"When I first saw Ina's art I knew I had to buy a print, when I hung up the print, I needed an original! I love living in the Pacific Northwest and Ina's work perfectly represents it! Bravo!"

- Kade H.

Pacific Northwest series

Creative process

Although most of my exhibition pieces are produced in the studio, the inspiration gathering often happens on-site, through an iterative process.In order to preserve the fresh feelings of the subject, and to find an interesting composition, I do live sketching or small paintings on location and then develop them further in the studio.Although it doesn’t take more than 3 hours to paint each piece, due to the unpredictable nature of the watercolor medium, multiple paintings are created before the desired result is achieved – a painting with a highly distilled subject, sophisticated color palette and seemingly careless brush marks.

Outside of the studio setting, I also enjoy painting on-site and some of my best work are done ‘en plein air’. There is nothing like being there in person that enables the artist to convey the exact mood and the essence of their subject. I paint to observe our humble existence in nature and in history. My work is simply a medium for that observation.

"Ina is an extremely talented watercolor artist and captured San Francisco beautifully, just like I remember it as a local. Her original paintings are just breathtaking in real life, with beautiful colors, lights, shadows, and perspectives."

- Chloe F.

Travel series

Sometimes I paint imaginary scenes when I’m feeling nostalgia about a place. My process involves looking through old photos from that place and ‘mashing them up’ to create the composition. I then draw from years of experience painting all types of weather, seasons and atmosphere, to build the right mood for the scene.

The painting "Getting street food", for example, is an imaginary scene based on my memory of a familiar street corner from my childhood. The mood was captured after trying out different color pallete through study pieces, with the forms and figures based on various reference photos and some from imagination as well.

See my work in-person at Barlow Gallery, Tacoma

Currently on exhibit at Barlow Gallery are my Venice series and Pacific Northwest paintings. Located at downtown Tacoma, Washington, Barlow offers rotating exhibitions of local and international artists' work, and high quality reproduction on-demand through their immersive online exhibition.

See hours and parking

Thank you for visiting my virtual gallery. I hope you enjoyed the exhibition or are feeling inspired to create something for yourself!