I've been drawing and painting since I was a child growing up in Ukraine. I started taking art classes when I was about 10. At 13, I immigrated to Israel with my family and then at the age 18 to the United States. I got back to studying Art at Art Student's League of New York. I studied with Leonid Gervitz for two years, he used to teach in a famous art school in St. Petersburg and his approach was one of a classical academy.