Lydia was born in Ukraine during the war and arrived in Australia as a migrant in the early 50’s.  She vividly remembers spending most of her early years by herself, drawing on scraps of paper, book covers and walls with whatever she could get her hands on.

Although she doesn’t like talking about those times very much, it’s clear they profoundly influenced her passion for strong, colourful expressive works and her need to explore the use of a wide variety of brushes, knives and different textural materials.

Lydia is an Arts graduate from the University of NSW. She has a Graduate Diploma of Education and was made a Fellow of The Royal Art Society in 2010.

She started painting ‘formally’ at the Seaforth School for Art and Design before studying with a number of leading Australian artists at the Julian Ashton Art School, The Royal Art Society and The Workshop Art Centre, Willoughby.

While living in Singapore, for close to seven years, Lydia travelled extensively throughout Asia, studied Chinese brush painting with the late Chinese Master, Chen Wen Hsi, conducted classes in oil painting and held three solo exhibitions.

Lydia has a ‘preference’ for abstract and semi abstract works that explore her love for Asia, The outback and other Australian landscapes - particularly around Rosedale, on the South Coast, and Bellingen and the Promised Land, on the North Coast of New South Wales.

Lydia has been painting professionally for over 30 years and presently teaches and paints from her Coogee studio. She has completed portraits for several leading political and academic figures and has a mix of her work in private collections in Australia, England, China, France, Hong Kong, India, Israel, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Spain, Sweden and the USA.