I have always enjoyed interpreting my impressions and emotions as images. As a child I would wander along the babbling brooks and sensuous streams of Georgia, explore the rugged mountains, hide in the long grass and alluring scents of flowery meadows, arrive home at midnight, still mesmerized by the sunset. Once I lay, exhausted, in my bed I would create and recreate the pictures that were stored in every fibre of my being. As I got older, I learnt to translate my experience into pictures. Secretly using pens and paper bought for schoolwork, I began drawing the landscapes that filled my evenings and my dreams.

The possibility of becoming an artist was never included in my parents' plan – it was always assumed that I would follow in my father's footsteps and become a carpenter. After graduation, I was taken into apprentice in my father's business. Although the moulding and carving of wood appealed to me – the rough wood being transformed into smooth shapes in my hands – the blueprints and designs were like shackles to me. Eventually I decided that I had to follow my dream; I applied and was accepted at Edinburgh Art College.

The years spent in Art College were wondrous and enthralling. In class, I met all the great masters: van Eyck, Bosch, Rembrandt and Monet. I was inspired by modern ingenuity, found in Dalí and Helnwein. I lunged into heretofore unexplored techniques; watercolour, acrylic, charcoal, pastel and oil paintings. Sleepless nights were spent in the studio, inventing and improving on new modes of painting. During my years in Edinburgh, I took to wandering the streets, painstakingly observing the people, the buildings, the seasons; I learnt the city. I knew what day the pink flowers would burst open in the Meadows. I knew why Pat had lost his home. I knew where the façade was cracked on every townhouse along Princes Street. I knew the stories and I painted them. On my canvases and papers were now developing surreal cityscapes, traditional watercolors, realistic paintings where the magnificent architecture was meticulously portrayed. My style grew through impressionism into social realism.

After graduation I began to travel, and for the next few years my material was collected in the picturesque villages of Provence, the sunglow in the Sahara, the bustling Moroccan medinas, the sunbaked plains of Andalusia, the wild forests of Scandinavia and the colourful art nouveau of the Baltic countries. I began to experiment with media and perspective again; traditional still lifes of landscape and architecture was not enough. Having painted solely in oil for half a decade, I now rediscovered watercolour and charcoal. I experimented with mixed media, different perspectives and slowly two styles emerged, one absolutely distinct from the other. My cityscapes are impressionistic, in a sense, and demonstrate the fragments and shards that our minds evoke to envision a town or place. These are predominantly oil paintings. My landscapes are traditional watercolours. Through varied motifs, I attempt to show the eternal play between light and dark in nature, and the role these contrasts play in the breathtaking beauty around us.

I have created this art studio to share my work with others, and the result of my development and journeys can be seen in the galleries. In my online gallery I also offer lessons. I will focus on the basics of different techniques and different applications and washes. There will also be tips for how to achieve the effect you're looking for.

The subject matter of my paintings has always been life around me - people, architecture, landscapes – but through the years my means of expression has varied from oil to watercolor or charcoal depending on the motif and the emotion. I paint because I believe that my vision can help others see and experience the world. My aim is to capture life – the beauty and the chaos in it – and celebrate its frailty, power and uniqueness. Welcome to my art studio. I hope you will enjoy sharing my vision.