Pohutukawa Blooming Tree

Concept

"Olga Nikitina is a Russian painter was born in Ukraine, involved in the growing field of underwater painting. Olga creates artworks underwater during scuba diving. After moving to Egypt and working as a scuba diver instructor in the Red Sea, Nikitina fell in love with the vibrant corals and marine life in contrast to the surrounding desert landscape. Totally immersed in the marine environment, Nikitina paints using a special canvas cover and non toxic oil paints, thanks to Andre Laban, the original pioneer of the practice and the engineer of Jacques Cousteau’s team. Olga works at different depths below the surface, which affect the color spectrum you can see (as we know with depth we lose colors) and sometimes it is a big surprise on the surface seeing what I have painted below. One session takes anything from 30 minutes up to 2 hours – depending on air and decompression limits - and an assistant is necessary to help with equipment.
Olga hopes that her work will inspire others to appreciate these treasures, spread awareness about the changes to our ocean ecosystems, and protect them for future generations to come."