Heaven is Inside You Collage

29 years old from Riga, Latvia. Alla prima is my favourite technique, I usually paint still lifes in 1-2 sessions and 4-5 sessions when it comes to portraits and other bigger pieces. I consider virtuosity and confidence in painting most valuable, this approach is commonly called impressionistic. When you put a brushstroke without overthinking it. I enjoy "live" natural flowing forms and lines, my favourite subjects are people, plants, animals and landscapes. Short bio: First attended an art studio when I was 6 and I've been painting since then. It was a dream come true to enter the Art Academy after graduating school. But when it actually happened and I got enrolled it turned out to be a huge disappointment, I didn't find a place for myself there, so I quit the first year of studying. I felt broken but I still didn't want to abandon painting. I applied to a Figurative Art Academy in Los Angeles and got accepted. I was planning to move to USA but got my visa refused eventually. So I impulsively decided to go Florence, Italy (have no idea where I got all that confidence from at that time at age of 21). So I've spent 3 years there studying painting and painting restoration, I also started my antique business. And this is when I gave up painting almost completely. I was so engaged developing my business, I found out how to make a living and I was so afraid to stop for a minute. In the recent years I even hid from people who first I met that I was an artist, however to myself I still considered myself a professional. I thought I was not allowed to call myself an artist as I didn’t have any new art to show. It changed in one day, I was at my office and I didn't feel like working, so I went to the grocery store and got some beautiful bright orange clementines and set up a still life.