Oleg Kaznacheiev
Kharkiv, Ukraine
I used to live in the north of Kharkiv. My neighborhood, Pivnichna Saltivka, was the one closest to the border with Russia. The 24th of February at 4:30 a.m. I woke up when I heard loud explosions close to my house. The first four days, I stayed at home and went to the basement while the Russians tried to take over my city.
Just a few meters from my house, fights started to happen. When the shooting stopped for a short time, I decided to leave my house and go to the nearest subway station. Then, my neighbors told me that there was a lot of damage to our house. And after 3 months of bombing, the most damage was done to Pivnichna Saltivka, which is in the city of Kharkiv.
I spent 10 days in metro with my family and other survivors. When the temperature is high, everyone gets sick. All of the hospitals in my city were wiped out. Every day, my 1-year-old nephew felt worse, and when we got to the city center, we jumped on the train to get to a safer place.
We found an apartment in Ivano-Frankivsk with the help of our friends. This city is in the western part of Ukraine.
I got my first sale on Artmajeur just as things were getting tough. It helps me buy art supplies and get back to painting. Right now, I'm working on a piece of art that is my most detailed and complicated. It will show that Ukraine is strong, beautiful, and hopeful. I tried other online galleries, but Artmajeur was where I made the most money all at once. This made it possible for me to keep working as an artist.
No matter what, I will keep making art. I'm giving 20% of every sale to my country to help it. I'm very thankful to my first buyer, who is from Slovakia, and I hope that more people will look at my art and help Ukraine. Thank you, Armajeur, for giving Ukrainian artists so much help.
Oleg Kaznacheiev
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