|
usband-and-wife art team
Michael and Inessa Garmash
get the inspiration for their
paintings from two great loves:
their love for each other, and their
love for travel.
The couple, who have been
married 15 years and have a 14-
year-old daughter, Polina, travel
together at least four to five times
a year. Their adventures have
taken them around the world,
through much of Europe and the
United States. Most recently, the
pair traveled to Napa, Calif., with
Michael Young, president and
CEO of Collectors Editions, and
Tim Dickson, owner and co-founder
of Eclipse Workshop.
“New impressions always help to
create new ideas,” Michael
explains. “Our trip to Napa
enriched us with impressions of
multi-colored vineyards. Fall is
beautiful there, and we hope to
see how the landscape and light
changes during the other seasons.”
Several of the Russian couple’s
romantic impressionist paintings
have been inspired by their tandem
travels. “Winter in Paris” was
born as a way to capture the
spirit of their trip to Paris at
Christmastime. A different trip to
Key West, Fla., sparked a series of
paintings featuring the night port
there.
When they’re not trekking around
the globe, Michael and Inessa
reside in St. Petersburg, Russia,
where they first met at a bus station.
(Michael is a graduate of |
|
the St. Petersburg Academy of Art,
and Inessa is a graduate of the
Lugansk Fine Art School in Ukraine.)
They began their painting partnership
three years into their marriage,
when Michael began a painting of
Polina, then 2, for a project at
school. But when the toddler found
the painting and painted her
own version, Inessa quietly fixed it |
herself. Michael was told it was “his
best work ever,” and he and Inessa
have painted together ever since.
They begin each painting by working
on separate images, but in the
process they discuss the work and
sometimes switch roles. After several
exchanges, the two “I’s” blend
into a “we.” |
|
