Surreal life path
Mariya Myronova is a surrealist artist based in Cambridge, UK, with Ukrainian heritage rooted in Berdyansk, a small seaside town on the shores of the Azov Sea. Her artistic journey began long before formal education—before she could speak, she was already drawing. With two busy parents, she found creative outlets wherever she could: on her father’s toenails under the table, on school desks, and nearly every surface within reach. It wasn’t rebellion—it was instinct.
She went on to attend art school for four years, followed by an additional year of focused artistic study and regular lessons at a local artist’s studio. Despite her early talent, life took a detour. Instead of continuing in art, she was sent to university to study languages. There, her fascination with meaning took on a new form. In her final year, she won a national award for her exploration of the etymology of ethical concepts such as “good, ” “evil, ” and “happiness”—early proof that her surrealist lens was already developing, even through language.
While working on a PhD in linguistics in Kyiv, Mariya’s doodling habits turned into something more. Her drawings helped her land a job in graphic design—despite having no formal computer training at the time. Visual thinking became her greatest asset. After 20 years in creative industry in Ukraine and UK, the constraints of sticking to commercial briefs—and the pause brought by COVID—pushed her to make the decision to pursue life as a full-time artist.
Today, Mariya paints in the language she was born to speak: surrealism. Her work is a visual algorithm—an attempt to decode the complexity of modern life, society, and the human mind. She continues to ask the same questions she did as a student, but now she answers them through oil, metaphor, and symbol.
Parallel universe
Alongside her active work as a painter and exhibiting artist, Myronova also runs a teaching studio in Cambridge, where she currently leads four groups of students across different age ranges. She shares her creative energy and deep knowledge of art history, offering her students exposure to a wide variety of styles, techniques, and media.
Her classes focus on developing imagination, visual literacy, and critical thinking through exploration of great artworks, hands-on experimentation, and sketching both outdoors and in museums. She is attentive and encouraging—helping her students take their ideas further and guiding them in developing serious, meaningful work. She gives them tools for life: how to trust their intuition, train their eye, and draw from the best examples in art history.
You ask — Mariya answers

What is your favourite medium?
I enjoy working with many mediums and choose them intuitively, depending on my mood and intention.
- Oil pastels — to capture moments of family life.
- Watercolour — for meditative, gentle expression.
- Oil — for deep, reflective “thinking” paintings.
- Soft pastels — as a form of touch therapy.
- Acrylic — for bold colour experiments.
- Collage — for intuitive exploration and visual analysis.
Each medium has its own emotional purpose in my practice.
Why surrealism?
It helps me to answer complex life questions.
Where can I buy your works?
Limited edition signed prints of my surrealist art will be available online.
Original and experimental works can be purchased during open studio events, art fairs, or exhibitions.
Can I order a commission?
I don’t normally take commissions, but if I connect with the theme and it aligns with my style, I’m open to considering it.
How long does it take to finish the painting?
I paint one idea in my mind first. That stage can take weeks—or even years. Once the concept feels complete in my head, the physical painting process is usually fast: anywhere from a couple of weeks to a month.