٠٠:٠٣:١٧Russian artist Olga Belka specialises in a very unique medium - water - by donning her scuba gear and painting marine life up close and personal as seen in footage from West Papua on Wednesday.
"What I really love the most is that sometimes sea creatures come to watch me and this is so cute because I have a few paintings where an octopus was watching me all that time and watching and controlling me, what I was doing," she claimed.
Footage shows her in her scuba equipment, painting on a canvas on the bottom of the sea bed.
"The most important, you know what? Nobody calls you, nobody disturbs you. So I really love it, it's so peaceful to paint under the water, but sometimes fish or sea turtles or other sea creatures come to watch me and I really love it," she added.
Belka has developed her own techniques allowing her to paint in salt water, and completes a number of three-hour dives for each masterpiece.
"When I tried scuba diving I was so impressed. It was awesome and then I became a professional scuba diver and then it was just an easy idea to combine my two professions and two passions in one," she said.
She also has special safety certificates, signed off by marine biologists, so everything is '100 percent eco-friendly'. The artist explained that her paintings were available for charity auctions for marine conservation projects, and her own sales provided funds to help with coral reef clean-ups.
Are those watercolours?! Russian artist dons scuba gear to create deep sea paintings among the marine life
Russian artist Olga Belka specialises in a very unique medium - water - by donning her scuba gear and painting marine life up close and personal as seen in footage from West Papua on Wednesday.
"What I really love the most is that sometimes sea creatures come to watch me and this is so cute because I have a few paintings where an octopus was watching me all that time and watching and controlling me, what I was doing," she claimed.
Footage shows her in her scuba equipment, painting on a canvas on the bottom of the sea bed.
"The most important, you know what? Nobody calls you, nobody disturbs you. So I really love it, it's so peaceful to paint under the water, but sometimes fish or sea turtles or other sea creatures come to watch me and I really love it," she added.
Belka has developed her own techniques allowing her to paint in salt water, and completes a number of three-hour dives for each masterpiece.
"When I tried scuba diving I was so impressed. It was awesome and then I became a professional scuba diver and then it was just an easy idea to combine my two professions and two passions in one," she said.
She also has special safety certificates, signed off by marine biologists, so everything is '100 percent eco-friendly'. The artist explained that her paintings were available for charity auctions for marine conservation projects, and her own sales provided funds to help with coral reef clean-ups.
Russian artist Olga Belka specialises in a very unique medium - water - by donning her scuba gear and painting marine life up close and personal as seen in footage from West Papua on Wednesday.
"What I really love the most is that sometimes sea creatures come to watch me and this is so cute because I have a few paintings where an octopus was watching me all that time and watching and controlling me, what I was doing," she claimed.
Footage shows her in her scuba equipment, painting on a canvas on the bottom of the sea bed.
"The most important, you know what? Nobody calls you, nobody disturbs you. So I really love it, it's so peaceful to paint under the water, but sometimes fish or sea turtles or other sea creatures come to watch me and I really love it," she added.
Belka has developed her own techniques allowing her to paint in salt water, and completes a number of three-hour dives for each masterpiece.
"When I tried scuba diving I was so impressed. It was awesome and then I became a professional scuba diver and then it was just an easy idea to combine my two professions and two passions in one," she said.
She also has special safety certificates, signed off by marine biologists, so everything is '100 percent eco-friendly'. The artist explained that her paintings were available for charity auctions for marine conservation projects, and her own sales provided funds to help with coral reef clean-ups.