Darya
Lyubimova

The notion that we are all free to choose our own path has always been self-evident to me. Turns out, I never actually acted on this principle myself until very recently. I was born to a family of teachers in a Russian city of Samara in 1988. From very early on, the idea that I was destined to become an English teacher has been drilled into me. It was supposed to be the only walk of life to bring me any security. I finished junior high and enrolled in Samara State Professional Teachers Training College. At the age of 16 I took up tutoring kids. 2012 saw my graduation from Samara State Academy of Social Sciences and Humanities, and I finally got my degree as an English teacher. In the span of the next several years, I worked as a teacher while taking a course in singing in Samara Regional College of Culture and Arts and also getting my Master's Degree in Journalism in Povolzhskiy State University of Telecommunications and Informatics.
Ever since I was a kid I craved doing something different, something far removed from any sort of tutoring, but I never entertained the idea in earnest. I felt that a hobby should be relegated to just that, a hobby. But what if you could commit every single day to doing the thing you love instead of a measly twenty minutes? The pictures I saw in my mind and the stories I wanted to tell have always been a huge part of my life. Between teaching and paperwork, I scrambled to put out a libretto for an opera, wrote a couple of songs and even managed to win some poetry-writing contests. My experience with art has so far been a patchwork of attempts at imitating the greats I so admire. As far as paintings go, I studied the works of Van Gogh and other impressionists, took an online course titled Postwar Abstract Painting on Cousera, had master classes on painting and took part in speed drawing contests. I use watercolors, charcoal pencils, acrylic paint and oil paint. Making oil paintings and visiting museums of modern art have both become my favorite past-times in recent months. Traveling is yet another passion of mine. So far I've been to Canada, Hungary, Latvia, Finland and the UK, with each day spent there being a great boon to my creativity and imagination, blessing me with new pictures and new dreams. In the course of these last few years I have finally uncovered my true passion and realized that I want to dedicate myself to art, wholly and unabashedly. This is the way I want my life to go, no strings attached. As for my teaching career, it seems like we have to part ways, at least for a time. I want my paintings to take center stage and become a vessel for my life experiences, a medium through which I channel everything I see in myself, other people and humanity as a whole. Teaching will have to give way to communicating, purely by the means of color and visuals. It's not my first time taking up a brush, but it's only now that I realize my paintings do not only belong to me, but can belong to everyone as they bring my core message out for the world to see: do what you like and be what you want to be. We all have the power to make a choice.
This is my first time entering such a competition and I am extremely grateful for the valuable experience it is. If I manage to make it to the finals—or win, even—I will be very happy for the opportunities this brings. For me, this will mark an important milestone and a new beginning, and as I move forward the only thing binding me will be my own limitless imagination.