“Find out who you are and do it on purpose.”

— Dolly Parton

How long is my journey to watercolour?

0 minutes to the next room in my grandparents' apartment in Saratov, Russia, to see how my grandmother is drawing. She started when she was 40, left us very early but she was and still is my biggest inspiration. 

20 min and 7 tram stops when I was 10 and went to the Art school after my normal school, 4 times a week. Great teachers, first friends. 

1 hour, 3 trams, sleepless nights for 6 years when I studied Architecture in Saratov Technical University. We had all art disciplines there. Great years. Friendships for decades.

Years of sketching my ideas in different architectural practices. Moscow. Family. Kids.

No time for art for a while….

1 plane and 4 hours to Hertfordshire, UK from Moscow.

Amazed by culture and surroundings I was sketching a lot for fun.

10 Years of settling in the UK, always sketching when have time.

New friends. New life. 

1 year of lockdown. 3 workshops, piles of paper, litres of paint.

Fell in love with watercolour.

Couldn’t stop since then. 

I work mainly in watercolour. I love to paint places around me, something I see everyday but under different angles.

My pictures convey my emotions and I’m happy if people feel the same way while looking at them.

BIO

Now living with her family - and working as a professional artist - in Hertfordshire, Lena grew up in the Soviet Union/Russia. There she went to drawing school after her normal school day ended.

She also spent a lot of her childhood with her grandmother, who introduced her to the world of art and was - and still is - her biggest inspiration.
Later, a degree in Architecture, at Saratov Technical University, honed her perspective and geometry skills, especially when drawing street views, urban scenes or city skylines - her favourite subjects.

Over the years, Lena has experimented with many different drawing materials, doing quick pen sketches on holiday and in her spare time. In the last five years she has discovered watercolour and that has now became her favourite drawing material.

Lena specialises in urban landscapes and focuses on the play of light and shadow to convey the moods and emotions of the city. She also enjoys playing with angles of view and, particularly, looking down, sometimes from vertiginous viewpoints. She regards her art as visual storytelling, building a bridge between contemporary art and Illustration.