The Emptinester Acrylic on canvas | 12 x 24 | 2023
Welcome to my gallery. The painting above is highly representative of who I am as an artist and as a person. I received fine arts training in the former Soviet Union where I grew up. After moving to the United States I had a long hiatus from arts while pursuing career paths in business and academia and raising my two sons. Only after becoming an emptinester I was able to returm to painting full time.
The Emptinester carriers on the tradition of life stages in portraiture. It captures the feelings associated with a new-found freedom when children have grown and moved out. The juxtaposition of red, white and black underscores the contrasting emotions and signifies the courage to undergo personal transformation. Through my art I invite viewers to take off on their own paths to self-discovery by asking them to sit with me in-between the worlds and transmute their experiences into something new, bright and hopeful.