Who am I? And why is all this?
These existential questions sometimes become decisive in our life. How to find and not lose your self in the crazy rhythm of modern life life? How to hear your real self? How to express your feelings?
I want to share with you my story, which I hope, will inspire you to search and find your path, walk it and find happiness and peace. I will tell you about my path.
About joys and experiences, about failures and victories. About calling dreams, whose voice is sometimes so difficult to be heard through the white noise of the daily routine.
I was born back in 1984 in the city of Sverdlovsk, then there was still the Soviet Union. It was then that Sverdlovsk was renamed Yekaterinburg, and Russia was reborn from the USSR.
My childhood was in the difficult nineties — the collapse of the USSR, rampant crime and complete lack of money and hopelessness. Due to the devaluation of the ruble, my parents then lost all their savings, which would have been enough then for a brand new Lada. It was very difficult with money in our family, just like everyone else then.
Rimsky-Korsakov School of Arts
Despite all the difficulties, my parents were able to enroll me in the best children’s art school named after Rismkogo-Korsakov in Sverdlovsk, at department of Russian folk instruments. Then I got a domra. It’s such a stringed musical instrument that vaguely resembles a familiar one guitar. I remember how my parents told me how much fun I had in the village in the summer ditties to grandparents and all the neighbors gathered on the rubble.
But one day, when my parents left me money to pay for the music school, I took this money and gave it to the teacher drawing, who taught classes at the same art school. From then on I became attend the art department instead of the music department.
Even then I loved to draw, and I was good at it. My parents noticed this and did not oppose my choice. I was then only ten years.
And even when a few years later, my parents and I moved to another apartment, dad still continued to take me to another area of the city in the same school that I chose myself.
This is how my artistic journey began.
Looking ahead, I want to say that later I even I spent time teaching fine arts to children at this very school.
So here it is. After studying at a children’s art school for many years five years, I no longer doubted where I would go to study next. I realized what I want become an artist.
Shadr School of Arts
Therefore, after finishing the ninth grade in 1999, I entered the Sverdlovsk Art School named after D.I. Shadra. This is a very old and one of the best art schools with a rich history, founded in Tsarist Russia in 1887.
Oh, I remember this summer, before entering college, when my friends invited me to go for a walk, and I painted all day, brushed up on art history in order to pass the competition and enter the budget department. And I did it!
What can you say about those years of school registration? It was difficult, but terribly interesting. It was a strong drawing school.
Teachers are honored artists, recognized masters. We were drawn to them, we wanted to be like them. We raved about drawing, we lived only for it. I remember how we stayed at the school late after classes and drew, drew and painted.
I remember that every summer we went for two months of plein air practice to the most picturesque place in the Urals, to the Chusovaya River. We lived in an old pioneer camp. We went to draw every day, whether it was raining or cold.
Hmmm, it was a fun time — pure thoughts and naked enthusiasm. Sheer creativity.
Bath day
During my thesis, at graduation from college, I drew his plump friend, covered with a towel, with her little daughter in the bathhouse. The daughter was still quite a baby, and naked with short hair, standing in metal basin, she looked like a boy. I called the painting “Bath day”, in tribute to the Russian tradition of going to the bathhouse on Sundays.
2005 year. The year I completed my studies at art school. I leave the walls of Alma Mater like a newborn child, eyes wide open, amazed.
What next? I was faced with a choice: look for a job or go further to study at a university.
I was young, passionate about art, and then I didn’t want to work at all. I also wanted that creative atmosphere — large, bright classrooms with easels, unbridled communication with equally passionate artists, endless debates about the search for ideal and beauty.
This means you need to go to university. But where exactly? Which university to choose? There are not so many art universities that teach artists throughout the country — you can count them on your fingers. Many of my friends then went to study in Moscow, in St. Petersburg: in the Mukhinsky School, in Sroganovka, in “Repa” (the Repin School) — these are the best art institutions in Russia, and perhaps in the whole world.
Ural State Academy of Architecture and Art
I stayed in Yekaterinburg, and the reason for this was my first youthful love. I didn’t want to part with my loved one and go to another city.
So, one might say, by the will of fate, I entered our Ekaterinburg Ural State Academy of Architecture and Art in the department of easel painting, with a specialty as an artist-painter.
What does “easel” mean, you ask? — yes, artists also work at the machine. Easel painting is a scientific term. Artists call the “bench” that huge easel for huge paintings, at which artists spend most of their time in their art workshops.
I ended up in an art workshop under the guidance of Honored Artist of the USSR, Professor Nina Vasilievna Kostina (1934-2021). Close communication with such outstanding personalities gives a lot, changes your worldview fully. Student life, especially a student of unusual artistic professions are a whole world. I remember those times with great warmth.
Before the performance
My second final qualifying work was called “Before the performance.” It was a painting measuring 130 by 200 centimeters. Topic — about ballet, about art.
In the process of working on my thesis, I sifted through tons of material and made hundreds of sketches. She was a frequent guest at rehearsals at our local ballet school, and even became friends with some of the ballerinas. Then I saw how hard the work of ballerinas is! This was a real discovery for me. Daily grueling training to perform so easily and smoothly, at the limit of the human body. In this work, I tried to convey all the beauty and grace of young dancers, and the excitement before the premiere, and that other side of success.
I saw in this a reflection of my work, it was as if I felt like I was in their place — after all, in order to draw a good “living” picture, so that a light, confident stroke can be seen exactly in the place where it is needed, you need a lot of work and thousands of hours of drawing, dozens thousands of hours of mastery.
On the day of the defense, prominent, respected artists from Yekaterinburg gathered in the certification commission. I was very worried then. He stammered out an explanatory note. Additional questions from the commission. Dramatic belly. Rating… “Excellent”! — Uff, exhale. Happiness. Deservedly. Hard-earned.
Creative practice
Then I was already 27. Free, but without a clear plan on how and where to earn money, what to live on and how to support myself. It was no longer possible to constantly take help from my parents; I wanted to achieve everything on my own. Then I took on almost any job.
Often this was interior design work — they ordered painting in a children’s room or living room. I painted portraits a lot and decorated furniture. She collaborated a lot with designers, designed offices and store windows. She designed advertising brochures and printing. I still remember every order I made.
I remember how a man once ordered a landscape with Mount Everest for his office, as a symbol that he could achieve success. That year he climbed Everest.
Another customer had memories of a romantic trip with his wife to France, but decorating his rich home with cheap Chinese souvenirs was bad manners, so he ordered a portrait of them to be painted together.
Once my paintings decorated the stand of the Elektrokhimpribor company. at the international industry exhibition EXPO in Yekaterinburg in 2017.
They often order and buy paintings as gifts. Beautiful a touching picture can surprise someone who already has everything.
Interior decoration
Another common big headache — how to decorate an empty wall? , but not as a poster, not as a cheap print, but exclusively, tastefully, reflecting the individuality of the homeowner.
Each such order is a lot of work to crystallize the customer’s ideas, touching the inner strings of the soul, memories and dreams. In this process, unexpected discoveries often occur and manifestations of individual taste and deep desires that are not obvious at first glance come to light.
This is the territory of subjectivity and emotions. Working with this “human” is a masterly art.
So for more than ten years I painted to order. For free creativity, often, there was simply no time and energy left. I felt more and more often unfulfillment and dissatisfaction with life.
But one day everything changed.
Georgian seasons
In 2022, I suddenly went on a road trip with my entire family.
My husband, daughter and black spaniel drove halfway through Russia in our blue minivan and arrived in eternally sunny and hospitable Georgia.
Along the way I saw a lot of beautiful things. I saw majestic mountains that took my breath away. I fell in love with this nature and realized that I could no longer and did not want to live without the sea, without sunny days, without these divine mountains.
I felt the spirit of freedom.
My way
Six months later, we moved to Georgia to follow our dream. Now I live in a wonderful place surrounded by beautiful nature. From my window you can see the mountains. I often go to plein air paintings, and every time I thank God for the opportunity to see all this beauty with my own eyes and paint.
I really want to leave a piece of myself in the cultural trace of humanity, a piece of my thoughts and views on our world. Pay more attention to creation and peace than to satisfying selfish needs, which cause so much trouble in the world. I want to live in harmony and happiness.
I believe that an artist is not just a person who draws, an artist explores the world, gives it meaning through his creativity. There is a lot of inner work in this and a higher idea worth living for.
My art
I believe that a painting can heal a person’s soul. Awaken inner harmony. Open up new facets of the vision of reality, making you think about deep philosophical and existential questions of existence. Art is not just a reflection of reality, but its rethinking and transformation through the prism of the creative genius of the artist.
I am grateful to every art connoisseur who buys my work.
I hope that my paintings bring you joy, happiness, and fill your homes and families with peace. I will be very glad if my paintings inspire you, inspire you and teach you to appreciate beauty.
I paint my paintings and put into them all the kindness and the bright energy that passes through me. It is amazing how the transfer of emotions, feelings and experiences from one soul to another through art works.
I wish everyone to find their own path, find the strength and courage to go their own way. I wish you to be surrounded by people who will support and believe in you. I wish you the courage to realize your dreams. Dare to be yourself, reveal your talents and gifts for the benefit of society. The world needs you! The world is waiting for your bold decisions.
Believe in yourself
and your path will be illuminated with happiness and success.
with best regards,
Olga Savelova
artist and painter
Now ask yourself, just honestly. What am I living for? How do I see the world? Who am I?