The commuter trains that take wearied workers out of Moscow every day can be difficult — a long and slow trip in close quarters with strangers, some of them drinking alcohol or sprawled sleeping across the seats. But a few days a week, riders might get a lift when Oksana comes aboard to soothe them with her violin artistry. Classics, jazz, Russian folk music and children’s songs all flow as she glides her bow across the strings. It’s not just her repertoire that raises the passengers’ spirits, but her instruments themselves. She makes her own violins from kits and decorates them with intricate, colorful paintings of flowers and winding vines.