Nina Sofia Stén (born 1979 in Varkaus) is a Solitary Nordic Witch and Visual Artist, who lives and works in Varkaus, Finland. In 1999 she moved to Imatra, Finland, where she lived almost 20 years of her life. Nina has studied art at Folk High School in Joutseno (2002-03), South Karelia Vocational College in Imatra (2005-07) and Saimaa Univercity of Applied Sciences in Imatra (2008-12) from where she graduated (2012) as a Visual Artist.
Nina mainly uses watercolours & acrylics in her paintings, but she also likes to experiment with different medias and materials like for example mixed media painting, digital photography, photomanipulation, collage and even painting with unusual materials like bovine blood. Nina is especially interested of paganism, witchcraft, occultism, magic, mysticism, symbolism, history, nature, trees, anatomy, weird & macabre things and also exploring the world of different cultures.
"My inspiration comes from things I find or experience in nature, books, films, music or other peoples artworks or photographs. I might see an inspirational photograph of some person and I'll either paint a portrait of it or I use it in my art some other way. In celebrity portaits Kurt Cobain has been my muse for several years and I never seem to get bored of painting or drawing him. My inspiration can also come from a dream, from certain feeling or pretty much from anywhere. Sometimes the idea changes during the painting process and the result is totally different than the original idea. I absolutely love trees and branches!"
Nina mainly uses watercolours & acrylics in her paintings, but she also likes to experiment with different medias and materials like for example mixed media painting, digital photography, photomanipulation, collage and even painting with unusual materials like bovine blood. Nina is especially interested of paganism, witchcraft, occultism, magic, mysticism, symbolism, history, nature, trees, anatomy, weird & macabre things and also exploring the world of different cultures.
"My inspiration comes from things I find or experience in nature, books, films, music or other peoples artworks or photographs. I might see an inspirational photograph of some person and I'll either paint a portrait of it or I use it in my art some other way. In celebrity portaits Kurt Cobain has been my muse for several years and I never seem to get bored of painting or drawing him. My inspiration can also come from a dream, from certain feeling or pretty much from anywhere. Sometimes the idea changes during the painting process and the result is totally different than the original idea. I absolutely love trees and branches!"