like that definition too :)

          

Q: Your color use is really amazing. What kind of supplies do you use?
A: I use acrylic colors and I paint on wood. I don't have any favorite brand of acrylics, usually I paint with what I can find in a small art shop in Trieste.

 

Q: Many of your compositions features face expression. What is their significance?
A: Every painting has its own story. Sometimes it's more like a fairytale, sometimes it's a story about a real person that I heard or read somewhere, sometimes I paint people from my dreams. I'm not good at writing so I'm trying to tell my stories through my paintings.

         

Q: The little ladies never smile they and are usually accompanied only by an unusual pet. Can you give me little description of that connection?
A: Yes, they never smile, but they are not sad as people think. Some of them are melancholic, some of them maybe know something that they shouldn't and what they can tell only to their pets. The pets are not normal animals, they’re more like magic animals friends than pets.. I think it's from my childhood, I always had cats but I wanted to have something like a gremlin, or Chewbacca. I like weird looking animals :)

           

Q: Bright colors, deep shadows and brilliant highlights almost in every painting. Can you make a comparison between your painting style and your personality?
A: This is a difficult question. I think I'm a bit more of a happy person in real life than would appear from looking at my paintings. :)

Q: Looking at your surreal world makes me feel like I'm part of the story. Tears, sadness, love, compassion all those emotions that actually describes the female fragility. What would you say that your style gives a feminine note the most?
A: I really don't know what to answer, maybe in my paintings there are more emotions and personal feelings, and maybe girls can understand them better :)

Q: What is the most captivating thing that viewers should see?
A: I think it's the eyes.

          

Q: Can you tell us about the making process? Do you have a sketchbook?
A: I have a sketchbook, but I use it more like an album for drawings when I'm traveling. I make my sketches on little pieces of paper or even newspaper sometimes, or on any piece of paper that I find lying around when I have some new idea. I can't really explain how I come up with ideas, because every time it's different. I can find a new idea for a painting in my dreams, or take it from a movie I just watched or from a book I just read, sometimes they just appear out of nowhere :)

        

Q: Do you work on custom paintings for sale? If so, please feel free to share with us some of your best experiences.
A: I think I did only 3 custom paintings so far. The best one I think I made for my friend, her portrait with her dog. It was quite easy because I know her. I don't really like to do custom paintings, so I take those orders only when they are very interesting, when I like the idea and when I really need money :)

Q: Since your style is well-defined, have you ever thought to change it and start doing something different? Maybe working as a graphic designer etc?
A: I used to work as a graphic designer for quite a long time so I don't think I will go back to this work. Maybe one day I will open my own gallery, but I don't think I will quit painting.

           

Q: Art could be a great influence on someone's personality. What is the best lesson that you've learned from your art journey?
A: Do not copy anyone.

Q: Being an artist is a real joy, right? What is your major excitement, maybe challenge in this job?
A: Yes right, but it's also a quite hard work. For me the excitement is to start a new painting. The challenge is that the world that revolves around art is not very friendly, there is a lot of envy and talking behind your back. It’s very difficult to find galleries to work with, especially if you never had any exhibitions before.

Q: Do you have any advice for the aspiring artists?
A: My advice is to never to give up, even if someone criticizes your work not to take it as a bad thing but try to work more and to become better.

Please feel free to share your feature plans about your work and your work info(web site).
http://www.behance.net/dilka_bear
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dilkathebear