Natasha Ruschka is a Canberra-based Australian artist working in oils. Her passion for painting took hold while she was living in Colorado, immersed in the Denver art community, and she later left a corporate career behind to paint full time — a decision that has now shaped several years of professional practice, alongside teaching classes and workshops around Australia.

Natasha paints in the alla prima, or wet-on-wet, style — often blending colour directly on the canvas to produce fresh, loose, visible brushwork with a playful energy. She's drawn especially to painting outdoors, where she can capture nature's true colour and the play of light in a single fleeting moment, turning simple landscape and still-life scenes into something she describes as her own form of magic.

Her work is held by collectors across Australia and internationally, and has been recognised with numerous awards and shortlistings, including a Commended Award at the Lethbridge 20,000 Small Scale Art Award, a 2nd Place finish in the Doyle's Art Awards' Still Life category, the 1st Prize New Exhibitor & Acquisitive Award at the Aspects Art Show in Goondiwindi, and finalist placings in the Lethbridge Landscape Prize. In 2023 she was named a Top 100 finalist in the Plein Air Salon USA, judged by Ned Mueller from 866 paintings submitted by 319 artists across 20 countries.

Natasha exhibits regularly, with solo and group shows including "A New Season" and "Colourful Spaces, Beautiful Places" at Wild Canary in Brisbane, and appearances as feature and guest artist at Canberra's Floriade Festival with Grainger Gallery and at Plein Air Down Under in Mandurah, WA. She has travelled and painted alongside internationally renowned artists, including Eric Rhoads and Mo Myra in New York's Adirondacks, and Aimee Erickson on Stradbroke Island.

Alongside her studio and plein air practice, Natasha teaches painting in person and online — including her class "Fresh and Fabulous Florals" — and founded Capital Plein Air, the first national outdoor painting festival on Australia's East Coast, held each April in Canberra during peak autumn colour. Her work and story have also been featured on the AART Podcast and in Salt Magazine.