I am very excited to share that I was invited to teach in the annual Pastel Live online event organized by Streamline Publishing! I was part of the event team of instructors in 2021, and it was a fantastic few days of being immersed in "everything pastel."    This September, I will be presenting a seascape, again :) Well, people just love seeing how my waves emerge on paper! This time, my wave will be crashing against the rocks. I've been exploring the theme of a seascape with rocky coastline for a couple of years. Now, I'll be sharing my tips and technique for capturing the ..read more

One of my students recently asked me if I work better under pressure or when I'm more relaxed. I had to think for a second. I would instinctively say that you don't need an extra pressure to do your best work, but I do have a few examples when the pieces I did when pressed for time or during the live demos, turn out really well and went on to be accepted in the competitions, and one even turned out later on a cover of the Pastel Journal magazine.    The piece that recently got accepted into the 2023 IAPS Spring Juried Exhibition – 10th Master Circle Division (which is a great h ..read more

When I became more serious about painting (making a big effort to paint regularly and learn about it as much as possible) I started entering competitions. My very first attempts were not successful, but eventually my work started being accepted in the national pastel competitions. It was an important sign for me because I saw it as a way to see where I stand in my skill level. Yes, jurors and judges are still subjective, but they do their best and trust their opinion. As the years went by, my work won some prizes in the competitions I entered, which felt great and encouraged me to work harder ..read more

Though this video is about painting a palm tree, I approach any tree this way - from larger shapes to smaller, from general to details. If painting trees is intimidating, I hope it will not be after you watch this video. Enjoy!   Click the image below to watch the video:   ..read more

  This month my coastal work is featured in the Pastel Journal magazine! I'm very excited about this - it's a huge milestone for me. It's also very special to me - this is the magazine that has been for years my main course of inspiration and information about the pastel medium, since I picked up those beautiful sticks of pure color.    Anne Hevener, the Editor-in-cheif, approached me about this article right before last Christmas, so that was a great present! Christine Proskow interviewed me soon after that and did a wonderful job on the article. So I was excited and was wait ..read more

I've been painting ocean for years. I live on Long Island, NY, close to the ocean beaches, so I did not have to go far for the inspiration. Yet, my recent trips to Maine, Rhode Island and Massachusetts let me explore a different palette and textures. Here on Long Island, our waves are more green. The ocean beach on Long Island is sandy, almost no rocks. So it was so much fun to see different colors in the waves if New England. And rocky coastline is a special treat! For an artist, rocks bring more elements into a composition, more colors and texture to play with.  My latest work was insp ..read more

Painting beach landscape from photos can be challenging. The pictures taken a bright sunny day often end up with exaggerated dark shadows, and on a gray day, subtle nuances of colors can be easily lost by camera. Painting at the beach, at least making a few studies occasionally, really helps to make better paintings in the studio.   Here's a detail of a reference I used for this color study, done in the studio. Last December I was in Cape Cod, MA and discovered this amazing place, but plein air was absolutely out of the question. I took a lot of photos and tried to remember light and col ..read more

I often take my plein air class students to nearby picturesque town of Stony Brook (NY). There's a beautiful harbor in the village, with marshes growing along the inlet. Doesn't this sound amazing? Well, it is a great subject to paint, except for one challenge - plenty of green color to deal with in summer.. On a bright summer day, my solution might be an underpainting done with warm saturated complementary colors (reds). Here are some progress shots from this quick study.   The fact that things are constantly changing while painting outdoors is both challenging and rewarding. Yes, the l ..read more

Most of the subjects I paint are inspired by the ocean and coastal areas, so it made a lot of sense for me to join The American Society of Marine Artists. I became a member of the ASMA at the end of last year and submitted one of my paintings to their juried exhibition. I'm honored that my Summer Sparkles will be traveling the country as part of the ASMA's 18th National Exhibition. This carefully selected collection of marine themed works will be showing in 5 museums across the US! I hope to catch up with this exhibition somewhere during this or next year and see the exceptional work by ..read more

Happy 2020, my friends! Wishing you a wonderful, happy and creative year!   If we play a word association game and I say "New Year" there's a great chance you'll say "resolutions!" Even though I don't necessarily make New Year resolutions as I did in the past, I still love that feeling of renewal and new opportunities that come with a brand new year.   Ok, maybe I’m not entirely honest about not making any resolutions, but now I take more practical approach to it. I learned that they don't do any good without planning the steps to achieve those goals. So before the end of a yea ..read more