Doina is a Romanian-American artist established in Chicago. She is a self-taught artist and, as she likes to describe herself, she learned only in her free time and only from her own mistakes. Born in the dark communist period, her artistic beginnings were not encouraged by her parents who urged her to choose something completely different as a profession. After high school and another two years in a college of engineering in Bucharest, Doina chose to drop school and follow her passion. She committed as a painter decorator using a technique almost forgotten today and extremely complicated (Daum Nancy and Galle), some sort of reverse painting on multiple layers of glass. She worked in this field for almost 10 years, while also drawing cartoons and caricatures for a Hungarian company and comic strips for a local newspaper. "I like to meticulously construct metaphors from real or imaginary elements, visual poems that nourish the soul and soothe it. For me, imagination is another face of reality and we have to practice it daily in order to be able to enjoy actually it. I write, on canvas, lyrics for the eyes and the soul, and, in each work, I try to leave a hidden message that can only be deciphered by careful and sincere study. My paintings, whether they are organic or digital or collages, are addressed to those who want to detach themselves from the harsh daily routine and find an oasis of peace or meditation, just by looking at them"-D. ~~https://www.doinaiacob.art/~~