I am a Russian Ukrainian Gypsy British artist, mother, wife, scientist, homemaker and a hopeless dreamer living car-free & eco-friendly in Wales, UK. I love to create and constantly explore new possibilities. I\'ve been selling art & craft works online for several years now and I enjoy it very much as it allows me to be home for my family. I was born in Moscow, Russia. Always fascinated by the concept of mysterious lands, real and imaginary, separated from us by immense distance in space or time, I developed interest in science, ancient cultures, ethnography, art of imagination, science fiction and fantasy literature. Following a science career I graduated from Geographical Department of Moscow State University. After that I have been working as a young scientist in the Laboratory of the Comparative Planetology in the Institute of geochemistry and Analytical Chemistry. I had a number of publications in Russian and English and participated in conferences in Moscow and Houston. As a result of this work I defended a dissertation about dunes and channels of Mars. I also traveled Earth widely making use of my sketch book and camera. I has been drawing and painting a lot since childhood and after I\'ve married and got kids I decided to pursue a painting career. I have been taking private lessons and attending workshops in Russia, USA and UK. Working in the planetary science gave me knowledge about landscapes as well as experience with software. All this is proving to be very useful for an artist. I have been living in Alexandria, VA & Nottingham, UK. In 2007 me and my family moved to picturesque Newtown in Wales. I has been participating in many art exhibitions in the UK (in Nottingham, Beeston, Long Eaton, Eastwood, Wollaton, Draycott, Patchings Art Center and Buxton) where so far earned nine awards (including W.S.Holbrook first prize), and also had three personal shows. Several of my artworks has been published in a Russian newspaper and an American magazine, many are in private collections in Russia, Norway, Ireland, Italy, France, Romania, USA, UK, Belgium and Switzerland. I\'m working hard on constantly improuving my work, inspired by best in present and past of the art world, nature, my heart and my imagination. My Page: http://sites.google.com/site/linandara/ Samples of my work: http://www.myartspace.com/artistInfo.do?populatinglist=home&subscriberid=kipspf9669ygrsr1 http://www.absolutearts.com/portfolios/a/almena/ http://www.creativeshake.com/profile.html?MyUrl=Alexandra_Cook http://www.artistportfolio.net/index.php?secret=141&artist_id=7146 http://linandara.blogspot.com/ http://www.base4art.co.uk/gallery/showgallery.php?cat=500&ppuser=159 http://www.artflock.com/user/profile/action/view/frmUserID/281