Marina Kryzhanska
Marina Kzyzhanska is a local Port Lincoln artist who is fascinated with nature. She is best known for her vibrant renditions of birds and flowers, stylised by characteristic precision and detail.
Figure 1. Marina Kryzhanksa at the opening night of the Four Directions 2023 exhibition which she participated in.
When did you start making art and why?
Marina started making art at age 55 after she asked herself, “What will I do when I am retired?”
When Marina is making art, she loses all sense of time and place in the process. She will look up from her page to check her wrist watch, and discover - to her astonishment - that five hours has passed in the blink of an eye.
What are you inspired by?
Marina is attracted to the richness of nature. She loves and feels connected to flowers and birds in particular. She has painted these from the beginning of her art journey, as displayed in her first attempts at Chinese watercolour (see Figures 2 & 3).
Chinese Watercolour Technique
Figure 2. Marina Kryzhanksa, Chinese Watercolour Technique, 2017.
Figure 3. Marina Kryzhanksa, Chinese Watercolour Technique “spontaneous style”, 2019.
Lino Printing
Figure 4. Marina Kryzhanska, Serenity 1, Lino Print, 2022.
How do you choose your references?
Marina says her call to paint or draw a particular image is “unexplainable” and intuitive. She notes that she sometimes sources images of flowers from her friends (see figure if Marina/Dimitry provide). Really, her reference choices depend on the challenge she is seeking. Whether that be in terms of composition, an appealing shape of a bird, the different form of a beak that intrigues her… she notes that the honeyeater is drawing her eye at the moment. Essentially, Marina seeks to explore new avenues of art, which feed her hunger to learn and evolve as an artist.
What materials do you use?
In terms of materials, Marina has dabbled in Chinese watercolour, classic watercolour, inks, lino printing and, most recently as featured in her latest print run, coloured pencil drawings… Marina believes her next endeavour will be pencils and watercolour with black outlines for contour. Watch this space!
Colour Pencil Drawing
Figure 5. Marina Kryzhanska, Macaw and Flower, Colour Pencil, 2024.