Late 20th century oil on board still life painting by Olga Plam, depicting a bouquet of orange and yellow flowers in a blue vase. Signed, lower right. Gilt wood and composite frame with foliate trimmed bevel and acanthus leaf and lily border. Born in Russia in the late '30s, Plam used to paint and draw as a child at the urging of her mother. But after she graduated from the Stroganoff School of Art in Moscow , she pursued a career in graphic design, before returning to the school as an associate professor. When she immigrated to the United States in 1976, she fell back into graphic design to put food on the table. For a long time, she couldn't afford thoughts of painting. It wasn't until 1992, through a stroke of luck and a secure pocketbook that Plam started to paint once more. The catalyst was Bob Venosa, an artist who worked in "fantastic realism." "At that time, I had the fear of a pristine, white, clean canvas," she admits. "It was frightening to put the first paint on it. Bob, very gently, took me back into painting." Not long after, she met David A. Leffel, a master of still life and portraiture. She brushed up on her skills under his tutelage, perfecting the realist style which infuses her work today. In the 10 years since she's started painting again, Plam has won numerous awards for her work and has joined the Oil Painters of America and American Women Artists Association, organizations concerned with excellence in representational art. Dimensions: 28.75" x 2" x 25" (Width x Depth x Height)