Woman in Red Painting

I was born and raised in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine. From a very early age I had a burning desire to create and express myself in the form of artwork. It all began with a book titled "Learning to Draw", which my grandmother gave me at the age of five. I still remember this green covered book, intimidatingly thick to a child of just five years old, but something that created a spark within me. This book amazed and intrigued me and from this point forward I was forever inspired…..it was this moment that I began to draw! Towards the end of 2018 I felt an overwhelming need to progress to canvass for the first time and here I found my passion to paint. I realised that when I am sitting in front of a canvas, brush in hand, time progresses unnoticed while I am completely immersed in my passion. I remain spellbound by the process where a blank canvass evolves into something that can evoke emotion in others. I create works of art using acrylic paints on canvas and specialise in human and animal form, and landscapes also. I suggest most artists have a signature style and mine is combining grey tones and brightly coloured paints with emotive and thought provoking subjects. On the 24th of February 2022 my life changed forever. Russia invaded my homeland and I needed to make a very difficult decision to flee with my daughter who was 12 years old at this time. Our journey is documented here https://www.elzalorangallery.com/копия-news where it took us 134 days to traverse to the peace and happiness we now enjoy in our new UK home. Naturally, some of my recent art has been influenced by life events as seen in my BBC interview for the RISE exhibition in Oxford https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1jG6enSrnU “Art, one way or another, must evoke human emotions. I want to touch every heart, as what comes truly from the heart, will certainly reach another heart.”