Based in Kaunas, Lithuania, Violeta Jarašiūnienė creates art under the name ViJa Art. Her lifelong devotion to painting has deepened over the years, as she gradually honed her skills with canvas and paints. Violeta’s path as an artist began modestly—her debut exhibition took place in 2008 at the community centre in Betygala, located in the Raseiniai district, and subsequently at the Betygala Museum. For about ten years, painting remained a quiet and tentative endeavor, a creative escape woven in with her daily routine. It was during the quarantine period that art reclaimed a central role in her life, sparking new exhibitions in Kaunas (2021), Vilnius (2022), and at the Zanavykiai Museum in Lukši, Raseiniai (2023).
Violeta approaches her work in an intuitive and impulsive manner. She does not plan her compositions in advance but allows her choices of color and emotion to shape the piece as it unfolds. Music is always present while she paints, its rhythms and melodies subtly stirring her brush and influencing the palette. Describing her method, she compares the merging of colors to how experiences, dreams, and emotions blend in life—ever seeking harmony, gentleness, and completeness. Careful attention is given to every section of the canvas, ensuring that no detail, no matter how small, is neglected.
The completed paintings materialize as enigmatic, dreamlike scenes—images that resist description, evoking snippets of a fairy tale or passing daydreams. Each piece functions like an encoded narrative or a secret, inviting those who view it to unravel its mysteries for themselves. Violeta often adds poems or short tales to accompany her art, conceiving of each painting as if it were a book meant to be read and rediscovered again and again. She believes viewers who engage with her work embark on their own journey, searching for hidden meanings and personal discoveries within the layers of each painting.
Violeta invites all to lose themselves in her art, encouraging them to find their own happiness, fears, and dreams within the canvas’ complex details. She likens this experience to stepping into a fairy tale, with the viewer cast as the hero—wandering through scenes shaped by emotion and fantasy, pursuing answers and welcoming self-understanding. Her paintings trace a journey from the past into the present, inviting people to release their sadness and enter a vibrant realm of color, hope, and safety. Through this artistic process, Violeta seeks to kindle moments of awe and connection, transforming art into a magical portal for self-discovery.
About this artwork+
The painting depicts a tranquil seascape at what appears to be dawn or dusk, as a soft, pastel light bathes the scene. In the foreground, there is a calm body of water reflecting the subtle hues of the sky and the shadows of the mountains in the distance. A striking, tall mast of a sailboat with an orange sail extends vertically, almost reaching the center top of the canvas, providing a stark vertical contrast to the horizontal calmness of the water. Beside the sailboat, several ships and boats, varying in size and apparently in active use, float on the water's glass-like surface. The background features majestic mountains that fade into the horizon under a sky filled with light, fluffy clouds. Their subtle blues and grays mingle with hints of lavender, suggesting the coolness of an early morning or the lingering warmth of an evening. The overall effect is serene and contemplative, inviting the viewer into a moment of stillness and natural beauty. The reflection of the boats and the vertical mast in the water adds a dreamlike quality to the scene, enhancing the feeling of quietude and the interplay between sky and sea.
