Olie annolinbsp; Griffard was born in 1975 in Moscow, Russia. She started drawing at the age of two and was much supported and instructed by her father, Valeriy, who was an artist as well. Olie spent every summer until she was 18 in the beautiful countryside far away from Moscow where she got to absorb the beauty of nature and animals, the love for which is often reflected in her paintings. When Olie was just 12 years old, she won first place in the Moscow Young Artist Competition. Her mother, Raisa, looking at Olie early works, would always say that Olie would become an artist when she grew up; and as it turned out, she was right.
In 1998 Olie was accepted to Brigham Young University, Utah, USA, where she completed her Bachelors degree in the winter of 2002. Painting was always a major part of her life, and after graduation it was time to make her dreams of being a full time artist come true. Olie moved to California in the summer of 2003 where she began painting full-time and showing her art work in galleries and competitions.
Olie is currently residing in the North Hollywood area in Southern California where she continues to paint for 9 hours every day without weekends and holidays in her studio, while pursuing her goals as an artist. Olie specializes in painting in oils and acrylics in various styles, from realism to surrealism, and exploring new horizons of colors and palette knife painting.
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