Sofiia Bortnikova

I knew I would be an artist from an early age. Other than that short time when I wanted to become a genetic engineer and raise magical beasts, I never changed my mind. But the first turning point in my creative journey was winning the regional drawing competition. As a reward, I was sent to the most famous children's camp "Artek".

I was so happy and then for the first time I realized how much you can accomplish what you love. The next starting point was admission to art school. I was going to enter the Faculty of Painting, but fate decided otherwise and I ended up at the Faculty of Ceramics. It's not surprising, you know, in the exams, everyone painted with such natural colors: browns, grays, so intricate and airy. Whereas in my paintings everything was naively luminous: the grass is green, the sky is blue, the river... is also blue.

The horse in the composition was smiling happily at the audience, as well as a seagull from the still life, which was certainly not the idea of the review. But they took me to this school. And four years later, I graduated with honors, among the top 5 graduates. The school gave me a basic knowledge of painting and drawing, shaping my creative abilities. There were many rules and restrictions in the use of colors and techniques. But it was necessary to teach us basic academic principles.

The outlet of my creativity was ceramics. All these ornaments and decorative stylizations still resonate in my works. After the baccalaureate, I enter the National Academy of Fine Arts and Architecture at the Faculty of Graphic Design. My new painting teacher told me that I could draw as I wanted and use any colors and materials. I was shocked and for a long time I couldn't give myself the freedom to paint again. But when he realized that no one here controls you like at school, I even brought pink oil pastels to drawing class. And not just pink, my box was made up of 48 colours, because drawing with a gray pencil was unbearable torture for me.

Oh, my poor drawing teacher... One day he came up to me and my friend (we were drawing with colored pastels on colored tinted paper), picked some colored pencils out of the box and asked: “Can you try using these colors?"– Black, gray and a few shades of sepia rested on his palm. “Oh, we didn't know they were colors! cried my friend. He never tried again... But above all, my works have been influenced by the study of art history. Especially ancient iconography. I was literally fascinated by the softness of the lines and silhouettes, the simplicity and expressiveness of the compositions and the absolutely extraordinary colors associated with the gold and silver leaf. Or maybe it's more about energy, because for me it's always been important to convey emotion through painting.

Now I am most inspired by nature, animals and meditations when creating my paintings. It is very important for me to carry a positive, joyful and somewhat magical message with my work. In this, I see my main mission as a creator: to share light energies and harmony with people. Then you are welcome in my world.Exhibitions | Festivals Kurazh Festival, Kyiv, June 2021 Spalakh Festival, Kyiv, July 2021.