However, I always dreamed of becoming a portraitist and to take classes in this special branch of the painting art.
Due to an illness that didn't leave much opportunity to go out working full time, I could realise this dream and I could take courses at the Academy for Plastic arts of Leuven. I started in 1995 and I obtained my degree 7 years later in specialisation in model painting.
The emotions and the inner feelings of humans are expressed through the face. This explains why I'm so interested in portraitism. A lot of my spare time is dedicated to portraying people on canvas or ... on paper, since photography is also a passion of mine.
Lieve Glorie
"It's in human nature to be willing to achieve someting in life. We want to give sense to this life by doing things on a higher level, away from triviality. There are many ways for achieving this goal. For Marina it is through the art of painting, surely not the easiest way to come to sublimation. However, her passion makes her conquer all the obstacles she could meet en her way, which passes along the rift of despair. Few achieve the goal. Therefore working and working is her motto.
In the beginning Marina painted strongly moved canvases with a lyric stroke of the brush in which the still is very important. These canvases make us think of Spilliaert or Morandi. However, in all her work we can discover Marina herself, her exuberance, her zest for life so intense, yet covering a deep seriousness.
Portraying people is probably the most difficult branch of the art of painting, but it is what Marina does best. Oscar Wild's quotation "Every portrait that is painted with feeling is a portrait of the artist, not of the sitter" is certainly valid for her. When painting a portrait, Marina spares no pains. Especially the portraits of her daughter, son and husband are painted with a lot of feeling, however without falling in the trap of cheap sentimentality. Impressive is the recently painted portrait of her grandmother. This is just sublime, a very magnificent approach of "her granny". One can just feel the intense bond between the painter and the model. Here a loving glance is exchanged. Looking at this portrait is fascinating and it's right here that one fully realizes Marina's talent."
Rudy Samyn
