Hello! I am Maria Ernest Fragopoulou. I am inspired by the blue sea and I am a genuine lover of the blue colour. I love painting abstracted feminine portraits, abstract seascapes, and birds. Through painting and photography I create images who express and evoke feelings. In my atelier-shop I offer a variety of artworks such as original fine art on canvas and paper, art prints, art jewellery, art for kids' rooms, hand-painted favors boxes, and hand-painted cards.

Part of my art is devoted to children and to kids’ room décor. Being a mother and reading all these beautifully illustrated books with my children has inspired me. The paintings of my oldest daughter with her unique combination of colors are also incredibly inspiring. I seek this innocence, this freedom, and euphoria coming from the simple completion of a handmade work. But I assume this is not a simple thing at all...

I was born in Athens, Greece in 1975. I have lived in Athens, Rethymnon, and New York, and love to travel. Now, I run my atelier in Rethymnon, where I live with my two daughters (an 11 and a 7 year old) and my husband.

My background and my formal studies have been in the field of art history, specializing in Italian Renaissance decorative arts (M.A. at the Bard Graduate Center in New York). This theoretical background and my work experience in art galleries such as the Zoumboulakis Gallery in Athens, research institutes, art libraries, and art museums including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York have formed my character and style as a person and artist.

I was always a lover of culture and the arts and a creative person. This need for creativity, however, became my daily reality just recently. I now work as an artist full time.

I decided to open my atelier when I realized that the canvases I was painting and offering as gifts to my friends and to my friends’ kids were very much appreciated and cherished. That gave me some sort of comfort that my artwork might have an audience out there. I think that the work I do for children stands out because I avoid over-simplification, and the typical style of artwork created for kids, with the frozen broad smile of happy girls and boys.

I like minimalism, I use few colors on each painting, and I enjoy painting imaginary portraits. I care little about realism or realistic representation. My art is figurative but abstracted and expressionistic in a great sense as I like the vivid bold colors.

My shop's name is very representative of the state of mind I was back then. It stands for curiosity but also for uneasiness. I entered an area unknown for me. I still feel out of water but I have become stronger and determined to live through what makes me alive and happy.

I am a thinker.
I am curious.
I struggle daily to become a better me, and therefore a better artist.
I write and paint without lying to myself.
I write and paint as a child.