From my studio: Tatiana Zappa

I was born in 1982 in a small town in central Russia, where the famous composer Tchaikovsky was also born many years earlier. In 2004 I graduated in Architecture and Engineering. For the following 10 years I've been working as an architect. Since 2014 I've been living in Barcelona (Spain).

When and why did you start painting?

When I was 8, my mother and I decided to pick a hobby. I couldn't make up my mind between music and art school, but in the end I decided to go for art school. Classes were in the afternoons and they taught us the basics of drawing and painting. I studied at the art school for 7 years. I didn't have much free time, but going to those classes was really interesting.

In 1999 I went off to university to study to become an architect, and along with the engineering subjects I carried on taking painting and drawing classes.

How do you think a gallery and its artists should help each other?

Every artist wants to show their paintings, and the gallery offers that opportunity. I think in the future there will be a boom and there will be many more websites where you can sell artworks, because that way anyone can see and buy an artist's paintings.

How did you sell your first artwork? Is there one you feel a stronger connection with?

The first paintings I sold were in Russia. They were pictures painted for the inside of a house. Right now my favourite painting is 1950's Pontiac chieftain.

1950's Pontiac Chieftain, Tatiana Zappa.

What is art to you? What part does it play in your life?

I love painting, watching a blank canvas turn into an artwork. When I paint, the world stops. In that moment it's just the canvas and me. But art takes up only one part of my life, I have a family and I try to set aside time for everything.

What are your sources of inspiration?

I take my ideas for paintings from my travels. I like painting nature, working with the play of light and shadow in the forest, the light on water, sunsets, the movement of the clouds, city architecture, the changes in perspective and space.