Art by Yulia Altas

I see what touches my soul and start drawing on a small piece of paper.”

The ebb and flow of the seasons, plus the changing tapestry of nature in different weather conditions galvanize the art of

Yulia Altas. This Russian-born artist, who came to the U.S. in 2003, creates colorful, mixed-media paintings. Her sensitive interpretations of landscapes feature a variety of natural elements like symbolic butterflies and honor the beauty of form.

In works described as both surrealistic and realistic, though she prefers the latter term, she marinates her past training with imaginative visualizations, which began coming to her in childhood in her native Tula when she was constantly drawing.

She thinks of how she wants her work to look and strives to complete the vision in reality.

Now a resident of New Jersey, she is fond of finding “beautiful places” near her home for inspiration, among other locales.

When left outdoors for several hours, Altas says, “I see what touches my soul and start drawing on a small piece of paper.”

Expansion and refinement of the image comes later during her process at home. Intuition guides her to use only ink on paper for one work, only oil paint on another.