Age of Sails: Ancient Ships by the Shore Painting

Kselma Randvald was born in a small town in the centre of Estonia. Since childhood, she was surrounded by the northern nature of the Baltic, which awakened her imagination and aroused the desire to create; and so she wanted to preserve her childhood impressions of the magical nature around her which was bright and uplifting. She was attracted to painting as a way to express herself. Studying at an art school laid the foundation for drawing skills which later helped her in her art as well as her profession as an artist decorator at a college in Jõhvi. She has spent a lot of time travelling throughout Europe in order to find her own way. Three years of living in Ireland, learning english at the same time as studying signage and advertising at a local university opened up new design skills for Kselma. The artist not only mastered the english language, but spent a lot of her time capturing the admirable cultural landmarks and architecture of Ireland on camera. Later she decided to capture that period of her life in a cycle of paintings, encompassing the emotions and feelings that she experienced at the time. The influence of the Irish way of life manifested itself in the coulour palette as well as the plot of her paintings. The endless green fields, flocks of sheep, old castles and houses just like the ones in “The Lord of the Rings”- these associations will forever remain in her mind. The search for herself creatively continued in Italy, where the artist painted unforgettable landscapes of Umbria. Continuing the study of graphic design within the community of artists, gaining new knowledge in the concept of art. She practiced a lot in graphics; drawing with charcoal, sanguine and pencil, because that is what helps one to focus on perfecting their drawing and trains the eye. The Italian way of life possessed similarities to the elvish one, if we were to draw parallels with the works of J.R.R. Tolkien once more. After travelling across Europe, she returned to her homeland which is when the creative pseudonym - Kselma Randvald came to be. Randvald’s main influences come from impressionism and of course her favourite artists are Vincent Van Gogh, Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and Alfred Sisley. Van Gogh was fascinated by his brushstroke techniques and the same techniques can be seen in some of Kselma’s paintings.