The portrait is at the center of Linnea’s photography. It follows that the artist portrait was a natural next step for Linnea as she begins her Artist Portrait Series by photographing the artists of the live shows in her Pasadena art gallery. Below you will find images of Olga Stepanova and her words on how she discovered the artist within her.
I discovered that I am an artist as a result of spending lots of time by myself. I lived in New Orleans and things turned out in such a way that I was home alone often. I hated it. But then strange unexpected things began to happen. I heard music. Yes, while asleep or awake, there was music in my head. It may have always been there, but I had not noticed it. My husband, who is a musician, heard me singing these melodies and started writing them down. After a few weeks I had words to them, then chords.
That was not all.
I took long walks. Walks to the park, walks anywhere, it didn’t matter where. I looked around at little leaves on the ground. Leaves of different shapes and different colors. I started picking them up. I looked at the leaves lying on my table. They were so beautiful; there were all the colors you can imagine in a handful of leaves. I wanted to “save” this beauty somehow. I happened to have a watercolor set on the table. I had used it once before to create a cover for my husband’s CD. I had never really painted much before, but I didn’t care about that. When I finished, my husband was the first one to see my work. The same thing happened again; he was the one who first noticed the melodies in my music and the first person to tell me, “Olga, this looks great! You should paint again.” I couldn’t stop since, mostly because he said that once I have 12 paintings he would look for a gallery for me.
Looking back I appreciate those days when I had so much time in my life, free of everything else, that I was able to discover all this inside of me.
A photo shoot with a great photographer is always a treat. I am happy that I had a chance to get to know Linnea Lenkus through working with her as a photographer. The recent exhibition at Linus Galleries was the first one for me. It is another milestone in my journey. Thank you.
-Olga Stepanova
