LILIA ORLOVA HOLMES
Biography
Lilia Orlova-Holmes is a Russian-born contemporary artist based in Kent, celebrated for her vibrant, semi-abstract floral landscapes that fuse expressive brushwork with emotional depth, capturing the fleeting beauty of nature. Her expressive oil paintings transport viewers into botanical dreamscapes, where lush greenery and rippling water converges in a harmonious interplay of texture, movement, and colour.
Orlova-Holmes draws inspiration from the ever-changing landscapes and seasons of her surroundings. Her artistic practice reflects the rhythms of nature—spontaneous, intuitive, and constantly evolving. Employing a loose Impressionist technique, her fluid, gestural brushstrokes bring her gardenscapes to life, creating poetic depictions of flowers, summer ponds, and verdant scenes that evoke both serenity and vitality.
Describing her process as akin to a dance, Orlova-Holmes moves intuitively across the canvas, blending memory, imagination, and fleeting moments of inspiration. Light, texture, and the ephemerality of blooms often serve as metaphors for themes of impermanence and renewal. Her deep, brooding palette of greens and mauves, punctuated by flashes of vibrant petals, captures the ever-shifting interplay between nature and human emotion. By revisiting familiar landscapes, each new work becomes a fresh exploration of her inner world, reflecting emotional shifts, growth and renewal.
Orlova-Holmes studied at the Krasnopresnenskya School of Art and the Stroganov College of Applied Arts in Moscow between 1987 and 1992. Her work has been exhibited in solo and group shows across the UK and her paintings are held in numerous private collections worldwide.
