A PROFESSIONAL artist currently tasked with painting portraits of the Lyme Regis lifeboat crew has decided to join the team herself.

Maria Barbashina, 38, was officially enrolled as a member of the shore crew at a training session, when she was presented with her RNLI pager.

The Russian-born artist has been working on portraits of volunteer crew members.

She said: “Everyone at the lifeboat station has been very welcoming and I am looking forward to my volunteer role.

“I believe the RNLI is very important, and I like adventure and I enjoy being part of a team.”

Maria’s ambition is to be a sea-going crew member after her spell of shore duties.

When she lived in Russia she sailed six-metre racing boats and helped to crew replica vessels, including tall ships, in her home town where shipbuilding was a major industry.

Maria began training as an artist in Russia when she was 12-years-old before moving on to art colleges in Karelia and St Petersburg. She specialises in portraits and still life. 26 members of the Lyme Regis lifeboat crew volunteered to be the subject of one of her portrait projects.

Lyme Regis RNLI lifeboat operations manager Nick Marks said “We are very pleased to welcome Maria as part of the lifeboat crew.

“She joins at a time when we are starting to rebuild our full life-saving capability after many months of reduced training due to COVID restrictions.

“The fact that she lives and works within a few minutes of the lifeboat station is ideal and means she can respond quickly when her new RNLI pager goes off.”