"Among forest flowers" Print

Justīne Seile-Urtāne specializes in two areas, illustrations and portrait painting. Using tick colors and expressive brush strokes, she explores light, shade and vibrant colors that's found in nature all around. Justīne has fulfilled her childhood dream of becoming an artist by studying portrait painting in art academy of Latvia. While studying in high school Justine went to Ventspils youth centre fine art studio where she began her long road of becoming a painter. Artist Mārīte Kluša taught her all the basics, starting with the cube. She did also attend a few art courses to learn basics in drawing and painting After high school she went to Liepāja where she studied arts for two years at "Liepāja collage of design, arts and music". After the Liepāja period she got accepted at "Art Academy of Latvia". And in a seven year period she got a Bachelors and Masters degree in painting. Justīne describes her style and works as observant. The inspiration comes from everyday situations, and personal experiences. She is interested in the depiction of domestic life, human vulnerability, the relationship between oneself and the surrounding environment, as well as the boundary between seriousness and irony. She works primarily in figurative painting. In her compositions, she uses thick and expressive brushstrokes that contrast with the delicacy and precision of portraiture. She enjoys filling her paintings with objects that complement the composition and often serve as hidden symbols, leaving their meaning open to the viewer’s interpretation. Her paintings feature theatrical scenes with dramatic lighting and shadow, mostly inspired by her own personal experiences, observations, and emotions. For this reason, she often portrays herself in various dramatized everyday situations. In her work, she's not only the creator and executor of ideas, but also the model. Justine sees painting as a kind of memory album — a way of documenting both the inner world and the events unfolding around her. A detailed and intuitive working process is very important to Justine, as she strives to create characters and situations with a strong emotional presence. In her compositions, she often combines serious themes with subtle absurdity or irony, creating space for the viewer’s interpretation and the possibility of recognizing themselves in some of these situations.