About

Frame It

A picture of a sheet of music in a wooden frame with a pumpkin and leaves.

Adriana Vukovic

I was born and raised in Croatia. After completing high school I studied business and tourism in Split Croatia. I discovered the love for art early in my childhood through sketching figures, portraits, and landscapes in my notebooks, dreaming of becoming an artist one day. My life took me in a different direction in 1994 when I left Croatia for Sweden to escape the Yugoslavian conflict. After the war was over in 1997, I moved to California where I have resided since.

I studied painting at the Department of Theater and Arts at Saddleback College, specializing in oil media, under the instruction of Vito Leonardo Scarola, an Italian art instructor who encouraged my artistic talents and desire to create very unique pieces of art. At Saddleback I found myself in the distinctive style of contemporary realism. I enjoy painting in this style and sharing my creative works with my customers!

I paint the beauty that I found in the simple society of old Mediterranean villages, towns and Pacific Ocean, the very places where I was born, raised and where I live. My paintings are an escape from our bursting lives to the simple world of the Adriatic Sea and Pacific Ocean, where peace, love, freedom, heat and scent exists.

Artist Statement

I found my life always relating to the sea and ocean! I see the ocean as life giving, fertile, powerful, sensual, changing and mysterious!

Splashing of waters, movements of currents and waves, looks like dance, twirling onto a stage of rocks or over a shore!

It is wild and free and holds energy and endless mystery!

I tried to capture the sparkle in the ocean! The ocean is magical mysterious magical space!

In my art, my brush strokes mimic expressions of water. My paints create currents, splashes and fluidity. I am inspired by water's glimmering interaction with light.

I discovered a unique technique to imitate the effects of water's refractive nature: using rare precious materials such as genuine metallic seashells, dichroic, 24k gold, silver, and using layers of translucent, reflective plexiglass.

The harmony of these elements combined with the dichotomy power and softness reflects my interpretation of the sea in relations to my life!