How 12 Plein Air Paintings Were Created in Jelgava
I was born in Jelgava and lived here for more than 20 years of my life. This city has left an indelible impression on me, especially the changes I have experienced during my still short life.
I don't even really remember the specific thought or impulse that prompted me to go outside in winter and paint 12 paintings in the streets of Jelgava (especially in the cold). Usually, plein airs take place in summer, but this idea was born in January, when the first work by the beloved Lielupe was also created. At that time, I didn't yet know where this path would lead me, but now it has brought me to this moment.
I got used to plein airs already at Jānis Rozentāls Art School – it was part of the mandatory practice: three weeks in the summer with the whole class, and then the rest of the summer independently. I think that’s when I also fell in love with this process. Just like fishermen go fishing regardless of the weather, I too am drawn by nature; there are those moments that make the soul tremble with excitement.
All the paintings were created in oil technique, but before I started painting, I covered each canvas with an acrylic tone – one that seemed to me to best characterize the particular month.
Then I returned home and continued working on the paintings until I truly started to like them. I added details: sparks of light, stars, or even invisible beings that I saw in my imagination. These were things that, in my opinion, organically fit into each work.
I acted from a simple feeling – until now, it seemed to me that all plein air works, especially since school days, were too academic and even a bit boring. As if they lacked something interesting. That’s why this time I decided to include the invisible in the paintings – that which my soul longed to tell.
January, 2021 (near the Jelgava Palace)
The first work in this painting series.
You can see how this work was created in this YouTube video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=leyr5lhBkRw
February, 2022
The next painting in this series (following the order of the months) is dedicated to February. Interestingly, I created this work back in 2022—at a time when there were minor floods by the Pilssala observation tower and the horses grazing there. This landscape left a strong impression on my memory.
Since then, this part of the city has changed beyond recognition. It has become more modern, transformed, but the memories of that particular peaceful moment have stayed with me.
Many of the paintings in this cycle I have created by repainting canvases I had already used during my school years. While studying at art school, I produced hundreds of works that, over time, simply accumulated in my small room. So I decided to give them a new life—both for creativity and practicality. If someone scans my paintings hundreds of years from now, they will discover some significant layers from my youth.
And then came March 2022
These paintings were again created on the banks of the Lielupe (near Pasta Island). I became fascinated by the tracks left by beavers on the riverbank, so I decided to capture them. However, the painting process itself was even more interesting.
That day, a very strong, gusty wind was blowing. While I was trying to secure the canvas to the easel, the wind suddenly carried it straight into the river! I had to fish it out with some long wooden sticks.
Then April, 2022
That day I went to a cleanup event to tidy up the area around a small pond at the “Sodīte” bus stop in Viesturciems, Jelgava district. There were real bird passions – swans and hawks fought for food, each trying to catch some living creature.
It was also one of the first times I drove a car completely independently after obtaining my driver’s license, so the memories of this day are especially warm.
May, 2022 (Atpūta, in Svēte parish, by the Svēte river)
On that day, there was a celebration of life everywhere. The plants were blooming in all their splendor, May festivities were taking place, the school year was ending, and evenings were spent with friends until late at night. While I was painting, cats bustled around me, excited by the awakening of spring.
Therefore, in this painting, I wanted to depict all the beauty of the plants and their growing, saturated greenness.
June, 2022 (near the Jelgava Palace)
What could be more beautiful than a warm June evening when the sun hardly sets at all?
July, 2025
I finished this month's painting only in 2025 – after several attempts to repaint works that, as it seemed to me, failed to convey the true mood of July.
August, 2024
I was painting at the Jelgava market, by the Driksa river.
September, 2024
Painted in 2024 in one of my favorite, quiet places in the Jelgava area - by the Lielupe River, near Teteles Primary School.
October, 2022 (Riekstu ceļš 10)
November, 2021
The only painting that was not created in the Jelgava area, but rather in Bauska district – in the village of Pamūša, Gailīši parish. However, I liked this work so much that I decided to keep it in this series.
December, 2022 (Station Park)
Even in the cold and at night, I was ready to go outdoors to paint, just to capture this month's mood. It was associated for me with festive lights, which I also depicted in the painting.
When I started this cycle, I did not yet know that I had a special passion for painting water and nature: rivers, lakes, the sea, trees.
I am very grateful for this journey of experience, and even more so for the fact that I have the opportunity to conclude it with my first solo exhibition at the Jelgava Museum in the Old Town House of Jelgava.