Katya Gridneva was born in the Ukraine in 1965 and went on to study portraiture at the St Petersburg Academy of Arts 1993-99, famous for teaching realistic style. It was there where she met her husband, the artist Valeriy Gridnev, although they both now live and work in London. Katya is a hugely talented portrait painter working in oils, pastels and charcoal. She is well known for her flamboyant oil portraits and very skilful, characterful and attractive compositions, her models usually being the elegant dancers from the world- renowned Kirov ballet company. Katya has developed her own style, combining the Russian realistic school together with her knowledge of all the varieties of Western art schools, bringing her portraiture to a new and very high level. She has exhibited her paintings in the USA, Germany, Moscow, St Petersburg and in London at the Royal Society of Portrait Painters and Royal Institute of Oil Painters at the Mall Galleries, as well as with leading provincial galleries.