Born in a family with Chuvash and Slavic roots, Liz Salla is a watercolor painter living and working in Yvelines, France.

Although Liz has always dreamt of becoming an artist, she was encouraged to pursue a ‘proper’ career. She graduated from university with a Bachelor of Arts in Linguistics and earned Cambridge's prestigious CELTA qualification (Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages). After teaching English as a Second Language for 12 happy years and helping adults and teenagers achieve their language goals, she retired from teaching in 2022 to become a full-time artist.

Liz draws much of the inspiration for her paintings from the world around her, and the subject matter of her paintings varies accordingly: botanical art, natural and urban environments, still life, portraiture, and figurative work. Liz’s artistic journey began when she started taking formal art lessons at the age of seven. While, undeniably, the art school has given Liz a solid foundation upon which she could build, she prides herself in learning realism entirely on her own.

When she’s not painting, Liz enjoys taking long walks, getting cozy with a nice cup of tea and a good book, making crochet toys, and cooking.

Realistic Watercolor

Liz’s medium of choice is watercolor because she enjoys its transparent nature, versatility, and beautiful luminosity. Liz often hears that realism is not a painting style commonly associated with watercolor. While it’s true that a lot of watercolor artists paint in a loose style, Liz’s paintings reflect her desire to record her surroundings with a high level of detail. Because watercolor is such a versatile medium, there’s really no limit to what can be achieved.

Liz always starts with a detailed drawing. Her palette is a carefully curated selection of transparent and semi-transparent pigments that she lays down layer upon layer, using a range of painting techniques, in order to achieve a realistic look.

Contemporary Botanical Art

Liz is passionate about portraying plants in a botanically and scientifically accurate way. She always strives to achieve a high level of detail and highlight the delicate beauty of each plant - the beauty that we often take for granted.

For Liz, botanical art is a wonderful way to combine her love for nature, plants, and art.

Ever since she can remember, Liz’s happiest childhood memories revolved around bonding with nature. As a child, she just had to stop and look closely at everything outdoors. She would admire the raindrops sparkling like diamonds on flower petals after the rain, and get curious about a honey bee rolling around to collect pollen. Noticing details in nature and looking at the tiny details and texture of plants would always lead her to fascinating discoveries.

Botanical art is also a way for Liz to pay homage to her Chuvash roots and heritage.

Chuvash people are a Turkic ethnic group, and an ethnic minority. They are considered to be the descendants of semi-nomadic warrior tribes, the Huns. Living in the forests and meadows of their lands for millennia, in unity with nature, the Chuvash people were engaged in agriculture and animal husbandry. The Chuvash have rituals and festivities that revolve around the cycles of planting, harvesting, and seasonal changes. These rituals and festivities serve to reaffirm their spiritual relationship with nature.

The Chuvash people also grew medicinal herbs and plants to treat various diseases. While medicinal plants are used in healing practices all over the world, historically, they have always played an important role in ethnic communities. Liz’s Chuvash grandfather had an extensive knowledge of plants and made his own herbal medicine.

Indigenous and ethnic communities all across the world have been impacted by technological advancement and urbanization. These days, the Chuvash people are moving from villages to cities to find better education and jobs. Unfortunately, this comes with the loss of their cultural identity and their relationship with nature. Liz believes that her ancestors’ connection with nature was precious and profound, so it’s really no surprise that plants became a subject matter of her paintings. Botanical art celebrates unity with the environment, promoting a sense of balance and connection. Plants may not seem that important to us in our everyday lives but the reality is that all the living organisms need plants in order to survive.