Oil painter Ganna Halvorsen came from Russia — with love and her artistic talent.

You’ll have the chance to interact, view and buy this native Siberian’s works at Breckenridge’s 40th annual Gathering at the Great Divide that runs through Monday, Labor Day.

The art festival opens Saturday at 10 a.m., and continues to 6 p.m, with two more days, Sunday and Monday, to visit with 100-plus artists in the North Main Street parking lot, with free admission and free parking.

“A lot of my paintings are my childhood memories. There was nothing to do in Siberia in winter, so I spent a lot of time indoors getting really good at drawing and painting,” Halvorsen said. “It was my mom’s ‘mission impossible’ to get me to the best Russian art school, Surikov Institute, and she succeeded.”

She explains her work as a painter this way:

“All my paintings are original oil on canvas executed with attention to detail, a swathe of traditional brush strokes textured in thick oil. This style is intended to surprise the viewer and create the feeling of appreciation for the high quality fine art that possesses a unique, but accessible quality. All my artwork comes from imagination, plein-air painting and inspiration from various life experiences.”

Halvorsen chose Los Angeles, California, 14 years ago as her home base and finds appearing at art shows provides personal interaction and feedback on her paintings.

“Although I have nine galleries that represent my portfolio of works nationwide, I travel a lot with my husband and three kids to major fine art festivals because I enjoy learning from public directly and hearing their feedback. I also believe in delivering fine art at accessible pricing and there is no better way of doing it than meeting my collectors in person at art festivals. I do about 10 of them a year and take advantage of spending quality family time while traveling,” Halvorsen said.

“I recently participated in Beaver Creek, Frisco and Golden art shows,” she said. “The powerful nature scenery around these areas were breathtaking, reminded me of my home towns in Altai Mountains so much.”

Centered around the “principle of delicate grace,” Halvorsen’s creations have earned worldwide recognition among international private collectors in the U.S., Australia, United Arab Emirates, Russia, Germany, South Korea, Canada and, of course, Russia. She has created a series of extraordinary hyper-realistic works and studies in land- and seascapes and portraiture that realize detail from an almost molecular perspective.

Her recent clients include Mirror Media Group, Santa Monica; West Central Produce Corporate Offices, Los Angeles, California; FirstBank; Electronic Arts in Playa Vista, as well as numerous private collectors and aficionados including Anthony Hopkins, Edward van Halen and François Pinault.

She has also shown her works back in Russia at many expositions.

For more, see her website: http://www.gannasart.com

The artists on display at the Gathering of the Great Divide include fiber artist Barbara Holloway of New Mexico; Breckenridge photographer Doug Tomlinson; Colorado jeweler Betsy Bracken; Colorado Springs ceramicist Casey Hankin; Florida painter Jan Whitney, who summers at Copper Mountain; Summit High School graduate and metal artist Ben Stielow; sculptor and painter Guilloume from New Mexico; multi-talented Daniel and Barbara Marcus-McKenna of Lyons; mixed media artists Brian Billow and Michele Scrivner of Denver; and painter Blair Hamill.