About Anna

From Outsider to Artist

I was the little girl who carried sketchbooks instead of friendships. At school in Russia I was bullied for being quiet, dreamy, “different.” Every lunch break I fled to the art room, where pigments, charcoal, and a single patient teacher became my refuge. Those afternoons changed everything: for five intense years I joined the adult evening program at our local academy, mastering classical drawing, watercolor, clay modeling, even folk‑art ornament. Suddenly the shy kid topping no lists was winning studio awards. Art gave me my first taste of self‑respect—and a lifelong hunger for honest beauty.

Solid Foundations—Hidden in Plain Sight

My parents loved me fiercely, but not enough to risk an “impractical” career. So instead of the fine‑arts university I dreamed of, I earned degrees in Marketing, Graphic Design, and later Interior Design. I learned how color affects emotion, how space tells a story, how to craft a visual message that lands. All the while I kept sketching portraits and still‑lifes at night—quiet proof to myself that classical fundamentals live in my fingertips, no matter how abstract my future work would become.

A Detour Lettered in Ink

The rebellion surfaced in curves of ink. Hungry for something tactile, I plunged into calligraphy and type design, drawing every letter by hand before digitizing entire fonts. The discipline was addictive: grids, baselines, the meditative scratch of a nib. My Instagram community blossomed to 80,000+ women who loved watching words turn to art. Two instructional books, international workshops, and a keynote in New York. I was, by all accounts, a “lettering star.” Yet the stricter the grid, the louder a small voice whispered: You were born to color outside of it.

Lisbon Light & a Pandemic Pivot

In 2015 I moved to Portugal for a Master’s in Design Communication. When COVID quieted the city, my studio filled with stillness—and with canvases. Calligraphy had trained my hand to breathe; now abstract painting asked my whole body to exhale. I traded steel nibs for palette knives, ink for oil, letterforms for textures that feel like salt air and terracotta roofs. Every layer is a conversation between the girl who loved figure drawing and the woman who insists that feelings, not objects, are the truest subjects.

Why Abstract, Why Now

Abstract art lets me unpack decades of silenced emotion—grief, wonder, feminine power—and offer them back as color, gesture, and luminous texture. When collectors tell me a piece “makes the room exhale” or “brings everyday courage,” I know the alchemy is working. Each painting is built on classical bones you may never see, but you feel the confidence in the brushwork, the years of study behind one fearless swipe of magenta.

What Your Support Makes Possible

Today I’m a fully self‑represented artist, shipping originals and limited‑edition prints from my Lisbon studio to homes across the United States, Australia, and beyond. Your purchase fuels more than paint and linen; it funds creative risk, female independence, and the belief that art can be both sanctuary and catalyst. In return, you receive a work forged from rigor, resilience, and the most radiant light on the Atlantic.

An Invitation

If a canvas here quickens your pulse, trust it—that’s the artwork recognizing you. And if you long for something crafted just for your space or story, I’d be honored to create a commission that speaks your language of color. Thank you for reading my journey. May it inspire you to claim more beauty, more bravery, and a daily reminder that transformation is always possible.