IXCHEL , The Mayan goddess Ixchel is connected to different other Mayan deities, or better say it is a goddess viewed in many different ways. I won't go into as many explanations of her different aspects as I did for MAHAKALI, because in this painting I mostly focused on painting her as I've seen her in bas-relief in Palenque, surrounded with the beautiful environment of that magnificent ancient Maya city.

The symbols that identify Ixchel are a snake on her head and a rabbit at her side. In the painting you can see a snake on her head, while the rabbit is a part of the stone frame on the right side of the goddess.

HUICHOL , When you come to Mexico, you will see all kinds of colorful objects and tapestries that will surely mark your trip to Mexico. The detailed drawing and colors will attract your attention and you will probably bring a souvenir. Among all the exquisite and colorful arts and crafts of Mexico, the art of the Huichol particularly stood out to me. Every time I look at Huichol art I feel a positive energy of colors, so it just came naturally to me to paint it.

If you explore my website you will notice that exploring religion, different cultures and rituals is one of my passions. Huichol art matches my aesthetic preference, but besides that I took interest in it because from a young age I was interested in shamanism. Huichol art is full of symbols of their culture and shamanistic tradition.

OM MANI PADME HUM , OM MANI PADME HUM is a painting of a girl dressed in traditional celebratory costume from Himalayas. Surrounding her are the sanskrit words that you can see all around Himalayas, written on stones on the side of the roads. The letters here should be read circularly from the bottom left corner to the bottom right corner. "Om mani padme hum" is one of the most famous buddhist mantras.

CLEOPATRA , This painting is inspired by Cleopatra, who was a very educated woman that knew medicine and science, but became famous for her affair with Julius Caesar. Here she is surrounded by a papyrus plant, a symbol of wisdom. Her dress is like the waves of the Nile, over her head the sun is shining on her and behind her stands a pyramid. Cleopatra’s face and the texture of her hair are inspired by a statue of her. The vulture crown and the hieroglyphs on her right side, that means CLEOPATRA, are often represented in Egyptian bas-reliefs. In her right hand she is holding an Ankh, symbol of life that is usually in the hand of pharaohs. They may carry it in their hand or hold it up to the nose of the deceased, breathing in eternal life.

MAHAKALI , The hindu deity of consciousness Mahakali is described as an abstract energy and as many gods in Hinduism, this one has different manifestations. Here we can see her as Kali, surrounded by flowers used in her celebrations, the Marigolds. Kali is painted with the eight hands of virtue which connect her to the higher consciousness.

AMAZON , "The jungle is actually a lot like a dancing woman, full of life that vibrates through its form." This is how Jelena describes her painting Amazon that includes a dancer from the famous carnival of Rio de Janeiro in the middle of the jungle. Her journey to the Amazon jungle was one of her favorite experience, mostly because of the way people live inside of the jungle. The respect they show to their environment, the way they know what surrounds them, how to use it and not abuse it.

OMIO YEMAYA , The one thing that makes the city of Salvador in Brazil different from the rest of Brazil is its mark of colonialization. Salvador looks like a city in Portugal and it is known by its black population and cultural heritage because, during the slave trade, more than 40.000 slaves where brought to this city. To show his aspect of the city, Jelena searched for the way to represent it and finally found it in a sculpture in the city, representing the goddess Yemaya.

IGUAZU , Plants, birds, butterflies, coatis and earth trembling waterfalls - IGUAZU, the most beautiful and impressive border between two countries.

In Iguazu the nature surrounds you and this is why for this portrait instead to dress the woman in traditional clothes, I painted waterfall on her body and decorated some parts with patterns inspired by butterfly wings.

CENOTES , Cenotes, natural sinkhole found all around Yucatan in Mexico, are the main inspiration for this painting. In the region of Yucatan, where the weather is tropical, cenotes are like little underground oasis. This fresh water lakes are the home of turtles, iguanas and many butterflies looking for coolness and shadow. Outside of the cenotes the temperature is warm and the landscape is dry, but then you see an enormous bush of plants and just when you get to it you see a large hole with a deep turquoise blue natural pool at its bottom.

VIVA LA VIDA , This painting is inspired by the artist visit to the house of Frida Kahlo in Mexico City, and her painting "Viva la vida". "Viva la vida" is a simple painting of watermelons cut in different shapes. Looking at it the artist could imagine a lot of people, a family reunion or something and everybody is cutting the watermelon as they like. For Jelena, it was like a summer day and there was a massacred watermelon on the table. And so, in this still life our artist saw Frida with all her suffering and all the pain in her fragile body, celebrating life and all that it's made of.

LEGONG , In this first painting inspired by her travel to Indonesia, Jelena included two elements that had made a strong impression on her: rice fields and Balinese dance – Legong. She has seen many traditional dances, all interesting, unique and beautiful, but Legong was breathtaking. The dancers were moving each and every part of their body and faces, up to the little fingers, eyebrows and even eyes, with amazing grace and immense precision, expressing through the dance characters such as lions, colibris, kings and warriors. The rice fields that created a patchwork of shades of greens in the rolling countryside of Bali were much more impressive than in the pictures she saw before travelling to Bali.

CANDRAWASIH

URNAKOSA , This painting has been inspired by the Himalayas and buddhist spirituality. The central figure is the portrait of a woman having on her face the sign of urna / the third eye chakra / the divine consciousness. The background is inspired by traditional paintings of Gods in Himalayas; they are always on a platform above the ground and under the heavens.

CENTERED , This painting is inspired by going inward, meditation, self understanding and being centered.
"Centered" is a painting of the mind. One side is chaotic and uncontrolable, representing the feeling of being nervous, stressed, depressed, angry, sad, anxious, guilty,... This is the bottom part of the painting with elephants in chaos and monkeys (monkey mind = restless mind). The white elephant on the top symbolizes mental strenght, the mind that is clear and focused. The golden center on which the white elephant stands symbolises the practice of self-centering and focusing the mind.
On our consciousness relies our mental strength - on the glob stands the white elephant, the controlled mind, the gift of humankind, our greatest tool.

BOROBUDUR , The imagery is inspired by the Buddhist temple Borobudur in Indonesia and the inspiration for the painting itself is meditation and the act of getting centered and being conscious. I painted Buddha meditating in the nature but I chose to represent him as a statue to show reality as a structure, a form that every individual understands in its own way. In the middle of Buddha’s chest there is a golden seed from which grows a red and gold flower. The seed represents the soul, something that is put within all of us as we enter this world, which brings life to the form

MUMTAZ MAHAL , Mumtaz Mahal is the nickname of Arjumand Banu Begum, the chief consort of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan. When she died, Shah Jahan built a mausoleum for Mumtaz Mahal as an embodiment of his undying love and marital devotion. This mausoleum is the Taj Mahal and this painting is inspired by this love story embodied within the most beautiful monument in human history, which I discovered during a visit at the break of dawn.

KUNDALINI , The kundalini is described in Hinduism as a snake sleeping at the bottom of our spine. This snake is a form of divine feminine energy which, when cultivated and awakened is believed to lead to spiritual liberation. Simply, Kundalini is spiritual awakening and it can happen many times, mostly when we don't resist it because Kundalini is our natural state of being. In this painting the artist shows an "awaken'' Kundalini in a peaceful, surrendered body that sees beyond the physical illusions of reality.

PURA TIRTA EMPUL , PURA TIRTA EMPUL is the name of a temple in Bali. In balinese this means the temple of the holy spring. It is a popular water temple famous for its holy waters where people come for a ritual purification.

This painting isn’t inspired by the esthetics or the story of the temple but by the personal experience of the artist while she was visiting Tirta Empul. While doing the ritual of purification, the artist entered a kind of transe. She experienced herself as a golden light surrounded by a bright light which she was a part of and that was a part of her. It was a meditation she entered by accident and became one of the most intense meditative experiences she ever had.

TREE , It's funny how inspiration can strike at any moment and bring the painting out of the artist. I usually see some picture, landscape, plant, animal, combination of colours and an image comes to me already done, basic without many details but the main composition is there. Sometimes I like to do a painting of something that interests me, but it requires much more effort than when I just receive a picture. I was walking in a park and saw a branch with the most interesting moss texture on it and I had an image of my painting then and there. So there is not much theory behind this painting, it's merely just a tree that was simply beautiful to me.

SOURCE OF LIFE , Inspired by the nature and all its generosity, this painting is celebrating bees and their importance in our life as well as for the environment. These beautiful little black and yellow buzzers are our suppliers of food as they pollinate 70 out of the top 100 crops which make 90% of the world’s food production. Not only are they the survival kit for human agriculture but they are as important for the survival of Earth’s ecosystems. It is amazing what these little guys do for all life on the planet and without them we humans, and many other animal and vegetal species, probably wouldn’t be existing. We are already losing our population of bees and our need for food is higher than ever, so we all need to help our bees to recover.

MY GARDEN , Living in a busy city is making it hard to take a step back and relax. Lately we hear more and more how connecting with nature on a daily basis can reduce stress and connect us to our inner peace, but big parks aren't always available. I was inspired by this idea of connecting daily to nature, and even though we don’t always have time for a walk, I believe that connecting to our home plants can be as effective when practiced regularly.

SPIKY WOMAN

CACTUS FLOWERS

PORTRAIT 1

COLORFUL BUBBLE , Self-portrait

BARCELONA , This painting is inspired by Barcelona, Jelena’s favorite city. This painting isn’t an obvious representation of the city but more inspired by the last experience of Barcelona that the artist had. The painting is inspired by the two places in the city that made the biggest impression on her – the Montjuïc park and the Sagrada Família. The central figure is a Spanish dancer surrounded by lotus leafs that filled a fountain of Montjuïc park, and by the door of Sagrada Família which is covered in sculptures of plants, bugs and lizards sculpted out of metal.

GEISHA , One of the first abstract portrait paintings that Jelena created was this painting of a geisha. From the moment she first saw a geisha, she felt compelled to dedicate one painting to them, and so she started her series of women portraits with the portrait of a geisha. The stylized plants her are inspired by plants drawn on the Japanese jewelry boxes or other Japanese decorative objects. There is a ray of light coming from the top left corner and passing through the left side of the geisha’s face, giving it a yellow tone where her face displays geometrical forms. It is like a look through her mask/make-up, where the artist represents the different parts of us that are hidden behind the social mask that we show to the world.

CUBA , Colorful houses, the way women are dressed, their music, and of course cubans cigars have been the inspirations for this painting. It’s a portrait of a Cuban woman with a cigar and with a colorful house on the background, like the ones we can see all around Havana.

OAXACA , This painting is inspired by Jelena’s visit to the city of Oaxaca in Mexico, a city of art filed with galleries, art events and artist everywhere. The woman portrait is inspired by Oaxaca's famous singer Lila Downs. The artist took inspiration from her song “El Palomo del Comalito”. In the song clip we can see the costume represented in the painting, and the yellow line surrounding the painting is representing the corn, a central element of Mexican and Oaxacan culture and one of the main themes of the song.

Cactuses, that are omnipresent in Mexico, are the main component of the painting’s background. Jelena included cactuses in this painting to represent the Mezcal, a famous Mexican liquor produced from cactuses mostly in Oaxaca. Mezcal is more than just a drink, it’s a central part of t

POW-WOW , A pow-wow is a social gathering held by many different Native American communities. A modern pow-wow is a specific type of event for Native American people to meet and dance, sing, socialize, and honor their cultures.

In the painting, in the background we have a dream catcher; the woman is dressed in a Native American traditional costume with jewelry.

Learning about other cultures is one way to widen our views of life. My interest in tradition, religion, and rituals of different countries has inspired me for years and POW-WOW is one of the paintings resulting from this inspiration.

BAHIA , Bahia is a North-East region of Brazil, which capital city is Salvador. Salvador looks like a city in Portugal and it is known by its black population and cultural heritage because during the slave trade more 40.000 slaves were brought to this city. The background of the painting is inspired by the colorful facades and plants that the artist saw in Salvador. The woman is dressed in a traditional Afro-Brazilian dress usually worn by women in Salvador.