Enjoing Painting

Biography I was born on November 16, 1991, in Yuzhny — a small, warm coastal town near Odesa, Ukraine. In 2007, I graduated from art school after studying there for five years. Art had always been a part of me, but the journey to fully embrace it was longer than expected. In 2009, I entered OGASA in Odesa to study Urban Construction and Management. By my fourth year, I already knew that engineering wasn’t my calling — I wanted to paint. After graduation, I spent a year working jobs that didn’t resonate with me: legal assistant, call center operator… nothing felt right. Eventually, I moved to Kyiv and began taking custom art commissions. That time was important but emotionally difficult. I didn’t feel like myself. I had to paint what others wanted — not what my soul was longing to express. Some projects were inspiring, but others… I’ll never forget one in particular: I was asked to paint a defecating dog. It turned out beautifully, technically speaking — light, shadow, texture — but I cried as I painted it. The image was technically perfect but felt completely wrong in my heart. That piece was commissioned by a Ukrainian designer who now dresses the First Lady and President. It was then I realized how deeply I wanted to use my gift to beautify the world — to create what I love, what speaks from within. That desire gave birth to my first truly personal painting: a large realistic horse on canvas, done in oil. I poured my freedom into it. Years later, it was sold behind my back for pennies, but I still remember that painting with the bittersweet flavor of my first artistic freedom. For two years, I immersed myself in creative work. Then, I returned to Odesa, and with that began a five-year pause in painting. I had taken a “temporary” job — just for six months, I told myself — but stayed much longer. All that time, I dreamed of returning to my art. Not for commissions, but for my own visions — from my own soul. Eventually, life nudged me again. I quit my job as a stylist in the most fashionable luxury boutique in Odesa and moved back to my hometown, Yuzhny. That return felt like surrender — not giving up, but giving in. Coming back to my roots. Trusting life. It was a deeply spiritual period. For the first time, I saw the world through presence — every second filled with silent, divine awareness. Joy. Stillness. Surrender. And I started painting again.