Category Archives: Uncategorized

Art, For you, Uncategorized

The Therapeutic Duo

Painting and Photography for Mental HealthIn our fast-paced and often chaotic world, finding moments of tranquility and self-expression has become essential for maintaining our mental well-being. While traditional therapy and mindfulness practices have proven beneficial, there are alternative avenues that can provide solace and healing. Two creative outlets, painting, and photography, have emerged as powerful tools to support mental health, allowing individuals to explore their emotions, enhance self-awareness, and find inner peace.

Painting, a timeless art form, offers a unique opportunity to channel emotions onto canvas. It enables individuals to externalize their inner struggles, hopes, and dreams through colors, shapes, and strokes. Engaging in painting allows one to embrace the present moment, engaging in a meditative process that promotes mindfulness and stress relief. Whether you’re an experienced artist or a novice with a paintbrush, the act of painting itself can be immensely therapeutic, providing a sense of control and a means to express the inexpressible.

Similarly, photography has become increasingly accessible to people through the ubiquity of smartphones and digital cameras. It empowers individuals to capture fleeting moments, freeze emotions, and document their personal journeys. Photography offers a unique perspective on the world, encouraging individuals to slow down, observe their surroundings, and find beauty in the simplest of things. This act of mindfulness, coupled with the ability to express oneself visually, can be immensely empowering and calming, fostering a greater connection with oneself and the world.

Both painting and photography share a common thread: they provide a safe space for self-expression. By engaging in these creative processes, individuals can explore and express their deepest thoughts and emotions without needing words. They allow a non-judgmental exploration of one’s inner landscape, offering a sense of liberation and release. This, in turn, can lead to increased self-awareness, improved emotional well-being, and a renewed sense of purpose. Moreover, painting and photography can serve as a bridge to connect with others. Artistic endeavors often create opportunities for individuals to share their work, seek feedback, and engage in meaningful conversations. By connecting with fellow artists or enthusiasts, individuals can develop a sense of community and support, fostering a sense of belonging and acceptance. This connection can be particularly valuable for those who may struggle to articulate their emotions verbally but thrive in creativity. Incorporating painting and photography into our lives is not about creating masterpieces; it is about embracing the process, the journey, and the healing power of self-expression. Whether you paint with vibrant strokes or capture the world through a camera lens, these creative outlets can become potent tools in our mental health toolkit. They offer us the opportunity to be present, discover our inner selves, and connect profoundly with others. So, pick up a brush or grab your camera, and let the therapeutic magic of painting and photography unfold. Your mental well-being will thank you for it.

In the rapidly evolving world of digital imaging, new technologies constantly emerge, pushing the boundaries of creativity and innovation. Artificial Intelligence (AI) has emerged as a game-changer among these advancements. In this blog post, I will explain my thoughts about why digital artists should embrace AI-generated images as a powerful tool to unlock new realms of creativity, expand artistic possibilities, and captivate audiences like never before. Read More

Uncategorized

Happy Holidays

It’s the most wonderful time of the year! The holiday season is upon us, and it’s a time for joy, celebration, and spending time with loved ones. Whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, or another winter holiday, this is a special time to enjoy the magic of the season.

For many, the holidays are a time for gift-giving and spreading cheer. It’s a chance to show our loved ones how much we care about them and to make them feel special. It’s also a time to indulge in delicious holiday treats and to create special memories with our friends and family.

One of the best things about the holiday season is the opportunity to slow down and enjoy the present moment. In our busy lives, it’s easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of daily life. But during the holidays, we can take a step back and appreciate the simple pleasures in life. Whether it’s sipping on a cup of hot cocoa by the fireplace or spending quality time with loved ones, the holidays are a reminder to slow down and enjoy the moment.

This holiday season, let’s make a conscious effort to spread joy and cheer. Let’s be kind to one another and remember the true spirit of the season. Let’s make this holiday one to remember, filled with love, laughter, and joy. Happy holidays to you and your loved ones!

For you, Uncategorized

Share hope and a smile.

For many years, I thought about sharing this story with you, my readers. But I wasn’t brave enough to do it, and I thought that some people could find it funny or worthless to share. Last year’s events taught me something that only life could teach: if you have something to share that could change the life of even one person for the better, do it.
So, this is my story of the Winter Holidays:
We had a very close family, and we celebrated the holidays like every family. Everything stopped at age 16, and I never had a Christmas tree after or celebrated any holiday. We lost everything, but we survived. Life was an experiment in survival. The lack of money and food washed away the possibility of a joyful celebration of the winter holidays. My mom and I were able to give my daughter a used book from our home collection (we had only a few left). So we wrapped it in a newspaper at night, so she did not see it, and gifted it to her on Christmas morning. My daughter’s gift to us was a spoon from our kitchen wrapped in newspaper. Christmas celebration was about reading books about people from other countries. They were like reading a fairytale that never became a reality.
Now, every year during winter Holidays, I feel like I am in a fairytale story. It’s not about buying expensive decorations or gifts. It’s the fact that “I can celebrate and feel joyful.” Winter holidays are about celebrations, families, hope, and happiness. Today, I went to the store and saw all the winter decorations. Once again, I felt like “I can feel the joy.” This feeling never gets old.
Why am I sharing this story today? Please don’t forget about those in need during this joyful season of celebrations, someone who needs our help or a reminder that they are not alone.
Below, I have attached a few links you can use to spread hope and a smile. If you don’t want to use those links, please donate $1 at your local grocery store or online.
Thank you.

ASPCA
Animal Recovery Center
Adoption Center

St. Jude
Kids In Clinic Wish List
Research Hospital

PTSD Foundation of America
Office Supplies

Make-A-Wish
Alaska and Washington

Armenia, My News, Ukraine, Uncategorized

Create art, not war.

Today I want to talk about a topic that is very close to me, and this topic is about who I am and what made me who I am today. I shared with you part of my life in my book, but today is more about my life after the war.
My entire family (from both sides) are refugees. No one from my family was born and stayed lived at their birthplace all their lives. My entire family for three generations were fighting for their families, fighting to stay alive, and to build happy and peaceful lives for their children (including yours truly).
I was a refugee/immigrant twice in my life. Twice I had to start from scratch. Twice I learned a new language. When you are learning a language from the comfort of your home – it’s nice, it’s the joy of learning something new. When you have to work to support your child and family from the first day in a new country without knowing a single word of the native language in that country – it’s stressful. Stressful because you don’t have time for a smooth transition. You don’t have time to learn because you have a child or family members you need to provide with warm clothes, food, electricity, an apartment, heat, and education. To be honest, I didn’t have the opportunity to take a single class to learn English. I learned English while working, cleaning toilets and cleaning streets. I felt, and I feel that I am the luckiest person in the world. I could work. I put a roof over my child’s head. It felt like magic (even now, after so many years).
Mothers and any good human will do everything necessary to provide for their child and to survive. We all did this to the best of our abilities.

Survival has its price.

This is what I want to talk about today. I ran for my life from Baky, Azerbaijan. I did not know if I would survive. It was scary, extremely scary. I had my mother and grandmother to take care of. I was thinking only about them, how to protect them, how to keep them alive. When your survival instinct kicks in, you don’t feel panic, and you are not scared. You are just frozen, and you are surviving. At some point when Azerbaijani “people” surrounded the house and when my mom and I were hiding, I was thinking that I would show myself to them, knowing that they would torture and kill me slowly. I thought that it was ok because I would give my mom time to run. We survived, and I felt my entire life was passing as I had silence around me. I did not feel anything. I was trying to forget all that had happened. This was my mistake.
When we ran from Baky, we left (as many Armenian people in Azerbaijan) everything we loved, families separated, and many lost their loved ones.
My mom, grandmother, and I left practically everything, but for me leaving my easel and paint supplies was the end of my art life. I did not paint for many, many years, and for me, it was the end.
In the last year and a half, we lost our auntie, my mother-in-law, and my mom. Because of COVID, I could not say goodbye to my mom and even attend her funeral. At that time, I understood that I needed help, I needed help to be able to sleep at night, I needed help to release this “survival mode.” I understood that asking for help is not a sign of weakness. It’s a sign of bravery. It’s OK to pause for a few minutes and take care of yourself and your mental health.
Why did I decide to talk about this today? It’s simple —war in Artsakh (my nation, Armenian people of Artsakh under unprecedented war from Azerbaijan). Armenian people are still trying to survive, keeping their territory and homes. Even this week, Armenian soldiers were brutally killed by the Azerbaijan army. Azerbaijani army occupying Armenian territories, disconnecting life support such as gas and electricity). Mothers and fathers of Artsakh don’t know if their children will be alive tomorrow.
The same is going on in Ukraine. Watching all of this, how refugees are trying to survive, seeing crying children, mothers, fathers, grandparents brought all my memories back. I feel the pain and horror of those people.
Today, I want to ask you to help people to survive, to help people to survive not only physically (and this is a priority), but mentally as well.
Don’t let them go inside “their shells,” don’t let them feel “frozen” as I felt.

Any war has only one face: the face of horror, devastation, losses, refugees running for their lives, cold, hunger, homelessness, and feeling alone.


Talk to them, hug them, tell them that they are not alone. As an artist, I know the power of art. People who are trying to survive today have nothing left. They are trying to survive. So many children (an entire generation of children) lost access to simple things such as water, food, and their home. During the horror of the war, a simple piece of paper and pencil, coloring books, and toys would make their hearts happy (even for a few minutes). They would see the light, and they would see the bright colors of childhood. It’s important. It’s important to protect the mental health of refugees right away, today, not tomorrow.
So I am asking you to donate art supplies. If you are an artist, donate your artwork.

UNHCR
rescue.org
USAID

Let’s create art, not war.

Uncategorized

Holiday Gift Guide

Hello everyone,

At this time of Thanksgiving, I want to express my appreciation for you, my readers. May your Thanksgiving be full of peace, love and joy.


As always, at this time of the year, I am sharing with you my Holiday Gift Guide. In this guide, you will find all things I love and use in my photography, design, and art studio.

Happy Thanksgiving!

https://spark.adobe.com/page/sq8N7GG9gkiIM/

Victoria Pavlov’s Holiday Guide

Uncategorized

Women in Digital Imaging

Virtual Conference on November 9-10, 2021

Women in Digital Imaging Virtual conference

We are here, a diverse group of professional women sharing our knowledge in graphic design, photography, and digital art. 
If you are a professional, just started your journey in digital imaging, or love doing it during your free time, this conference is for you. 
This year, the conference is online. 
During these two days, you will learn new techniques in graphic design, photography, 3D art, and digital painting from leading professional women in the industry. All of our sessions are “no pressure, judgment-free” sessions. 
We will make sure that by the end of our conference, you will have been exposed to tons of useful information, that your questions are answered, and that you have been inspired to bring your imagination to life.

All sessions will be recorded, and all our attendees will have access to all recordings till December 2022. 
We can’t wait to see and welcome you!  

Buy Tickets

You still have time to take advantage of the early bird pricing

Uncategorized

Women in digital imaging conference

Women in Digital Imaging

We are here, a diverse group of professional women sharing our knowledge in graphic design, photography, and digital art. 

If you are a professional, just started your journey in digital imaging, or love doing it during your free time, this conference is for you. 

This year, the conference is online. 

During these two days, you will learn new techniques in graphic design, photography, 3D art, and digital painting from leading professional women in the industry. All of our sessions are “no pressure, judgment-free” sessions. 

We will make sure that by the end of our conference, you will have been exposed to tons of useful information, that your questions are answered, and that you have been inspired to bring your imagination to life.

We can’t wait to see and welcome you!  

Learn more about women in digital imaging conference here
How to create a Halloween Art in Adobe Substance 3D Stager
Vector Pumpkin in Adobe Fresco
Uncategorized

Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day

a symbol presenting the memory of 1.5 Million Armenians who were massacred and killed by the Ottoman empire of Turkey

This year on April 24th, we once again remember all the Armenian people who lost their lives during the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire in 1915. My great-grandmother’s entire family was killed along with 1.5 million Armenian people. My great-grandmother survived concentration camps in the Syrian Desert. She was only 16 years old and the only one from her entire family who survived. She went through hell, but she stayed alive. She survived, she preserved her heritage, she was a proud Armenian woman. Turkey failed to kill her, and they failed to make her forget who she was and who her family and nation were.
She did not speak a lot about what she saw and experienced during the Genocide (she tried to protect her daughter and grandchildren). When she spoke, we saw how strong she was. Even after going through everything she went through, she still was an incredibly kind woman and grandmother who loved her children more than anything. She passed away when I was a child. I remember the day she died and the day of her funeral. So many people came to pay their last respects to this strong woman. As a child, I loved her and respected her because she was my great-grandmother. After the massacre of the Armenian people in Baku, after I went through what my great-grandmother went through, I understand how strong she was to go on with her life after everything.
I don’t know if she had “bad dreams” every night as I am having. I do know every single generation of women in my family went through genocide and massacres by Turkey and Azerbaijan. Every single woman from my great-grandmother to me. Every generation in my family (from both sides) experienced genocide, massacres, deportation, and relocations. We say to each other that we are lucky, we survived, we escaped. We did more than survive. We are Armenian people, and we remember who we are and where we came from. We are people of the Armenian nation. We are alive; we create, we build, and we are preserving our heritage.
Turkey and Azerbaijan tried to kill us; they wanted to erase us from the face of the Earth. They failed. We are still here and going nowhere. The entire world saw what they did and do and will never forgive them for that.
If I could, I would say all the names of the people who lost their lives in Turkey during the Armenian Genocide in 1915. I don’t know all of the names, but I know the name of my great-grandmother, the woman who SURVIVED the Armenian Genocide. Her name is Sonya. I want the world to remember this brave and strong woman, and I want the world to know her name.

My family has only one image of my great-grandmother Sonya and I painted it today

great-grandmother Sonya

We know what Turkey did to us, to Armenian people, because of the many brave people worldwide who saw it and told the world about it. We know it because of the stories of survivors.
Aurora Mardiganian is one of the survivors who told the world the truth about the Armenian Genocide. I re-read her book a few weeks ago, I was reading the book, and I was hoping that maybe she would mention the name of my great-grandmother or her family. I was hoping because Aurora and her family were in concentration camps in the Syrian Desert as my great-grandmother was.
In memory of Aurora, I painted her as a small thank you.

Aurora Mardiganian

As an Armenian woman, as a survivor of Armenian massacres by Azerbaijan people in Baku, I will continue telling my story and the story of my family to anyone willing to listen. I will continue telling what I saw because this could help to prevent the next genocide or massacres.
I don’t want anyone to see what we saw, and I want people to sleep at night without trying to escape in their dreams over and over and over.
When we try to survive, we have no other option but to fight, try to do everything possible to stay alive and keep our loved ones alive. We are in survival mode. To let go of survival mode is the most challenging part, and I am still working on it.

If you want to make a difference and have the ability to do so, please, consider donating to the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative

During the Armenian Genocide in Ottoman Empire in 1915, the biggest part of the Armenian male population was killed. The survivors are mostly women. This year for April 24th, I painted the image of the Armenian woman who survived and who brave enough to protect her loved ones, who were brave enough to preserve Armenian culture and nation. The dove in her hands represents all of us, all Armenians around the world.

My News, Uncategorized

A letter to all women

Navigating in the real world is difficult for everyone, but for women, it’s more difficult in many ways.
People around me always tried to tell me what I should and should not do. It doesn’t matter what I did; I always heard that I did something wrong because “I am too young,” or “I am too old,” ‘I don’t smile enough,” or “I smile a lot.”
As a little girl, I learned how to ignore bullies. As a teenager, I learned something new. I realized that if you are a woman, you should work three times harder than a man (doing the same job!) This is not because you are less talented than a man is. Some people and society decided and assigned a “specific place” for women to be in.
I always worked three times harder than men. It’s was a priority for me to be better, to know as much as possible about my work or anything else I am doing. It was and still is important to me. As a freelancer, I know that I could not get a project just because I am a woman. Yes, it’s that simple. It’s always someone who has an opinion about what women should and should not do. It’s always someone who thinks that a “woman’s place is in the kitchen,” or a woman is not strong enough, or someone who disagrees with a woman’s outfit “it’s too short” or “it’s too long”. It’s always “something” or not enough.
I spent a lot of time in my life trying to change something about me to look “more professional and be acceptable in the man dominated world.” I thought if I change my hairstyle or dress style, wear makeup, not wear makeup, or change anything else it will help me. I tried to find “that one thing” that will help people to understand that I am as smart and hard-working a professional as any man in my profession.
I did not find “that one thing” for a long time. It took some time to understand that I don’t care about what society decided for me. I am not spending my time anymore to find “that one thing.” I know who I am, and I don’t need to prove it to anyone. If you ask me if everything is better now and sexism disappeared from my life? My answer is no. I still need to prove every single day that I am who I am. Sexism still exists. Some people with a twisted understanding will always try to show a woman her place. But, news flash: no woman will accept it, keep silent, or cry anymore. It’s the 21st century, and it is long overdue for the world to understand and accept that a woman is a full member of society, that women belong in the office, business, meeting, project, or any decision-making place.
I decided to share this today with you, women and girls, because I want each of you to understand earlier than later that YOU ARE a full member of society. I want you to realize that you are intelligent, beautiful, strong, and can build any business you wish. You don’t have to waste YOUR time to find “that one thing.” You have “that one thing,” and it’s YOU.