Elin Ulman

I was born in Estonia, Tallinn 1966 & moved to Sweden, Stockholm 1989.

As long as I remember, I have always been fascinated by colours and aesthetics in objects, architecture and in the surroundings in general. I began drawing and painting in early age and it has been a fantastic way to escape from that dull everyday life in the Soviet Union (at that time was Estonia occupied by Russia). All these grey houses in long rows on colourless streets and discrimination by the occupants was something I never liked and never got used to. The childhood, either we like it or not, affects forming our personality. When I look back to that time, I am sure that my soul was looking for aesthetics, balance, beauty and of course for colours. It was art that came to my rescue. Today I am really happy that I have all this experience from my home country. It has made me more humble as a person.

The necessity of expressing myself, has been a driven force in my life as an artist. Usually it has miner importance which technique I choose: it can be aquarelle, oil, acrylic or photo. Lately I have been painting mainly with acrylic because it dries fast and it allows me to work more quickly and I can be more spontaneous. Photo has also taken more space and time in my everyday life.

I decided for three  years ago that I will try to take at least one photo a day with my mobile phone. The purpose was to keep myself creatively active and not to let myself get rusty because of lacking the possibility of painting or creating something. I am really happy that I did my everyday photo project because it has helped me to develop myself as an artist and even resulted a photo exhibition.