It all started with finger-paints in preschool. El Dorado resident Thaleia Georgiades began painting and exploring different kinds of art at an early age.

She grew up on a farm in Pennsylvania and then moved to Greece for a few years when she was a teenager. The experience of both living on a farm and traveling in foreign lands opened her eyes to new things, and she became especially fascinated with geology and architecture.

Georgiades earned her bachelor of science degree in art and education at Edinboro University in Pennsylvania. Afterwards, she taught various art forms, ranging from leather crafting to plexiglass sculpture for every age group. After many years of teaching, Georgiades decided to venture into commercial art for magazines and advertising. She moved to Reno in the ‘70s and soon discovered she could earn more by selling real estate; Georgiades earned her license to start a new career at that point.

For the last 30 years she has been living in El Dorado, and although she didn’t create much art until she moved to the Golden State, she says, “In the last few decades I have concentrated my artistic efforts on painting.” And it seems perfectly fitting that she chooses landscape painting as her focus and passion, since outside of the studio – Georgiades loves hiking, fishing, camping and gardening. She says that she can do what she loves while “creating” at the same time. Her favorite place in the world to do so is the Eastern Sierra. “It’s great to go exploring the mountains and be able to plop down, observe nature and try to create an image,” she shares.

Painting landscapes are number one on her list, but she also enjoys creating large close-up paintings of interesting objects and lighting effects using pastels. Although they might not be lighter to carry, the colors are luscious and can be made to look like anything from oil painting to finely detailed drawing. “I suppose creativity always came to me naturally,” Georgiades says. Coming from a long line of artists, her mother and aunt encouraged her to be creative by doing art projects together as a family. A couple of her favorite artists include Edgar Payne and Gunnar Widforss.

Georgiades has a large art studio, which she opens to the public each fall. She also hosts other artists offering plein air painting workshops throughout summer and fall. Her work has been in a variety of juried exhibitions all over the country. As well, Georgiades teaches art classes in both the Placerville and Minden/Gardnerville areas.

For more information about Thaleia Georgiades, visit thaleia.com.