Paintings and drawings with figures and landscape that tell a personal story behind them, which can be read in a more universal, accessible manner is one of my goals. Internal conflict and division is a frequent theme, some of which may come across as dark, disturbing, and violent. There is no definitive answer or single story or version that is suggested by my artwork; instead, uncertainty, ambiguity is striven for. Usually, I work on sketches with heavy graphite pencils and from my imagination. When needed, I rely on photos to better convey what I may be imagining.

In some of my work I also address wider social themes, as in "Clean Up Duty."

Finding a visual form for ideas, feelings, a situation or relation can take time, and works out with varying degrees of effectiveness. As I work on a painting or drawing, it usually changes, and sometimes acquires a modified, even different story and meanings than I had originally planned out. Allowing the creative process to be unpredictable can result in making more engaging, interesting art, though it can also result in failure and dead-ends. Usually, a sketch serves as the basis for my paintings, so setting aside time to let my imagination drift and work on sketches with pencil and color pencil in a cafe is fundamental to my practice.

Observational painting of people and objects, nudes and still lifes, is another area I devote time to working in. Recently, I have started etching on copper plates, reworking my drawings and paintings in a new material and form.

Currently, I am taking courses in studio painting, drawing, and art history at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, pursuing an Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA), which I plan to complete in May 2013. I began taking art courses, first at a commercial artist's school in the spring of 2005 (The Drawing Workshop), then continuing education classes in the summer of 2007 at SAIC, where I began taking degree classes in spring 2010.

My past schooling is primarily in literature, English, American as an undergraduate, then Ukrainian and Russian as a graduate student.