exploring identity through art

Years ago, my dear friend had a baby. Her baby was born prematurely and things were a bit stressful for a while. I did not know how to pray, but I knew how to art. So I decided that if I put all the healing intentions that I could possibly gather into a Hamsa, everything would be just fine!

I researched colours, symbolism, crystals and their healing properties and painted it all into this ancient amulet. I took it to my friend’s hospital room and I knew that all this energy that I felt while making the painting would stay with her and the baby.

That was 7 years ago and her baby has since grown up into a big healthy boy. I am learning that what happened then was my way of a prayer, a meditation, a deep concentration.

Since then I have created many more Hamsas, and I found beauty not just in the Hamsa itself but in teaching people create their own. I have led “Design your Hamsa” watercolour workshops in Montreal for Federation CJA, Torah Art jam with Rabbi Avi Finegold, Friendship Circle of Montreal. I also brought Hamsa workshop to Limmud FSU in New Jersey, as well as teaching multiple online workshops with Jewish organizations around Canada during pandemic.

If you hear a voice within you say ‘you cannot paint’,

then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced.”
–Vincent Van Gogh

Whether you are looking for a kids painting classes, girl’s night, birthday parties and team building activities, I got it! Fun event for all ages and occasions. 2 hour workshops with all supplies included.

I offer acrylic and watercolour painting for beginners. If you have never painted before, I will guide you into creating your own beautiful masterpiece, while learning tips and tricks of acrylic or watercolor painting.

I teach regular kids classes out of my home studio. Kids learn drawing, painting, composition, colour theory and art history.

This painting, which took ten months to finish, was inspired by my son. But more than just a reflection of motherly bond, it became a representation of struggles and vulnerabilities of the past few years.

Relocating to a small town from Montreal in 2021, in the middle of pandemic, brought back identity struggles of already a 2-time immigrant, having to restart everything from scratch and build connections. I was not just an outsider in the new plcae, but with the start of the covid restrictions and mandates, all the doors got shut closed in front of my face. Being far away from friends, and not able to travel to see my family in the States, I spent most of my days painting alone, in silence, trying to process the most challenging and confusing time of my life.

I needed a hug. I found solace in this painting. Just as my little son found comfort hiding inside my shirt, I found comfort painting us, alone together, in this mad mad world.

Oil on canvas.

Acrylic study:

Exploring the same style, this time with cats

I have lived in many different places, and travelled even more. Can you recognize these places?

Watercolour on paper.

I danced ballet for many years back in Moscow when I was a kid. Ballet was my childhood. So now when I decided to take up ballet classes, it’s not even the dance itself, but the memories that make this practice so blissful.

This painting has become part of me, and I part of it. Whenever I was away from it, I missed it. I just wanted to be near it. Even though I see mistakes, as a graphic designer(in past life), negative space on the left, random leaf, kinda out of place and making the whole thing unbalanced. But I love it.. I accept it. This is life, unbalanced, with voids.. and instead of filling them with random things just so “ something is there and it follows the rules”, I choose to breathe into this space, accept it the way it is, just as my life. I love it.