After moving to Finland in 1995, water continued to play an important role in my life, as did frequent trips to the southern sea, where running along the shore brought me inexplicable inspiration every time. I felt how the flow of water filled me with poetry and prose, creating an implicit but strong call: "Write." This led me to create the book I’m Magnet and the emergence of my creative name lol2o, which means (Lots of Love)>2 + H>2O. Water became the foundation of my creativity, and I began painting it everywhere – on walls, plywood, canvases, expressing my connection with this element on everything that came to hand. It seemed to speak through me, becoming part of my inspiration and my true nature.
At some point, my passion for painting and writing books became so significant that it required freeing up time – not just hours, but as if an entirely new life. It was a Call, powerful and ever-growing, which could no longer be resisted. In 2015, I made the decision to leave my well-paid job as a department manager in a large corporation and dedicate myself to creativity. This leap into the unknown, like into the Abyss, opened freedom for me and allowed me to fully immerse myself in what was striving to manifest through the impulses of my heart. Two months later, the book I’m Magnet was published in Russian and English, and a few years later, in Finnish.
Inspiration from water became the catalyst for amazing events: just a year later, I was invited to the Maldives as an artist to paint the island of Thoddoo and dive sites around it on the outer wall of a guesthouse under construction, Dive Villa, and later – on the wall of the dive center. This series of events opened the opportunity for me to fulfill a long-standing dream – to overcome the fear of depth, which had always attracted me, and become a certified diver at a local diving school.
The first 30 seconds underwater showed me that fears exist only in the mind. After a bit of "fear" with the mask, snorkel, and fins, I unexpectedly discovered that I was chasing after a fish to say, "I love you." On my first dive with a scuba tank, I was greeted by an incredibly beautiful two-meter Napoleon fish, frozen in the water. I fell in love with it, but even more with the state I was experiencing. My inner child screamed: "