Tarja is a Finnish painter, who lives in Forrest Hill, Auckland. Painting was at first a hobby which she found four years ago through a strong internal fire and life-long interest in arts. As Tarja moved to New Zealand two and a half years ago, she finally had time to experiment with colours and structures - to see what she could do with brush, paints and piece of canvas.
Tarja paints mainly with acrylics and experiments willingly with different kinds of mark-making techniques. Her paintings are abstract, very colourful and intuitive. “I don’t make any pre-sketching or plans how to proceed - I want to paint freely like a child. The starting point may be a colour combination or a current emotional state. So, the outcome is always a happy surprise for me.”
Tarja has had a few solo exhibitions in Auckland 2018-2019. One of her paintings was among the finalists in Hibiscus and Bays Art Awards 2019. In addition, she won the runner-up price in Lake House Arts Centre’s competition for the members 2018. Tarja is particularly proud of the fact that one of her diptychs is part of Wallace Art Foundation’s collection.
