Interview with Irma Osmiegiene

Irma Osmiegiene was born in Lithuania, where she lived up until 2014 when she moved to the United Kingdom. Everything she started working on in Lithuania was left there. Irma chose to stay in England and wanted to continue pursuing her career as an artist there. She never studied fine art at a degree level, she was completely self-taught at the time. Back in 2011, she started pursuing her career as an artist, she realized that this is what she always wanted to do and she has since attended a two-year course in the art department at the Art School of Algimantas Raudonikis in Joniskis, Lithuania. Among others, Irma has had her work exhibited in different exhibitions including the Joniskis Municipality in June 2014, the Joniskis Education Center exhibition in October-December 2014, or her personal exhibition in Joniskis Culture Center in October 2014.

She is fascinated by things that others take for granted and finds inspiration in the world around her, paying attention to the littlest of details whilst others take no notice of them. Today she’s here, to tell us a little bit about her arduous journey while enjoying the legendary “groovy” espresso.

For as long as I can remember, even when I was a child, I really liked to draw and paint more than the other kids who were my age. This interest stayed with me. I have been stopping at the important moments in life and watching them with a keen interest. I watch how the leaves fall in autumn, how the water runs down the street when it rains, trying to feel how strong the wind is, I still do all of this today. I used to make all kinds of postcards, posters and pictures for myself, my friends and all the family. Atop that, sometimes the local hospitals, schools or kindergartens would ask me to make a poster or give them ideas for Christmas decorations etc. I have always wanted to go deeper into the arts, to learn and to practice more. But I was forced to postpone it for many different reasons, I had to leave it for ‘later’ and it took years before I got to do it again.

In the autumn of 2011, I had a wake-up call and it all began. I decided to renew my house’s interior so I repainted the inside walls of my home with new and different colors, ornaments – decorative painting. That’s when I realized that this time I cannot and do not want to stop, I want more. Everything came back with so much power and passion. The next big step was renovating some of my old pencil drawings I made twenty-two years ago as they were important to me and I thought they were iconic. This inspired me greatly and helped me start working toward my dream. I won’t let myself stop again.

My motivation comes from the outside and the inside, from what I see and hear and from my feelings. It took a while for me to come back to the thing I loved the most, being able to be there and work with my art is great for me as well. I love the time that I spend painting my emotions, feelings and experiences – putting it all onto a picture. Furthermore, feedback is one of the best motivations and inspirations around.

My inspiration comes at any time and from anywhere, as I stand still and take notice of the moment, to listen and feel. It also comes from reading books, looking over magazines, surfing the net and watching all kinds of films. Moreover, a lot of people who are around me inspire me with their long and patient creative ways.

My artworks come from my passion for creating things, thus I am happy about being able to do it. I am happy also that I have started again and moved forward. Creating is like another language for me and I am glad I have the ability to communicate in this way and to express myself.

It depends on the kind of piece I am painting, is it a portrait or a landscape, or something abstract, or even something else. I am following my own feelings most of the time when it comes to what’s going on with my painting. If It is not going the way I feel it has to, I can’t help but to redraw or repaint until I find it is exactly the way I want and feel it should be like.

I chose traditional painting because I liked it a lot, for me, it is one of the realest things that a person can create. It has it’s own consistency, smell and a natural color. There is a lot to learn about, whether it’s watercolor, acrylics, oils or some other technique. I like drawing in pencil and charcoal and painting with acrylics and oils. I used to paint with watercolor too but I am mostly working with oils at this point in time. I enjoy this process – I can see how my ideas are laid out on the canvas or paper. Nowadays, traditional painting has a lot to say and there are so many possible variations to try out, experiment with and practice.

The messages that I try to communicate with my art are all to do with things you see on a daily basis, the streets, trees, buildings, light and shadow, faces with different expressions and feelings, all around them is the day and the night. The light and the darkness, happiness and sadness, meetings and leavings, I want to encourage people to stop and look at the moments they experience more often. I want them to enjoy their life.

I can’t say that my culture has any especial influences on my art at all.

I hope I will be able to get more spare time for artworks as I am still doing other jobs which take a lot of my energy and time. I know many artists have had that hard situation in their creative way and somehow they found their solution so, I wish to find mine. Also, I want to be doing this for a living too. I will keep developing my painting skills, trying to find interesting ways to create. I want people to see my artworks, I want to share my creations with everyone. I will exhibit my artworks in the near future, so I have plenty to do and of course, I am very happy doing what I do.