Plein Air Painting (painting from life outdoors) is my major art focus. Much of my current work is representative of this discipline. I try to capture the light and atmosphere of a scene within a few hours. I believe that a painting is not just a two dimensional illusion, but also is a moment in life, captured by an artist on canvas.

I have found that while doing a painting outdoors I am immersed in the moment. What I mean is that later when I look at the painting I can remember all the things that went on as I painted, the weather, the birds singing, a small animal moving through the scene, people who have stopped to talk to me. The memories are all part of the painting.

I am a founding member of Wisconsin Plein Air Painters Association. The WIPAPA was established as a statewide fellowship of artists dedicated to promoting and practicing the traditional discipline of Plein Air painting.

Recent Accomplishments in Plein Air Painting:

Best of Show and People’s Choice at Paint the Point Plein Air Event – Mineral Point

2nd place-2014-Theodore Robinson Plain Air Event

3rd Place 2015 Paint the Point Winter Edition-Mineral Point

Beloit College Patron of the Arts Award-2015 Beloit Friends of the Riverfront Plein Air Event

Honorable Mention-2015 and 2016 Historic 3rd Ward Plein Air Event

2nd Place Nocturne 2015 and 2016 Paint the Point Summer Plein Air Event-Mineral Point

1st Place Quick Paint 2015 Catiris Plein Air Event

Merit Award 2015 Between the Bluffs Plein Air Event -LaCrosse

1st place 2016 Pewaukee Waterfront Art Fair Plein Air Event

1st place-2016 Historical Evansville Category -Theodore Robinson Plain Air Event

Juried Art Exhibitions:

2014 National Oil and Acrylic Painters “Best of America” Show

One Man Show-October 2015 month long at the Beloit Fine Arts Incubator

Richeson 75 2013 Still Life and Floral Show -2 Finalist and 4 Meritorious , 2015 Small Works Show –Finalist

Art Exhibition Awards:

Best of Show – 2010 Plymouth Art Fair, First Place – 2011 Plymouth Art Fair

First Place – WIPAPA Annual Show 2010, Third Place – WIPAPA Annual Show 2012

Certificate of Excellence – 2013 Stevens Point Art Festival

Best of Show – 2013 Kenosha Art Fair

5 Time – Favorite 15% BoldBrush online Competition

First Place -“Point of Color: The Wisconsin Plein Air Painters Association Juried Show,” at the Monroe Arts Center

2nd Place- 2015 “En Plein Air” Exhibit, The Lighthouse Art Center, Tequesta, FL

1st Place League of Milwaukee Artists POE-etry Show

I was born and raised in Russia where I got fundamental classic education in monumental painting and sculpture. I graduated from Stroganov Art Academy in Moscow 1991 where I participated in various student exhibitions in Sweden, Japan and Italy, but seeking my own path in art I moved to Israel where slowly but steadily I began to paint, to create my own world without looking at the temptations of momentous modern conceptual art” fame and glory “ I spent some time among the Israeli artists participating in various exhibitions in the prestigious galleries such like Jerusalem Theater, in 2003 I moved to US where my art was generously supported by famous philanthropist Len Blavatnik and late Ann Loeb Bronfman. In 2007 I won the Gran Prix in International Miniature Painting Competition (under Washington Miniature Painting Society) I have exhibited my works in the best Washington area galleries. It makes me really glad to see that my painting is understood and appreciated in US and I have chance to work wholeheartedly in what I consider ”my painting”- in style, in color in line.

I reside in Bethesda MD, where I teach art in my studio and paint and exhibit my works.

This piece is of the Horseshoe bend in the Colorado river,as viewed from Dead Horse Point, near Moab, Utah. I titled it “Layer Cake” because of the layers  of the canyon has been referred by others as resembling a layered cake.

I was sketching before I entered grade school, and was doing landscapes with colored pencils by age ten. I was dabbling with water color and oil paints by the time I entered high school. I majored in art at Grand Junction High School.and graduated from Mesa Junior College (now Colorado Mesa University, majoring in Applied Arts.

I served in the Army in Korea during the Viet Nam War. Following dischargefrom the Army I attended the University of Hawaii where I earned an Applied Arts degree and a Masters degree in Asian Art History.

I married while in Hawaii, laid down my art brushes, picked up lettering brushes and worked as a commercial artist in Dallas, Texas. I had my own sign company, A & E Signs, in Dallas for fifteen years. I returned to mybeloved western Colorado and worked as a graphic designer at Pyramid Printing and AlphaGraphics until I retired.

After a forty five year hiatus, and at the encouragement of a former college girlfriend, I picked up artist brushes and began painting again in November of 2010. Much to my happy surprise, the paintings I have produced upon returning to art have been superior to those I produced before the hiatus. I primarily paints landscapes of actual places because I enjoys the challenge of attempting to copy the “master” — the Artist of all creation –though I admit that “the best of my work is but a dim reflection of His.”

I have always loved art.