"A studio is not just a room. It is an atmosphere — the particular quality of light through north-facing glass, the layered smell of turpentine and dried pigment, the silence that makes sustained attention possible."
Kate Konovka
- Location
- Delmenhorst, Lower Saxony
near Bremen, Germany - Space
- Former industrial loft
approx. 55 m² with annex - Light
- North-facing skylight
consistent, shadow-free daylight - Studio visits
- By appointment
Request a visit →
The Space
A Room
Built for Looking
The studio occupies a converted industrial loft in Delmenhorst — a quietly industrial city west of Bremen that Kate arrived in from Ukraine's Odessa region in 2022. She chose the space for its north-facing skylight: a long strip of glass that delivers the even, directionless light painters rely on for accurate colour.
One wall is covered floor to ceiling in stretched canvases at various stages. Another holds shelves of pigment tubes, mediums, and reference materials collected from a decade of travel across Iceland, Madeira, East Africa, and Morocco. The floor is paint-stained concrete — not by accident, but by years of use.
There are two easels. The larger holds canvases in active work; the smaller is reserved for studies. Between them, a small table with a glass palette, brushes sorted by size, and a jar of refined linseed oil that gets changed every Monday.
- 55 m² loft with north skylight + annexe for storage
- Two easels — active work + studies
- Constant 18–20 °C, humidity-controlled storage for finished works
How It's Made
The Process
Each original passes through four distinct stages — from the first sketch to the final varnish. There are no shortcuts. Oil paint insists on its own timeline.
Observation
& Reference
Nothing touches the canvas until the subject is understood. Kate works from sketchbooks, her own photographs, and extended periods of direct observation — in landscape, in travel, in close study of a specific quality of light.
Studies are made in pencil and watercolour, often dozens before a single composition is committed to linen. The sketchbook is the real studio: compact, immediate, honest.
Typically 1–4 weeks before canvas work begins
Preparing
the Ground
Kate works almost exclusively on Belgian linen, hand-stretched and double-primed with lead white or a warm rabbit-skin glue ground. The choice of ground colour — warm ochre, cool grey, or neutral white — determines the temperature of everything painted over it.
No paint is mixed until the ground is dry for at least a week. There is no way to accelerate this without compromising the work's longevity.
1–2 weeks preparation, depending on ground layers
Building
in Layers
The painting is built up in stages: a thin, fast-drying underpainting in raw umber establishes value and composition. Over several sessions, colour is introduced through transparent glazes and opaque passages working together.
Each layer must be touch-dry before the next is applied — a discipline enforced by the paint itself. Kate typically works on two or three pieces simultaneously so that one is always drying while another receives attention.
The brushwork you see in the finished work is not a single session. It is the accumulated decision of many — some preserved, others scraped away.
4–12 weeks of active painting across multiple sessions
Finishing
& Signing
Before a work leaves the studio, it rests for a minimum of six months — long enough for the oil to polymerise fully and the surface to stabilise. Only then is a final coat of dammar or mastic varnish applied, which unifies the surface and protects it from dust and UV degradation.
Kate signs and dates every work on the verso, adds a hand-written note with title and series, and inscribes the work's unique reference number. A corresponding Certificate of Authenticity is prepared, signed, and sealed.
The work is then photographed under calibrated studio lighting before packaging for shipping.
6+ months drying time before any work is offered for sale
Tools of the Trade
Materials
No synthetic shortcuts. Every material is chosen for its quality and permanence — the same commitment to longevity that will keep these works in good condition for centuries.
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Belgian Linen
Fine-grain, hand-stretched. Preferred over cotton for its longevity and texture.
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Artist-Grade Oils
Old Holland, Williamsburg, and selected Berlin suppliers. High pigment load, no fillers.
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Dry Pigments
Earth colours, ochres, and minerals ground to order. Mixed into oils for specific passages.
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Kolinsky Sable
Rounds, filberts, and brights. Cleaned with mild soap after every session, reshaped and stored upright.
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Cold-Pressed Linseed
The primary painting medium. Fresh jar each week. No stand oil — the work must breathe as it dries.
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Dammar Varnish
Natural resin dissolved in mineral spirits. Reversible, UV-resistant, and archival — the traditional choice for oil paintings.
Behind the Work
A Day in the Studio
Painting is not inspiration followed by execution. It is a discipline made of small rituals and long silences.
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6:30
Coffee & the sketchbook
The day begins before the studio opens. A review of yesterday's sketches, new notes on colour or composition, and whatever photographs were taken on the previous day's walk.
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8:00
Primary session — full natural light
The north skylight is at its best from 8 until noon in most seasons. This window is reserved for the most demanding work: colour decisions, key passages, anything that requires accurate judgement. No music. No interruptions.
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12:30
Photographs & step back
A photograph taken with a calibrated phone camera tells things the eye misses. Distance changes everything. A canvas that seems finished at arm's length often reveals unresolved areas in a photograph or on the other side of the room.
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14:00
Detail work & glazing
Afternoon is for patience. Glazes — thin, transparent layers of colour — are applied over areas that need depth without opacity. Palette knife work. Fine brushes. The parts that take longest and show least on the finished surface.
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17:00
Clean & close
Brushes washed in sequence — first mineral spirits, then mild soap and warm water, reshaped and stored upright. Palette scraped. Jars sealed. The studio left in order for whoever enters tomorrow morning.
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Evening
Research & reference
Books, museum archives, travel images. Kate maintains a reference library organised by colour temperature, atmosphere, and subject. An evening spent with Caspar David Friedrich or a set of photographs from a Moroccan market is never wasted.
By Appointment
Come and See
The work is best experienced in person. Studio visits are available for collectors, curators, and anyone with a serious interest in the paintings. You will see finished works, works in progress, and the space they come from.
Visits typically last 45–90 minutes and can include a conversation about process, commissions, or a specific series.