The Cherokee Painting

Lyudmila Tomova is originally from Sofia, Bulgaria and is currently residing in Cary, North Carolina. She immigrated to the US in 1990 and has lived in New York City working as a full-time painter, editorial illustrator and designer, exhibiting nationally and abroad. She studied Illustration at the Sofia’s Academy of Fine Arts and later at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, graduating with high honors. She has also successfully completed the animation internship at the Walt Disney Feature Animation Studios in Orlando, FL. Currently, she paints figures, portraits, murals and landscapes in various mediums in a unique expressive style. Lyudmila is also a Signature member of the Watercolor Societies of NC, GA and the Southwestern Watercolor Society. Her work has been part of numerous juried national and international exhibitions such as, 2020 NC Annual Artist exhibition at CAM, MOWS International Juried Exhibitions in Barcelona, Spain and Qingdao, China, The 1st International Watercolor Society Biennale in Vancouver, Canada, The 2nd IWS Triennale in Bulgaria, many exhibitions by the WFWS, IWE, NWS, IWS CA, ArtFields 2019 and 2021, 10th Annual PleinAir Salon and many others. She was also accepted into the North Light Books’ watercolor competitions Splash 20: Creative Composition and Splash 18: Value | Light + Dark, part of the Splash: Best of Watercolor series for the Artists Network and in North Light Books’ drawing competition Strokes of Genius 8: Expressive Texture. She was recognized at the NC Museum of Art for her “Butterfly Women” series for The Emerging Women NC organization. Movement and mood are at the core of my artistic style. I merge both abstract and traditional painting in a loose painterly way to create an energetic and impactful artwork. My painting philosophy is to interpret reality and not copy it. I paint quickly with large gestural strokes free of preconceived logical steps, infusing passion and excitement. A fleeting moment is captured and transformed by means of rules and omissions, acceptance and refusal, luring the viewer round and round in circles. The brush strokes are moving, pushing, emerging and overwhelming, but never still and quiet. Sometimes, I jokingly call my approach “create-destroy-create” for this is exactly how I approach my work – a brush stroke is laid down on the paper and then part is taken away, followed by a new one in an ever-continuing, intuitive rhythm of gestures.