White rose and watermelon Painting

I was born on 21 of May in 1958 in Ukraine. My parents moved from Ukraine to Estonia when I was approximately twelve years old. My father was an artist, and I received my first drawing lessons in his studio. In 1976 I graduated from art school in Estonia. There I exhibited my first artworks. In 1989 my family and I immigrated to the USA. During my fifteen years here I’ve seen that the American artistic cycle is full of impressions and events. In Sacramento, California I continued to study painting in college, as well as photography, computer graphics and learned how to stay alive amongst strong competition. I traveled around the world and my work has spread all over. After time had passed, I needed to grow within myself and my skills. For six years I had traveled around Europe, Asia, and Russia. After increasing my skills at the Art Academy of St. Petersburg I settled back in Estonia. As one journalist wrote about me, 'he took a pilgrimage to a finally free Estonia”. There I did two solo exhibitions and participated in many exhibitions with other artists. I returned to America in 2010. My main focus in life is painting and teaching art for all ages. Usually, I had sold my paintings in San Francisco, Sacramento, Carmel, but now I sell them online or through acquaintances. I have participated in contests, and have accrued awards and certificates. I'm most interested in portraits, however, I do still lifes, landscapes, figurative compositions, and other.