Paintings of the Baltic gods

Today I wanted to circle back a little bit to my series of paintings that I mentioned in my origin story.

I created first ones as a sort of comfort for myself at first. I remember thinking in my office hours that I would just choose a theme that I really really enjoy and try to make some paintings.

I started looking for the information about Baltic gods and witch ones would I like to paint best. I thought that I should create at least 12, as twelve was the magic number in old beliefs.

I couldn’t say that all the paintings were flowing easily and quickly. Some got stuck, as I couldn’t figure out how some of the details should look like, or how the appearance of the god would describe him best. But then I thought even if the looks are not as described in those poor written sources that I had — who would argue? I really doubted that anyone have ever met one of those gods, to have a disagreement with me of how they look.

When I painted my tenth painting I already knew that I wanted to make an exhibition. I was exited about that because I haven’t done any exhibition in a very long time. That was mostly cause all my enthusiasm for that kind of things was worn out because of my long working hours in the office. But now when I finally realized that my ‘thing’ was Baltic mythology, the interest that has been there all the time, but just recently was rediscovered, the excitement and desire to show that to the world came back.

So I found this bar in the center of Vilnius that was collaborating with artists and giving it’s upper space to exhibitions for free. By upper space I mean pictures hanging from the ceiling right above the heads of their customers. I went there to see what was being shown and how, and was pleasantly surprised, that the pictures were getting special illumination in a rather dim interior, the room was not too full with things and the surrounding brick walls were actually painted blue! I thought that was awesome, because I didn’t want my Baltic gods to hang out in a white sterile space with brights lights. So I talked to the owners, showed them my pictures and agreed about the date.

On a way home I was already daydreaming about my exhibition and how would everything look, how I would pick the top 6 paintings for the front and so on.

Few months had passed, I was getting ready with the framing. And suddenly one day I received an email from the owner of that bar that they are canceling my exhibition because they think that my paintings would be too heavy. I suggested to maybe try and hang one before canceling all exhibition, but they refused. I was very disappointed. Up until now I don’t know the real reason, because the one they provided didn’t seem like the true to me. I was angry and sad, because all my hopes for the new start were suddenly broken.

After a month or so, when all twelve paintings were already gathering dust in a corner, I received an advice from a friend to not just give up even if I will have to wait one more year. I thought about it for a while and instead of trying to find a new place that I could afford, I joined the Artist Association of Lithuania, which gives an opportunity to do an exhibition every two years for free. So now the paintings are waiting to be shown in February of 2020 and in a meantime I am preparing for my first offer with my series of Baltic mythology graphic art prints.