Nataliya Gurshman

I am a very intuitive and emotional being, and my art reflects that. I create my work in a single breath, without any pause, so that I do not lose any drop of that inspiration. I am so caught up in the moment of creation that I forget where I am—nothing can distract me from this euphoria. Whatever I am painting, I must be in love with my subject. Lately, I have been attracted to nature even more and create my impression of the subject that reflect my background, my emotional state at the moment by utilizing new artistic techniques. I choose bold brush strokes of opaque lights to express my energy juxtaposed against transparent cooler shadows, and scraping some translucency into the mysterious darks with the palette knife. Since I grew up in the northern part of the former Soviet Union, in a beautiful city of Leningrad, winter and snow were a big part of my life. I keep coming back to it more often than not. This body of work, reflects my love for winter—some pieces are more realistic, when others are more abstract. However, I express my energy and love for snow equally well in both. Many of these works are inspired either by a real place or my childhood memories and emotions.It is a gratifying feeling once the painting is done—I exhale, feel hungry, happy, but totally exhausted mentally. The feeling of accomplishment fills me up: "all the hard work hasn’t been wasted - I can paint, I can do this well!"

Hello. I am Nataliya and I am a fine artist, art teacher, and mom of two. I have been painting since I was eight years old. As I was growing up in the cold city of Leningrad in the former Soviet Union, I had a dear friend who was on the path to become an artist and who was willing to teach. That's how the seed of art was planted in me, which my parents supported and encouraged. My artistic adventures and education continued when we immigrated to the States 30 years ago. My art has evolved over the years and, now I am taking yet another path of creating smaller more affordable pieces, that will bring joy to you all. I am sure there will be more artistic journeys for me, and I would love to share them with you... I am an adjunct professor at local universities and I love teaching.