Olessia Maximenko, 44, from Komsomolsk, Khabarovskiy Kray, Russia, goes through her things in the restored mill on her property near her home in Washington, Georgia, on Saturday, March 16, 2024. The mill doubles as her art studio where she keeps old paintings, works on current pieces and keeps old items found on her property. (Photo/Liz Rymarev)
Olessia Maximenko, 44, from Komsomolsk, Khabarovskiy Kray, Russia, gets more paint as she works on a piece in her studio on her property in Washington, Georgia, on Saturday, March 16, 2024. Maximenko is an artist who was born in Russia and lived in South Korea before coming to the United States and moving to Washington, Georgia. (Photo/Liz Rymarev)
Olessia Maximenko, 44, from Komsomolsk, Khabarovskiy Kray, Russia, wears heels while painting a piece in her studio on her property in Washington, Georgia, on Sunday, March 17, 2024. Her work is inspired by nature and what she photographs, as well as what she thinks people want to buy. To her, painting is relaxation and magic. (Photo/Liz Rymarev)
Olesia Maximenko, 44, from Komsomolsk, Khabarovskiy Kray, Russia, paints in her studio on her property in Washington, Georgia, on Saturday, March 16, 2024. Maximenko's studio is an old grain and feed mill that was built in the 1920s, and there are four silos on her property. (Photo/Liz Rymarev)
Olessia Maximenko, 44, from Komsomolsk, Khabarovskiy Kray, Russia, and Rob Parker, 42, from Potstown, Pennsylvania, pose for a portrait on their property in Washington, Georgia, on Sunday, March 17, 2024. Maximenko and Parker have been married for 11 years and moved to Washington in 2014. Their house and old mill have been featured in home tours and hold a lot of Washington, Georgia history. (Photo/Liz Rymarev)
Olessia Maximenko, 44, from Komsomolsk, Khabarovskiy Kray, Russia, shows her son, Robbie Parker, 10, from Washington, Georgia, photos from her youth in Russia in their home in Washington, Georgia, on Friday, March 15, 2024. Maximenko tries to parent Parker the way she was raised, the "Russian way", according to her. Her oldest, Robbie Parker, knows the most Russian, but only basic phrases and words. (Photo/Liz Rymarev)
In Olessia Maximenko's sketchbook, her sons' drawings fill the blank pages and it sits on their kitchen table in their home in Washington, Georgia, on Saturday, March 16, 2024. The sketch on the right is done by Maximenko and is a 12-year-old child bride from a documentary on the Nanai tribe in the Bel'go village on the Armur River that forms the natural border between Northeast China and Eastern Russia. She visited the village with her brother, Alex Maximenko, but the village changed since watching the documentary, and in 2018, she was inspired to sketch a couple drawings on the village and its people. (Photo/Liz Rymarev)
Olessia Maximenko and the rest of the Parker family hold hands and sing a gratitude song before their meal in their home in Washington, Georgia, on Friday, March 15, 2024. Maximenko prepared borscht, a traditional Ukrainian-Russian dish that includes beet root, potato, meat and cabbage and is topped with sour cream. Maximenko's mother-in-law, Christy Parker (left), 74, from Wolfeboro, New Hampshire, also lives in Washington and frequently joins them for dinner. (Photo/Liz Rymarev)
Olessia Maximenko, 44, from Komsomolsk, Khabarovskiy Kray, Russia, laughs as she opens a bottle of beer with her mother-in-law, Christy Parker, 74, from Wolfeboro, New Hampshire, in her kitchen in Washington, Georgia, on Friday, March 15, 2024. Maximenko's parents both died from unknown pnemonia in Russia in 2020 and is very close to her mother-in-law. (Photo/Liz Rymarev)
Olessia Maximenko, 44, from Komsomolsk, Khabarovskiy Kray, Russia, opens the barn door to the restored grain and feed mill that is now her art studio in Washington, Georgia, on Friday, March 15, 2024. Maximenko and her husband bought their house and the old mill property in 2014, and they continue to renovate parts of it, while keeping its history alive. (Photo/Liz Rymarev)
Olessia Maximenko, 44, from Komsomolsk, Khabarovskiy Kray, Russia, paints her neighbor's house in her art studio in Washington, Georgia, on Saturday, March 16, 2024. Maximenko first takes photos of things she wants to paint, then does a first layer of vibrant, bright paint on canvas that peeks through the top two or three layers. She starts super bright, then tones down the color with the top layers, usually with white. (Photo/Liz Rymarev)
Olessia Maximenko, 44, from Komsomolsk, Khabarovskiy Kray, Russia, leans back to look at her art in her studio in Washington, Georgia, on Saturday, March 16, 2024. Maximenko has been painting since she was a girl and found it to be an escape from how cold and gray life could be in Russia. (Photo/Liz Rymarev)
Olessia Maximenko, 44, from Komsomolsk, Khabarovskiy Kray, Russia, poses for a portrait on her property in Washington, Georgia, on Saturday, March 16, 2024. Maximenko sells fine art pieces centered around what she photographs in Wilkes County, her perceptions of the South and experiences from her childhood and recent travels in Russia. She believes that art and kindness can heal the world. (Photo/Liz Rymarev)
