Dear Art Lovers,

I wanted to share some exciting things that happened to me in 2024 so far!

I started the year off with a large duo exhibition with my friend and colleague Vera Bondare. She is a wonderful realist painter and if you’d like to take a look at her work, I will include a link to her website below. The exhibition took place in my hometown, Riga, where I had the opportunity to showcase around 50 works painted over the past few years. That was a big moment for me, as it felt like a retrospective of the last 3-4 years of work, where I could see the fruits of my labor, but also identify the possibilities for growth and notice the new interesting directions I would like to explore on my creative journey.

In spring I got to spend three wonderful months in Italy — painting, exploring, enjoying the culture, art, beautiful scenery, and, of course, Italian food! This was a dream come true for me and a great opportunity to immerse myself completely in plein air painting. I painted beautiful Tuscan landscapes, a bit of architecture and a lot of mountains, which quickly became my favourite. I will write more about my time in Italy in a separate blogpost.

In July, I participated in Europe’s largest plein air painting festival, Art In The Open. It took place in Ireland and for a week I painted beautiful Irish landscapes, connected with new people, and learned from both masterful guest artists and wonderful fellow participants. I was also pleasantly surprised to win 2nd prize in the QuickDraw competition! This was my second year at Art In The Open, and it definitely won’t be the last.

And finally, I turned 30 this August! Which seems like an important thing on its own, where I got to look back at the last 10 years of my life and see how far I’ve come, and make plans and dreams for the future.

Thank you for reading!

I’d love to hear your thoughts, so feel free to leave a comment and start a conversation!

Check out Vera’s work:

https://www.verabondare.art