Mariia Raskin Blends Collage, Lace, and Nature in Vibrant Mixed-Media Works

Mariia Raskin, a full-time artist since 2019, creates colorful textural collages inspired by nature, textiles, and the cosmos. Based in Northern Cyprus, Turkey, she earned a Master's degree in Fashion Design with honors from Textile University. Her semi-abstract botanical series 'Jungle' explores imaginary plants and emotional states through color. Raskin uses a unique technique: transferring diluted oil paint patterns across water to create organic marbling on textured paper, which she incorporates as backgrounds and collage elements. She also hand-crochets lace with unique structural patterns for each painting, stabilizing and cutting elements to embed in her works. Lace symbolizes warmth, tradition, and generational connection, evoking memories of her grandmother. Currently, she is working on a triptych incorporating natural fabrics alongside lace. Raskin plans to move toward larger-scale works and introduce surfaces made with natural pigments and egg tempera on traditional gesso panels, a technique she studied at the Triphon Iconographic School, where she earned a diploma with honors in icon painting. Her works include pieces like 'Ocean Flower,' 'Alien Flora,' 'Blue Garden,' 'Exotic Splendor,' 'Lace Dreamscape,' 'Venus Gardens,' 'Sunset Oasis,' 'Flaming Blooms,' and 'Calm Tropics.' She invites followers on Instagram, YouTube, and LinkedIn.