Larisa Berzina

Biography

I come from Ukraine, the beautiful city of Kiev. Art has always been an integral part of my life. Since I was a child, I've been involved in music, dance and drawing. When I was a teenager, I went to college, where I took a special course in fine art for children. Later on, my profession was not directly related to painting. But at university, I qualified as a historian and I focused on the study of art history, studying the development of painting in different historical periods. My interest in the history of painting gradually led to a great desire to paint. Responsibility to the family and a heavy analytical workload did not allow this desire to be fulfilled for a long time. But Fate smiled on me and my family gave me the opportunity. I moved from a big city to a country house and started painting. My house is surrounded by trees, there are many flowers in the yard. I grow flowers, vegetables and fruits. My pets - a cat and a huge American Akita dog - inspire me to paint animals. This has determined the extent of my priorities in visualising and conveying natural images in drawing. I like to use professional coloured pencils and am constantly improving this technique. I also mix it with pastel painting. This combination is particularly suited to the realisation of painting in the realm of nature drawings. My teachers were professional artists. I often go to studios where I take lessons and participate in workshops.