I'm Iryna, a Ukrainian artist based in Las Vegas.

I came to painting through psychology. I have a Master's degree in medical psychology, and while studying art therapy, I became fascinated by how much a person can express through an image — sometimes without intending to. That curiosity eventually led me to pick up a brush myself.

My background in psychology still influences the way I approach painting. What interests me most is how a person, place, or moment feels — the mood behind an expression, the memory attached to a landscape, the small details that make an ordinary scene feel familiar.

People, nature, relationships, memory, and a sense of home appear again and again in my work. Some paintings begin with a specific story; others start simply with a color, a face, or a feeling I want to understand better.

Today I live and work in Las Vegas, where my paintings have been presented in several exhibitions, including at Las Vegas City Hall.

For me, painting is a way of paying closer attention — to people, to places, and to the emotions we often notice only after a moment has already passed.