EMBRACES OF SHADOWS Painting

In my early childhood spent in Siberia I enjoyed drawing and could spend hours immersed in putting charcoal, pencils or, when lucky, water colours to paper. I was lost to the outside world, totally absorbed by the process, leaving my parents to wonder whether perhaps they had the quietest and least troublesome child they could ever wish for. It was my grandmother though who, having realised I was born with natural artistic abilities, took me to the local art school a few years later introducing me into the fascinating world of painting and finding a perfect outlet for my artistic curiosity, creative passion and sheer love of painting. I will be forever grateful to her for that. Decades later, you can still find the same little girl, if a bit longer in the tooth and far removed geographically from the place where it had all started, but with more sophisticated skills and refined imagination, isolated for days in her studios in front of easels doing what she loves best – creating images through brushstrokes and bringing minutest details to life on canvas. I know a lot of people engage in serious, philosophical discussions about significance, value, meaning of art and possible messages left by artists via their creations. My appreciation and understanding of art are very simple. I value the skill of the artist, refinement of touch and eye for nuance, imagination and the artistic idea of the painting. I speak through my images rather than words and leave it up to you to judge whether ‘my voice’ is fluent enough. Welcome to my studio! Vera