Meet Regina Lyubovnaya | Artist, traditional painter and teacher

We had the good fortune of connecting with Regina Lyubovnaya and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Regina, what do you think makes you most happy? Why?
Many things make me happy. For example, when I make dinner, it’s usually a time my kids practice piano, and listening for them play makes me happy, I hear the progress they making and the beauty of music coming from their fingertips filling up the room and it makes me forget that I really don’t like cooking. Feeding my white bunny Emma makes me happy; this is the only time she lets me pet her. I love beauty, seeing something beautiful whether its  new flowers in my garden or paintings someone posted on the Instagram, But what makes me happy the most is being in my studio and paintings, it’s not just happy, it’s being consumed by process with all the ray of emotions from frustration to despair to satisfaction and occasional triumph, 

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
My professional career started with the galleries, through first 15 years I have been represented by many galleries: Gallery Russia also known now as PaulScott Gallery Arizona, Monarch gallery CA, Belagio International gallery FL, New Masters Gallery CA, South West Gallery TX and many more. I had many solo shows and group shows through the years. For a long time I really liked just to be an artist and delegate all sales and business part to the galleries. The only trouble with that arrangement was that I never met my collectors and had no database who, when bought my paintings and where they were. In 2016, I was asked to be at LA ART Show as a solo artist for Monarch gallery; it was amazing 4 days of meeting with collectors, and I realized that this was important for me to build up my own network, especially since most of my collectors were returning buyers. That year after I went on my own and participate in two more art shows. I also started to do art fairs such as Beverly Hills Show, Salsalito Art Festival, La Quinta Art Celebration Show and many more. Now I do about 12 shows a year traveling to TX, Colorado, North California and Utah. I am still represented by 3 galleries but most of my sales come from my own shows. I love meeting and talking to people during shows. It is so important to hear their feedback and comments and interpretations of my paintings. I enjoy getting to know people who buy my art;often I get to deliver and hang painting in their houses. It feels great to be a part of the full process, from picking an empty art panel, transforming it into a painting and putting a nail on a wall of its new house, hanging it to a place where it is destine to be.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally.
I paint every day even on the weekends.  I take art classes to improve my skills and learn more about painting, and thenI teach every Friday in my studio. But what has been really keeping me busy is my new venture of The Real Atelier. It’s on line school with prerecorded art lessons on all subjects: portraits, still life, and pet portraits. My friend Paola Luther and I had this idea while traveling through Europe last summer. It took us 6 months to learn who to record, edit video lessons. We feel that we now able to make a really good quality videos with great demonstrations and every step narration. Our goal is to share our knowledge and philosophy about art, specifically oil painting. I was so fortunate to meet my teacher, David Leffel. I was so lost with the way art was taught and after graduating from an university and Pasadena Art Center College of Design, as well as year drawing program from Florence Academy of Art in Italy, I was still in complete fog. Nothing made sense to me. It took 7 years of learning from David by attending 4 day workshops once or twice a year and practicing and digestating the information of my own. I feel even now when I teach it to others, I learn more and more myself. I want to share what I have learned from David to others so hopefully I can help them see that painting is very learnable because its logical. My belief is that anyone can learn painting if they receptive to new way of thinking and seeing as a painters.
1. If anyone is interested in seeing one of the lessons please visit my website at www.reginalyubovnaya.com or www.therealatelier.com

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I will be the worse guide tour ever, please don’t ask me to be the tour guide. I don’t really eat out or go out, or know exciting people, However the last person I was a tour guide in LA was for my husband before we got married, but that’s another story. I do have a few favorite places in LA –  one is a beach; the ocean is beautiful and I love watching people and little kids enjoying themselves. I also think we have great museum here in LA – Paul Getty, Norton Simon Museum as well as beautiful gardens of Huntington Library and Descanso Gardens. I like to go to Rose Bowl Flea Market for treasure hunting ( especially for my still life). If I had guest visiting, I would take them driving by the Southern California coast as it comes pretty close to Italian Riviera. Well I guess if I apply myself I can be a good guide, but don’t count on eating or drinking, so pack your launch bag!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
David Leffel is a master painter who was and is my most influential teacher that made painting learnable for me by explaining the logic of painting

Website: www.reginalyubovnaya.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lyubovnayaregina/?hl=en

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/reginalyubovnayaart2017/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@reginalyubovnaya3890/featured

Other: https://www.therealatelier.com/