We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Kristina Zemlanikina a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Kristina, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?
It was the biggest project I ever accomplished in my 2 year career as an artist. I was offered a wall space at Maya Moon Collective to exhibit my art for 2 months. I had 3 big beautiful white walls to fill, 1 month till the opening day, but…only 3-4 paintings in my possession at that time (thankfully, I had some good sales prior to that). When I paint, I like to go deep, uncovering the layers of my soul, and it takes time. I accepted the challenge, calculated how many paintings and what sizes I’d like to display going from 8×8″ to 48×72.” I managed to paint 25 paintings which seemed completely impossible, keeping in mind that all of my paintings have cosmic/spiritual messages written on the backs of the paintings, and that process cannot be completed in rush.
When I was only 3 days away from the day we were suppose to hang the paintings, I felt like I was half way done. Needless to say, the panic kicked in & it mixed with the perfectionism adding more stress & more panic (People who are perfectionists will understand what I’m talking about). Then, I remembered that a year ago I did 3 days of silence were you completely disconnect from the world. It means, turning off the phone, no TV, no reading, no talking, no any type of communication with the outside world. I remembered that during those 3 days, it felt like the time stretched, I was feeling complete harmony & bliss at the end.
So, I applied this technique, and finished all of the paintings in silence, the messages came with ease, the plan for the layout matching the styles & colors was clear. I learned how to frame the paintings (within 3 trips to the Michaels because I got the wrong screws & measurements. Had to cheat on silence, didn’t want to appear rude to the sales people). Then typed up & laminated the plaques & matched them to the paintings. I had to turn on the phone the last day, so I can take pictures & videos of the paintings (which is another whole project.) Around 2am everything was done. I was exhausted, but amazed of how it was even possible.
Next day I rented a truck, wrapped all of the paintings in bubble wrap & delivered to Maya Moon (which is another complicated project if you’re doing it by yourself). Kathryn, the owned was helping me to put them on the walls, which I’m extremely grateful for, since I don’t have the patience to measure all of the distances from the floor, to the ceiling, & in between the paintings. She gave this process a completely different meaning, and I learned a lot.
In conclusion, to have an art exhibit when you’re a new artist & doing it for the first time, is very very challenging. It takes a lot of planning, and learning new skills. At the same time it’s so amazing because the growth is exponential.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers?
I am a self-taught intuitive artist and explorer of the other dimensions, quantum physics, epigenetics, energy, and frequencies. Born in Latvia, living in the US since 2003 spending the last 4 years in San Diego.
I started painting for fun using acrylics during the quarantine in June of 2020. This escalated to a full-time career pretty quickly. Before painting, I was working as server in fine dining restaurants. At the same time I was going through great transformative spiritual growth, reaching the tipping point after my decision to stop drinking alcohol.
My painting process starts with not knowing what the painting will be. I sit down, tune in, and let my intuition guide me. Turning off my mind, opening my heart. Letting the creative process unfold allowing the soul to guide the brush, knowing that at the end it will look magnificent. The name and message for the painting comes after the piece is ready. Everything is intuitive and guided by my Higher Self channeling the cosmic information that comes through me.
Custom paintings for clients are created by gathering the information about the person the art will be dedicated to and choosing the general idea for the colors. Then the information that needs to be received for the owner of the art piece comes to me. Everything originates from feeling, there is no logic involved.
I also paint people’s energy portraits. I connect to their energy field & read what colors are present. On a psychical/ emotional level I’m really good at reading people (hey, Psychology major here), and the characteristics of the person are added to the painting.
I recently started teaching art classes where through the meditation, people connect to their Higher Selves, to their souls & paint their own energy portraits, as well as, guided meditation classes activating the energies in chakras, Inner Child work, and exploring the Divine selves.
On the side, I transform boring shoes & boots into custom, fancy, one-of-a kind pieces of walking art. No design is ever repeated.
All of my art is charged with channeled healing energy, and the written words on the backs of the paintings add more power to it. I open my heart & allow the Divine light to express herself into the color. Some paintings represent the faint/ subconscious memoires from the past lives, or lives lived as an extraterrestrial in other dimensions & planets.
My biggest dream is to have my art on the walls in the hospitals radiating the healing energy & helping people to get better.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
When I started selling my art, I was thinking this is it, it is my main income & I’m rocking & rolling. I threw out all of my servers’ clothes & shoes, and said to myself that I’m never going back to the restaurant industry. Until the pandemic unemployment ended, and rent was due, and I didn’t sell as many paintings as I thought I will.
To be an artist means you also need to be a good business person (unless you can afford to hire someone to do all of it for you, or if someone is helping you for free, which was not my case), and have some skills in marketing if you want to sell your art. And to have a plan & execute that plan. In my case, I lived in an illusion that my art will magically sell all the time, and hope that everything will work out. At the end, I was up to my ears in debt, living in fear how I gonna afford my rent, and shrinking like a raisin.
When we feel fear, our reptilian brain kicks in, and prepares the body for the fight-or-flight mode. There is no room for logic, relaxation or the creative flow. Living in fear & not having money, my creative flow stopped, I put everything on hold, and was scrambling to make my ends meet. No matter how much I did not want to go back to the restaurant industry, out of fear I saw that it was the only safe/known option. I’ve been digging myself out of the hole for the last 4 months living in the total crisis.
However, I learned so much about myself during these 4 months, that no psychology sessions would be able to keep up with. At the same time, I received so many blessings & support from other people only doing one thing: being open & sharing with them about my crisis, being vulnerable, and being honest with myself. Also, I had to put my ego down thinking that I can do everything myself. It is ok to ask for help, and say Yes! if someone is offering the help without the asking. I’m painting again. I got hired as a server at the Del Mar Raced Track, and I have a plan what to do next.
Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?
If you are forced to get a job to pay your bills, but it is not the job you want to do, it kills the spark, it kills the inspiration, it sucks the life out of you. Sometimes I do feel like a slave with handcuffs on going to work. I have to wear all black, fake smile, and pretend that I’m so super happy to see everyone. At least when the masks were required, you could take off your “mask” (pun intended). I just can’t stand the fakeness, you know. I like the realness. The trueness.
When I paint, I get high (not weed), I fly into space, I lose track of time, I forget to eat…I feel alive! I feel happy! I feel tapped-in & turned on! Some people have told me that I’m a bit naïve hoping that I can make a living with art. That I always will be a starving artist, and that I need to get a “real job.” For me, the “real job” is a rat race, where people cope with their stress by overindulging in food, alcohol, pain meds, drugs, Netflix, and shit talking about other people. No offense, but I have not met a skinny & happy accountant yet, for example, who’s living a really healthy lifestyle. I hope, someone can prove me wrong.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.soulfireenergyart.com
- Instagram: @soulfire_energyart_ra
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristina-zemlanikina-081056b2/
- Twitter: @soulfire_art
- Other: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/guided-meditation-with-crystal-bowl-gong-sound-healing-tickets-332434218697 Look for the same event. Future dates will be posted.