Born in 1975 in Saratov, Russia, oil painter Ekaterina Ermilkina grew up in the beautiful city of Yalta in Crimea on the North coast of the Black Sea. After her first introduction to fine art in Yalta, in 1992, Ekaterina Ermilkina moved to Saint-Petersburg, Russia. In 1998 she received her MFA from State Art and Industry Academy. The unique beauty and rich culture of the city inspired her to paint cityscapes. Her dynamic artworks vibrate with color and motion, casting a candied haze across the cityscape. “I have focused on art all my life. It makes me optimistic, full of energy and happy. The vivid colors of Crimea where I grew up, and the beautiful marine of the Black Sea, inspired me to paint for the rest of my life. I believe that paintings can reflect our desires for beauty, poetics and perfection.” Ekaterina Ermilkina’s original abstract fine art paintings are created using a skillful combination of applying and removing oil paint with a palette knife on canvas. Her inspirations are the expressionistic magic skylines of big cities like Manhattan, Philadelphia, or Chicago filled with colorful skyscrapers. The urban scenic views are abstracted and rich with vivid and textured layers. Ermilkina’s emotional architectural patchwork and mosaic cityscapes radiate a life of balance and positive energy. In 2005, Ermilkina moved to the U.S. Her works have been featured in various solo and group exhibitions in international galleries and art fairs and have been collected throughout the United States, Canada, Germany, France, Switzerland, Japan, Hong Kong, and Russia. Notable collectors include Kelly Clarkson, Los Angeles, CA.