Find Paintings, Candles & More Crafts From This Russian Expat

Here at the Beijinger, we try to bring you diverse stories about what’s going on in this city that we love. Useful tips, fun local facts, updates, exciting events – if we hear about it, chances are we are going to share it all with you, dear reader. Personally, I love a good inspirational story, and luckily I never run out of those in Beijing. This city is teeming with all sorts of individuals who make things happen for themselves and explore their creativity and passions in a series of unexpected ways. 

Being a creative myself, I know it is so crucial to be surrounded by like-minded folks. Their journeys inspire me, and their practice reminds me that there is space in our daily lives to chase our dreams and passions. Your path may not be linear, and, truth be told, success may not come easily to you. Your creative journey may not look anything like you’d envisioned. But it will be your own, every step along the way. There’s plenty of personal development and fulfillment to find in the process, too. 

Today we will be talking with one such inspiring individual: Maria Efremochkina. Often preferring to just go by Masha or Mary, she is a Russian teacher living in Beijing with her husband and their darling sphinx cat, Coco. Funnily enough, I met Mary through social media, and that’s how I stay updated nowadays about her gorgeous, intentional creative journey. Though she’s as busy as any of us in the city, Mary does not rush about her art, whatever her medium du jour may be (more on that later!). Instead, she’s cultivated her own practice through effort, attention to detail and a heart that seems always open to beauty. It’s about high time that you all get to know her!

Hi, Mary! Give us a primer to your life here in Beijing. 
Privet, everyone! I’m thrilled to have the chance to talk about my projects – it’s a real pleasure and flatters my inner artist. Thanks for this opportunity!

To give you a better sense of who I am, I need to start with my origins. My name is Masha, and I’m from a small working-class town called Bolshiye Vyazemy. It’s a tiny but historically rich village about 40km from Moscow [that's] steeped in cultural heritage. From early on, I was surrounded by the works of Pushkin, Chekhov, Gogol, as well as timeless folklore and stories of long-gone princes and tsars that colored my then-small world. I drew inspiration from the same apple orchards and wildflower meadows that once moved Andrei Tarkovsky, one of my favorite Soviet film directors. So, in a way, I never really had a choice. I was bound to discover art and fall in love with it. It’s in my hometown, too, that I attended some children’s art programs that gave me a strong foundation for my creative journey.

In 2015, having graduated from my studies in foreign languages, I moved to Beijing to continue my education with a scholarship at Beijing Jiaotong University. Here, I pivoted to foreign language teaching, and I continued to put my creativity to good use. My students get to engage with language in a unique, immersive way. If we have a lesson on nature, for instance, I’ll have them learn how to extract and create their own pigments for painting. By doing this, I was also nurturing their already existing interests in art. This is how my creative urges operate, and I’ve long learned to embrace them in my daily life.  

Currently, I work independently and teach online. During my most creative seasons, I host workshops in the city, and I occasionally participate in local markets. I even collaborate with local artists. Just recently, I started developing a micro-brand inspired by folk and traditional motifs, continuing to share what I love and cherish. I feel there’s plenty of potential there, too. Balancing these two different paths is incredibly challenging, but thankfully I am surrounded by a wonderful support network.

Your gorgeous, hand-painted view of a Taikoo Li tree on a winter night was the first original I ever bought. When I moved into my new space, it was also one of the first pieces to go on the wall. But I’m actually not sure that painting was your first creative outlet. 
Oh, I’m so flattered! Your kind words have truly motivated me to keep painting those trees. I’ll have to remember this moment and replay it whenever I hit a creative block, haha. You’re right, though. This wasn’t the first piece I’d sold, but it was the first one that did so rather quickly. I posted it and you were there immediately, texting me. Such a sweet memory! 

My choice to work in a small format isn’t random at all. You see, many of us live in rented spaces and have to deal periodically with the nightmare of packing and moving to a new lease. So it makes sense to come up with small, easily portable works of art. And though I’m space-conscious, my main motifs and subjects of interest remain there: trees, forests, branches, leaves, and the way light creates its own play of sorts against this inspirational backdrop.

Nature was all around me in my earliest childhood, and I really want to bring these memories out here and there. Beijing is certainly in no shortage of green for a city so huge, but sometimes I do feel homesick for the tiny quarters where I grew up. So, my art is an outlet of sorts for me to long for those things but also make something out of that longing. If I have to be honest, I feel the most productive when I find myself in that slightly blue, melancholic mindset that often tickles my memories. 

If I remember correctly, you also do floral arrangements for your church – though I think nowadays you also offer your know-how to the public. I am such a newbie when it comes to flower arrangements. Please tell us more about this side of your creative practice!
Yes, indeed! I’ve been arranging florals for my church for quite some time, and now I’ve started offering my services more widely whenever needed. Flower arranging is such a calming and meditative process for me, because it involves quite a bit of color and texture blending, just like in my paintings. I will acknowledge that big floral projects do get me out of my zen mode, though!  With safety, timing and budget as my three top priorities, I tend to get quite bossy and strict. If I get a delivery of wilted flowers, or if they start dying on me just a couple hours after I got them, that’s no bueno.

Also, sometimes I’ll spot kids or even adults trying to eat or pull apart the arrangements. That’s when I pull out my exorcist’s phone number, haha. Just kidding! Kinda. But yeah, in those moments you really do need to think ahead and always have a backup plan. It’s a bit like a game of chess. 

Luckily, I’m not alone in this. Though it takes quite a lot of explaining and training, I do have assistants that I’ll call to lend me a hand. That’s also why my floral workshops are few and far between; they take a lot of energy.  That being said, I feel like it’s time to grow and put myself out there more! It’s been years doing this all, and I still always feel like there’s something new for me to learn, particularly when working with a series of venues to put together an event. It’s one of those art forms that truly brings people joy, and I love being part of that!

And then there are also the candles! I’ve been burning mine so that I can finally justify getting a set of yours. I always marvel at your designs and was so sad to miss out on that workshop you once offered. Any chance you will be hosting another one soon?
Ah, the candles! This was an endeavor that came to life just a year ago now. I’m not one to take credit for others’ ideas, so I’ll be honest—my initial spark of inspiration came from the lovely work of another artist that I saw on Pinterest. We both work with acrylics among other mediums, and when I saw her putting them to work on candle décor, I thought I could give it a go, too. 

I put a lot of love into my designs, so they’re quite meaningful to me. Recently, candle painting has become very popular, but let me tell you: It’s not as easy as it looks. Sometimes, it takes up to four or five hours to finish just one candle. 

Candles carry a message of simplicity and familiarity to everyone, I believe. At their core, they serve as a source of light and a bit of warmth. So, I wanted that source of light to look beautiful, to become a part of the décor, set the mood, and visually warm the space. Lighting a candle is all about slowing down and stepping away from distractions – it demands your attention so nothing catches fire nearby. When I’m at our family’s holiday house in Russia, we always have dinner by the candlelight in the garden. It’s such a therapeutic way to unwind.

I plan to keep hand-painted candles as a seasonal drop item for my brand, though I’m still searching for that perfect style. People often ask, “How can you even burn them? They’re so beautiful!” And I reply to them that they shouldn’t hesitate to do so. Please enjoy them! They’re not to be saved and never used! 

As for workshops, I’ve hosted several of them already and have noticed that the usual feedback seems to suggest that this is actually quite a challenging activity that requires a lot of patience. Beginners may need up to two and a half hours to finish one candle with a very simple pattern. At one of the workshops I held at home, we finished two of the Bridget Jones films while painting. I’m still not sure what kept everyone going — the acrylics or young Hugh Grant! 

Speaking about workshops, I’ve been thinking it’s time to start offering more. Stay tuned — I might just have something in the works very soon in November!

As someone who also goes for different mediums and ways to channel her artistic interests, I do want to learn more about your own. What is it that gets your mind going? What makes you want to create art? 
I love that you explore different mediums, too! However, I usually paint with gouache. It is opaque, thus providing a solid, vibrant layer of color. It’s affordable and mess-free!

For me, inspiration often comes from nature and my childhood, as I mentioned before. There’s something about capturing those fleeting moments that just gets my mind going. I’m also driven by the emotional connection art can create, whether it’s through a painting, a floral arrangement, or a candle. The idea that something I make can evoke a feeling, spark a memory, or simply bring beauty into someone’s space is what really makes me want to create. I feel like I want to tell you a story, and so I do just that. That’s why I’m so curious about expanding my creative range. How else can I convey my story and perhaps even the stories of the people around me? This curiosity pushes me to experiment and explore new possibilities.

It would be nice if we could devote our lives to creation. But alas, that’s often not the reality for most of us. How do you juggle life with pursuing more of what makes you happy?
Is it working for me? I feel like it’s not, honestly, hahaha. At this stage in my creative journey, I just try to do what I can now, without putting it off for later. I make myself create without aiming for perfection – and that’s the hardest part for me, and probably for most of us. Sometimes, you get this image in your head of how the result should look, and you convince yourself that everyone expects it to turn out that way. But that’s the biggest misconception. No one, including yourself, knows what the outcome will be until you’ve seen it through from start to finish. Maybe you’ll have to do it several times, or even dozens of times.
It’s not so much about time or financial security — it’s about the willingness to face, accept, and tame your ego through the gritty reality of the creative process. Finding joy and learning to appreciate that part of the journey is the real turning point (talk about a mindful pivot, haha) in creative self-fulfillment.

Did you have any formal art training? If you didn’t, do you see some of that in your future now? And what’s your advice for fellow self-taught artists?
I guess you could say that the art school program I completed was my formal art training. After that, I’ve been regularly self-taught, delving into art history, traditional painting techniques, digital, exploring AI ... I am a massive fan of AI, by the way. I find it to be a unique tool; we just need to know how to work with it.

But yeah, I practice, I quit, I pick it up again. Rinse and repeat. What advice can I give? Three things come to mind: First, learn the basics of drawing. There’s no need to reinvent the wheel here. Find an online or offline course that fits your budget and just go through it. It can be boring, but it’s essential for understanding volume and composition. Just save your time!

Secondly, develop your visual experience, because I hate to break it to you, but it is no supernatural gift. It’s not just about beauty, but about efficiency. Just save your time, really! Thirdly, go for boldness and audacity. If you don’t like those words, call it curiosity, though that doesn’t quite capture what I mean. I often lack boldness and doubt myself constantly, but I overcome that every time. Audacity helps you push boundaries, explore new things, be persistent, and pursue your goals. It doesn’t always have negative consequences. If you want creative growth, you have to be audacious. It will save your time, haha! Have I stressed that enough? Time is golden, no?

Last but not least! How can people get in touch with you?
You can connect with me on Instagram @maryinbeijing, where I always repost updates from my other pages, so you can decide whether you want to follow my teaching content or creative projects. On WeChat, you can find me under the nickname andotherflowers.

If you see me on the street, feel free to come up and say hi, even if I’m not smiling – my serious face is just a special trait from the cultural environment I grew up in, but I am a good egg, haha!

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Images: courtesy of Maria Efremochkina