Art by Ekaterina Santiago

Yellow Demon

24 x 18 inch
Markers, acrylic on stretched canvas

Frozen Tree

8x10 inch, acrylic on stretched canvas

This piece was inspired by Seattle winters and my walks in Discovery Park. I picked blues, turquoise, light yellow and black for this piece. I wanted to create a feeling of stillness and peace. There is always a natural hibernation of everything in winter, when nature is resting, "sleeping" and getting stronger for the upcoming spring. I connect this to my own experiences and struggles. Sometimes it is necessary to stop and just stay still, not doing anything, and just to listen to yourself and your own body.

Village House in Winter

9x12 inch
Acrylic paint on stretched canvas

"Village House in Winter". Original. This piece was inspired by a painting I saw at my grandmother's house back in Russia when I was little. I remember an oil painting with a snowed-in tiny little house in the middle of a deep forest in winter. I used a finger painting technique to create a feeling of February blizzard, everything around is getting snowed in. The tiny house is the only safe and warm place to wait for bad weather to pass. The meaning behind this piece to me is that you can be your own little house with a light inside and survive any blizzard in the world around you. As long as you have your light within yourself.

Winter Morning

12 x 12 inch, acrylic on stretched canvas

This piece was inspired by memories of frosty russian winters. I remember going to my grandmother house every Sunday. We had to walk with my dad for about half an hour to get there. I remember the feeling of cold morning air mixed up with bright January sunshine, tingling my face. And it felt as the whole world was in peace. I used customized brush to create overall feeling of snow flakes' and frost's textures. I painted gradient background to recreate a feeling of deep blue winter sky and low bright sun to signify full of promise early morning.

Dreaming Tree

12x12 inch, acrylic on stretched canvas

This piece was inspired by the old honey linden tree right next to my grandparent's house back in Russia. It was a well right under it where the whole street was coming to get amazing drinking water for their homes. I remember playing around this tree when I was little. We used to hide in its shade in summer days resting from running around. It was a spot where everyone stopped, chatted and exchanged the news of that tiny town. I picked the warmer shades of browns and greens to create a feeling of tradition, age, memories, and everlasting peace. I customized few of my brushes to achieve this type of strokes, blended but still defined. This artwork holds a lot of wonderful childhood memories, where there were no worries, no internet or phones. We were playing around this linden tree, creating our own little games and just being happy in a moment.