Lena Karpinsky’s paintings have taken over her house. Colours pop out from the upstairs hallway, petals peek out from the basement, and painted sunflowers dance from the walls. But the paintings that best represent her life are the ones filled with instruments.

“My whole life was spent around music,” Karpinsky said in Russian. “I always had a relationship with [it.] My grandfather was a professor of the Moscow Conservatory of Music. My childhood was spent [playing] under the grand piano,” she said.

Karpinsky, a Russian-born artist who sells her paintings through eBay, transformed her love of music into a love of painting. Cellos, saxophones and pianos appear throughout her art, with string instruments dominating the canvases.

“String instruments have a lot of beautiful colours and shapes,” she said.

While Karpinsky no longer plays an instrument, her grandfather’s talents have been inherited by her son, Eli.

At the age of three, while living in Israel, Eli stumbled upon a keyboard belonging to his father, who enjoys playing but is not a professional musician. By nine, Eli was asked to perform at the Moscow Conservatory of Music. Now 12 years old, he is studying with a Julliard teacher once a month in New York. He has also won several competitions, including a third place in the Canadian Music Competition.

“I used to come up to [the keyboard] and play some notes,” he said of his first experience with the piano. “At some point, my dad played three notes and I played the exact notes back.”

As Eli got older, it became obvious that he had a natural talent for music.

“When I first play a piece, I can just feel what the music’s supposed to sound like,” he said. “I have a musical family. I think that’s where I got my talents from.”

Her son began taking lessons in Toronto, and Karpinsky started painting.

“I painted in Russia, but my serious work was in Canada. When I came here, I saw all the beauty of Canada. It made me want to paint,” she said.

It was her husband’s idea to sell the paintings.

“He brought some friends over, they saw [the paintings] and thought they were really interesting. Then my husband thought of selling them on eBay,” she said.

It took five years for her paintings to take off, but Karpinsky is now a recognized online artist who can paint some two to three pieces a day.

Like her work,  Karpinsky’s studio is an explosion of colours.

Bright reds burst from the walls, soft blues hide behind flecks of yellow, and splashes of orange jump out from the paintings that line her floor.

“It seems to me that the colours [I use] are very warm. It’s nice to put that up on your wall. It’s pleasant,” she said.

“[When I start to paint], I look at the blank canvas and I think about what I want to see on it. I paint the colours first, and then the forms and shapes.”

When painting, Karpinsky needs to be in a certain mood.

“I don’t paint when I’m angry or upset,” she said. “To paint, you need to give yourself up. If you think of something bad, it’s reflected in the painting.”

Often, when Karpinsky paints, Eli is upstairs playing the piano.

“It helps me when my son is playing. When I hear music, it’s easier to work.”

Both Karpinsky and her son enjoy Chopin’s music.

“I enjoy playing practically everything of Chopin,” Eli said. “I really like him because Chopin has a lot of pedal. It’s smooth and romantic.”

While Eli likes the piano, he doesn’t necessarily like practising.

“I usually practise two to 21/2 hours a day,” he said. “It gets boring, you have to repeat the same thing over and over again.”

As an incentive, Eli’s parents pay him $10 for every time he plays in front of a new audience. So far, he has earned $30.

“He doesn’t like to work, he’s a kid,” Karpinsky said of her son. “But he loves playing new pieces. [Music] is part of his life.”

When not practising, Eli spends his time playing computer games, watching TV or painting.

“I don’t have any talent [for painting], but sometimes my mom lets me and a friend paint,” he said. “I paint stuff that comes to mind, like snow or space.”

Although Eli and his mom excel in different disciplines, Karpinsky insists that their talents are connected.

“I think that painting and music are very close things. When you hear music, you feel good, and when you look at paintings, it makes you feel good. It’s about emotions,” she said.