Lubov Meshulam Lemkovich

Commonly known as "Luba", was born in Moldova, Kishniev and immigrated to Israel in 1991.

She’s been painting throughout her adult life and studied under the renowned artist Abraham Bykov, a follower of the Russian Art School traditions.

Since 2009 her paintings have been displayed in 11 different exhibitions in Israel and in France, including a solo exhibition at the Purple Gate Gallery at Ein Hod, the artists’ village, the Salon d’Art Contemporain in Paris, and the Art Gallery of the Jerusalem Theatre.

Luba is also a member of the Israeli Artists’ Union .

Although she enjoys different genres of painting from realistic to abstract, Luba is primarily a portrait painter. She describes her fascination with painting from life as follows: “I love the people I paint and depict. I communicate with the sitters, and in the process of drawing I see their personality and understand more and more who it is that I am painting. There is a lot of psychology in this process… but I’d like to think the enjoyment is mutual. I prefer to work in oils, but I also make sketches in pencil and charcoal.”

Painting a portrait requires 5-10 sittings of approximately 1-2 hours

(and the breaks depend on the model). Some people who don’t like ‘sitting’ for this length of time choose to have a quick portrait done in 1 or 2 sessions. These tend to be less structured and, in Luba’s words, ‘a little wild’.