Yelena Shabrova

It’s the everyday splendor of the world that inspires Yelena to draw. Most of her creations borrow lines, forms, and colors from live sketches, memories, and creatively interpreted reference photographs. Yelena’s goal is never to copy the reference but to express personal feelings in response to the original subject. Yelena’s initial interest in portraits was later expanded to horses which has become her primary passion, landscapes, and flowers.

Yelena has been working in colored pencil for more than 10 years. This versatile medium allows her to draw practically anywhere, in any intervals of time, and requires almost no time for setup or cleaning. For the same reasons, Yelena keeps exploring any dry media from charcoal to oil pastel, sometimes combining different media in the same piece if the subject calls for it. Yelena was born in Germany, lived for more than 30 years in Russia, and moved to California in 1997.