Oksana Stevens

Originally from Latvia, I spent more than ten years living in Belgium, where I studied at Mechelen Art Academy. In 2024, I moved to Sydney — and suddenly found myself surrounded by an entirely new landscape to paint: brilliant Australian light, ocean, beaches, headlands and bushland.I have been painting en plein air for more than six years, and painting outdoors has become an essential part of my life as an artist. For me, it is not simply about taking an easel outside. Plein air is where you really learn to see.My painting approach is strongly influenced by Impressionism, particularly the Russian Impressionist tradition, with its beautiful use of colour, expressive brushwork and ability to create a sense of light and vibration. Rather than trying to copy every detail of a landscape, I am interested in finding the important relationships — light and shadow, warm and cool colour, large shapes and subtle colour shifts — that make a scene feel alive.Painting outdoors is a wonderful training ground for this. The light moves, colours change and there is always far more information in front of you than you could possibly paint. You have to make choices: What is important? What can I simplify? Where is the light? What colours will create the feeling of this particular moment?Since moving to Australia, my work has received a number of awards, including Best in Show at Ku-ring-gai Art Society and First Place at Northern Beaches Art Society in 2024; Second Place at Ku-ring-gai and Highly Commended at NBAS in 2025; and Highly Commended at Capital Plein Air and Second Place in the Oil Category at Ku-ring-gai in 2026.Through my plein air classes, I share the approach I use in my own painting — simplifying a complicated landscape, finding a strong composition, understanding value and the colour of light, and using colour relationships to create atmosphere and vibrancy.Most importantly, I want people to experience the pleasure of painting directly from life. You don't need to paint everything you see. You learn to choose, simplify and respond — and, over time, you begin to see the landscape with completely different eyes.