Kiss! (2025) Painting by Alisa Ivannikova

I was born in St. Petersburg and loved drawing since childhood. At the age of 10, I entered the B. M. Kustodiev Art School and graduated with honors. After that, I stepped away from active creative work for some time, as I decided to seriously devote myself to a sports career. I was a member of the Russian national snowboarding team and spent all my time traveling, training and competing. But deep down in my heart, I always felt that I did not want to abandon creativity and painting. In between training, I painted with watercolors all the time. It was a kind of meditation, a real relief in any difficult moment. A couple of years later, I realized that my deep desire to draw and improve my skills didn't go away, but only increased. I gave up my sports career and entered the St. Petersburg State Academy of Art and Design named after A. L. Stieglitz, Faculty of Painting and Restoration, Department of Oil Painting Restoration. During these incredible 4 years of study, I got acquainted with the painting techniques of old masters in theory and practice and realized how necessary this knowledge is for modern artists. Often today, creative works are created as if on a conveyor belt with the aim of maximum earnings and minimum expenditure of time and materials. However, with professional study of different painting techniques in different eras, I understood how to create truly high-quality works that will please the customer for many years. In both oil and watercolor work, I use only high-quality foreign materials (paints mainly from the German company Schminkie) with natural pigments. I often copy the works of old masters in order to improve my painting technique, and I also love to create cute watercolor illustrations depicting children, animals and flowers.

• Nationality: RUSSIA
• Date of birth : unknown date
• Artistic domains:
• Groups: Russian Contemporary Artists