Medium: Acrylic Paint

Nina is a Contemporary Canadian Artist who left her eighteen-year career as a professional engineer to pursue her true passion to create. Using her Canadian Rockies “backyard” as her main inspiration, Nina paints abstract landscapes and figurative subjects in bold color palettes with crisp, graphic shapes. ‍

Instagram: @ninaruiter

When did your interest in art begin vs. when you began thinking of it as a career/life choice?

I’ve always had an interest in art. In my formative years I would sketch portraits of 90s supermodels and of my friends. I had the choice to go to art and fashion college after high school, but ultimately decided the more ”practical” route was to pursue a degree in engineering. Throughout my eighteen-year career as a professional engineer, I was supremely unsatisfied with the work I was doing and rediscovered my love for art during the recent pandemic. The feedback to the paintings I was creating was very positive and I realized that it could be a viable option for a change in career. I left my engineering career behind two years ago and haven’t looked back!

What draws you to your particular subject matter?  

Lines!! For my original work, be it a landscape or figurative, it has to have clean, graphic, and impactful lines. For my commission work, most cases I’m given a photograph to use as inspiration. I quite enjoy the challenge of translating those images to lines that compliment my style of painting.  

What interest of yours (outside of art) ends up influencing your practice the most?

Definitely interior design, architecture, and fashion. Those influences share the same aspects that are reflective of my paintings: Composition, balance, and interesting color palettes.

What is one piece of advice you wish you could give your younger self?  

Be more adventurous and trust your gut. Do the things that make you happy, not what you think will make others happy.

What would you say is your biggest goal for this year?  

My biggest goal is to expand my audience and perhaps find the right representation that could help me do so.

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