"Christmas Lantern" Painting

My name is Irina Ciobanu, I was born in the Soviet Union, in Vyborg in 1968.
Since childhood I loved to draw, in all children’s photographs i have pencils and an album for drawing.
At the age of 8, my father gave me piano as a gift and enrolled me in a music school. In those days, in Soviet Union, with rare exceptions, artists were poor and it was impossible to feed myself and my family with paintings.
The dream of being an artist was put on hold.
Then there was a Medical Academy as a favorite job.
In 2004 me and my family moved to live in Romania in the ancient city called Brasov, not far away from Dracula’s Castle.
I found that country to be interesting in its history and a new hobby appeared. I became a Tour Guide.
With all these, interest in painting never left me and in 2016 i decided to make my childhood dream come true! I went to an art store, bought small canvas, paints and several brushes. I cannot even describe how valuable those were for me.
This is how my creative life which is bringing unimaginable joy began!
Now i know for sure that the passion for painting will never leave me!
For the past 5 years I have studied with many teachers, i always read books about art and visiting the world galleries.
I sell paintings to my grateful tourists.
Today my work are in private collections in Israel, Ukraine, Russia and Switzerland.