Yana

I am a Ukrainian artist with the soul of a wanderer.

My heart has always yearned for experiences outside of the box. I left home at 21 and have been traveling for 6 years non-stop. I’ve been to the craziest places and lived through the most unthinkable things: losing everything and being adopted by a Thai family, hitchhiking across the whole country from the island of Koh Lanta to Bangkok, meditating in a jungle with Buddhist monks, volunteering in a social-responsible business helping Burmese women, and so much more. The inherited resilience of my nation helped me go through hard times as well as stay strong in front of challenges. The wandering soul craved more adventures!

Having visited 23 countries, and lived in 6 of them left a mark on my soul and transferred to my art. Whether it is a landscape, a person, or a flower, I recreate the emotional imprint caused by them in watercolor. When I am painting I travel back to those places. It makes me feel warm, cozy, and at peace. I want you to have the chance to re-live your favorite and the most important memories, every time you look at my painting done for you.

I find my way of combining realistic style with loose elements, which brings a clear understanding of a subject with a drop of fantasy. The color palette reflects the emotions: vibrant and saturated, inevitably catching your attention and making you smile, or calm and almost mysterious as life is not always about happy moments.

10+ years of painting experience.

More than 30 group watercolor workshops in Chiang Mai, Thailand, and Da Nang, Vietnam.
Creation and launch of a one-month-long intensive course “Crash Course”. It is a full immersion into watercolor designed to sky-rocket students from beginner to advanced levels.

My watercolor courses are available online.
I am a co-founder at Watercolor Painting Academy – an online academy with more than 35 watercolor courses from novice to advanced levels and a community of like-minded artists.
My courses are also available at Skillshare.

Group exhibitions in Vietnam and Spain.
My work received multiple awards in international competitions (Finalist in Camelback Competition 2019, Special Award in Step by Step 2020, Merit Prize Award in Art Show International Gallery 2021).