Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Inga Khurieva. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Inga, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

I was staying at my friend’s place once and while he was gone I sketched 3 faces on his vision board that he uses for meetings and such. When I visited him again three weeks later I saw that he didn’t erase the drawing. I asked him why he kept it and he said that he likes that every time he looks at these faces his mind creates different stories and scenarios about people portrayed. He said it is fun for him.
‘Interesting’ I thought to myself , maybe this is what I’m supposed to be doing. From that moment on I opened up to the idea of me being a painter. Then I started sketching more in my notebook. Later on I randomly stayed for a few days at some painter’s house because I had no place to live and he encouraged me to try to paint on a canvas, so I did and the craft grew from there. I learn through doing.
Knowing what I know now I would have probably believed in myself earlier. I spent years on going back and forth on my choices, self-doubt, negative self-talk. All I needed to do was to silence my ego, shut up and paint every day but I get sucked often into dimension of endless self-analysis, anxiety about the future, impatience, fear, not feeling safe. All the impurities that stifle our progress and dim our connection to self and creator should have been worked on earlier. But oh well..
The most essential skills are not loosing enthusiasm, painting every day regardless of your mood, instead of thinking I’m not good enough think about how you can improve, be open to receive, visualize yourself successful.
Pride, laziness, a touch of a narcissism stood in the way of learning more. Fear of failure , etc…all the low vibrational energies. I also had anger about the fact that I haven’t found myself earlier. I used to have that sensation that I should have been further in life than where I have found myself in that moment. So that restlessness created impatience and impulsiveness. I even had exorcism done to get rid of those elements. Has it worked? Let’s say I learned to live above it. I have found joy in whatever was happening in my life and that created more space within to allow myself to paint and grow into the body of being an artist.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

With pleasure. Hi! My name is Inga. I work with visions. I moved to New York at the age of 23 from a small town in Russia with the goal to just get away from my mom’s loving and comfortable house and explore life. I wanted to trigger my potential. There was something in me that wanted to be liberated. I didn’t know what it was. The existencial crisis hit me early and sent me on the dark path of self-discovery. Years of feeling uprooted, language barrier, not having clarity created a painter. If you can’t use words to eloquently represent yourself why not do it through colors, shapes, images, visions. I have had visions since I was a child. In fact I always thought of myself as a bridge between worlds. I know I am here to connect something. The physical and spiritual. So I found the way to turn those abilities into a craft and make a living off of it. I say this lifetime I have already won. This is how I feel when i paint. Like I won this life. It’s a very rewarding feeling.
Life is complex, what do we do to process it so that our energy fields and bodies are clean and resemble a vibrant river as opposed to dirty swamps. We let it out, I let it out with paintings. Through my vessel to another . Purification, therapy, best friend, connection with the creator. I communicate with art. When people commission my paintings I usually create that person’s energy portrait. Energy has a smell, a quality. That quality consist of different elements and attributes. I’m able to perceive those attributes and paint them. It’s channeling. I can tap into your energy and read it and showcase it back to you.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

Everyone is a creative. We create our realities with every breath we take. Some create consciously some unconsciously. Every reaction, every action, every thought, emotion, choice creates a timeline on which we exist. Which field is not creative? Finance? Real estate? Medicine? We all channel energy from above and give it form and shape. Some people channel that energy into building a chair, others into running fast, doctors channel it into performing a surgery, managers into organizing spaces and people as moving parts of it. These are very creative fields. Take military industry, have you seen those planes?! I just happened to organize that energy into figurative painting scenarios. I think this part people struggle with to understand. We have the power to create whatever experience they want. The power to choose regardless of your current circumstances. The power to connect to the creator of us all by following spiritual laws. People focus on physical reality ignoring the spiritual one. If you want abundance become a vessel that can receive abundance. If you want to be talented find what comes natural to you and work on it every day. Life and everything around us is creative.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

Yes, the mission is to share. Every one has a theme in their life that becomes their main struggle. When you overcome that struggle your job is to share how you did it. My main struggle was that I never knew what I wanted. I couldn’t find my place in the world no matter where I went. That void is scary. If you don’t have tools, guidance, if you don’t know how to listen to your soul that experience becomes very painful. From PAINfull to PAINting was an ultimate solution for my case. For your case it will be smth different uniquely tailored to you and your soul blueprint.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.ingakhurieva.com
• Instagram: inga.khurieva

Image Credits

Photo by Mr. Wattson