Anna Milicic: A bit of background...
When I was 9 years old my family immigrated to Canada from Belarus. I quickly came to love Canada and had a wonderful childhood, spending many Summers drawing, oil painting and coming up with new crafty concepts that I could potentially "sell" to my neighbours and friends. Art was a big part of me and I enjoyed getting lost in my sketch pad or canvas and would spend hours creating. I remember how it fueled me and made me feel like "myself".
Somewhere along the path into my tweens and teens I became too busy trying to find myself and fit in. It was a subconscious experience and a tough one, full of emotion, misunderstandings, bullying, ups and downs and lack of mentorship/guidance that I really needed. I somehow kept up my positive outlook on life, continued to push through and express my emotion in my art.
Many years passed and during that time I traveled, dated, had my heart broken into what felt like a million pieces, tried to put the puzzle back together and figure out what it is that I want in life. I admit, I lost myself a bit, trying to achieve expectations set by society and not looking inwards. Can you relate to this? Where you feel like your life is out of balance? This resulted in lots of trial and error but, nevertheless, I continued to work hard, kept a strong-willed attitude and while it was not easy, I kept going because my curiosity remained at what it is I can achieve if I just stood tall and strong, despite all the change I was experiencing.
Writing about it now, these all feel like "normal" life experiences many people go through.
I continued to hobby paint and dabble in art while pursuing an accounting degree! While, it was not my best pick, I was too afraid to pursue art full time and went for the safer choice, not realizing it doesn't feel safe when you don't feel fulfilled! Another trial and error!
I met my husband and we had two beautiful children. Motherhood took me on a very emotional ride, where I experienced postpartum anxiety and pulled myself back into art for healing.
It’s through motherhood I realized art has always been one of my constant supporters of the evolution to a stronger self. I decided to dedicate more time to it, ultimately pursuing it as my passion and hoping one day to be a full time artist!
My art helped me along the way and I express this in my paintings. The vibrant colours, the bright tones, the post-impressionist style that emphasizes the light, all remind us to keep positive and keep going because a brighter future awaits you!
That’s a little about me, how and why I came to create art today.
Thank you for your time.
With rays of sunshine,
Anna