Abstract art as self-reflection, or how I began to paint

Perhaps what look like coincidences are sometimes patterns. I had never thought I would be an artist. In childhood, art school, going with my mother to exhibitions in our small town, or painting a still life together in the living room were simply a good way to spend time, because I had other plans for the future.

Studies, work, starting a family and social life spun me into a fast whirl, where meeting art happened only in museums and galleries. Once my husband and I went to a lecture at an art gallery, because a client of his had recommended it. It was so inspiring and so interesting that I understood there was too little art in my life.

Almost 10 years ago, on leaving my work in diplomacy, I found time for a new hobby and without thinking about it signed up for painting classes with the artist and Art Academy of Latvia professor Kaspars Zariņš, at the Pedants studio. Back then too it was only a good way to spend time, a relaxation between the daily chatter of children and my duties. Then our third child was born and the painting things were put away in the garage, but I had become addicted to the relaxing process of painting, and as soon as my son grew a little I started going to classes again, this time with the artist Jana Nesteroviča at the Idealist studio.

It was here, painting in silence, that I began to hear myself. It became a process of finding out, one in which to learn to let go and to make mistakes, to feel and simply to be. While studying I made several reproductions and learned several techniques, and an interest in going further grew in me naturally. I wanted to make my own paintings, and on large canvases. For that I needed a studio of my own.

In August 2025 a trip to Iceland and my coming birthday, when I take stock of what I have done and of what I want on the wish list for my next year, gave me a strong impulse to finally act. And already on 23 September, on my birthday itself, I signed the lease for a studio.

Now I had a place to paint what I feel rather than what I see, a place to experiment, to paint without rules and to enjoy the process completely. And to my surprise, this creative process of absolute freedom, which is especially good to live through when making abstract paintings, reveals so much about a person. I have seen the same thing in masterclasses. For me painting is certainly also a chance to uncover the layers I have absorbed, and at the same time it teaches me to pay closer attention to myself, to others and to what is around me.

See how it turns out →: Art