Self Portrait with a Banana Painting

I remember myself saying: «In an ideal scenario, I would like to paint beautiful pieces and live by the ocean instead of doing job I hate five days a week». In fact, I have got out from office routine trap only once in 2012 when I quit my father’s business. I took some commissions for oil painting that summer, that was a hilarious experience. The matter was that some lady, who preferred to stay incognito sent me photographs by e-mail, which I had to turn into artworks and sell back to her without my signature. Moreover, there was a special meeting place next to cathedral where I had to hand over the paintings. I remember this with smile – who knows where they are now. Anyway, one day my life started taking an unexpected turn and all my brushes have been locked in the room for next few years. I found everything at same places when I was back to Russia to help my mother sell that apartment in 2015. A huge canvas with unfinished artwork, brushes hardened of paint, even a can of thinner… That was a shock. As soon as I was back to USA, I started doing what I really loved all my life – painting. I live Upstate New York, that is rather far from the ocean, but I’m so passionate of my oil paintings that it makes me feel I’m close to my dream.