Brushstrokes of Inspiration, Riina's Artistic Journey

Meet Riina. She is the artist behind these beautiful artworks printed on Thank You cards for Hutt St Centre’s supporters. 

Riina is not only an active participant in the Aged City Living Program, which provides support for older people who’ve experienced homelessness, but also brings her creative spirit as regular visitor to our Creative Hub.

“I love doing art here and getting to mix with people in the Aged City Living Program. It’s really nice just to sit down and paint – which I love to do!”

“There’s background music to listen to while painting, we talk to one another and encourage one another. It’s a good environment to be in.”

Art holds a special place in Riina’s heart, and has played an important role in expressing herself through painting.

Riina’s artistic journey has been a means of healing and self-discovery, creative expression.

“When I first visited Hutt St, art really helped me because I had left a difficult situation. Being creative is who I really am, so getting back into art means the world to me.”

“Thank you for allowing me to do this, it’s made me really happy. People and the staff at Hutt St say I’m inspirational, and I really want my cards to uplift people and make their day brighter. That’s the whole point of the cards.”

Riina painted three of the four artworks for our Thank You card series, each artwork with its own unique meaning.

Riina’s Sunflower Card

“This is one of my favourite paintings that I’ve done, and people like it because it’s so vibrant and alive.”

“I’m amazed by the end result and how this painting looks – it’s so vivid! I can’t believe how alive it looks.”

“Originally this one didn’t have any glitter. But when I added glitter, it had this amazing, magical sparkly effect to it.”

Bursting with bright yellow, green and orange – this cheerful sunflower painting shares similarities with a much-loved masterpiece.

“I’ve had people say to me that this painting reminds them of Van Gogh, which is really good feedback because I’m a Van Gogh fan. My favourite painting by Van Gogh is his sunflower painting.”

Riina’s Explosion of Colour Card

It’s easy to see how this fun, bold, kaleidoscopic painting earned its name.

“This painting has every colour you could possibly think of. It’s like a colourful wave, and I added glitter and sparkle to make it shine. So, I’ve called it explosion of colour.”

“I really love how colourful this piece is! I never know how a painting is going to turn out, so I do it over and over again until I’ve got the colours right. It’s so vibrant and colourful, that’s what I love about it.”

“With these cards what I want to do is give people colour. I think colour is really important and it uplifts people. So, the whole idea of my cards is to give people colour, so that they can be inspired and uplifted.”

Riina’s Christmas Card

“I like Christmas, and I saw an ornament like this with a Christmas tree, stars and other festive elements that I was inspired by.”

Riina has fond memories of family and cultural Christmas traditions, some of which are represented in this painting.

“The pine tree in my painting reflects my childhood Christmas when my mother would setup the tree.”

“My mother was Estonian, so was my grandmother, and Estonian’s celebrate on Christmas Eve. My mother used to put a pine tree in a bucket and pack it with sand, and we would decorate it.”

“We used to always celebrate the Estonian way. So, we would have this roast dinner with the veggies, and then the next day we would have leftovers for breakfast and go for a picnic on the beach.”

“Every year I go to Hutt St for Christmas lunches which are really good. The decorations in the Dining Room are really good, I enjoy it.”

Thank you to Riina for generously sharing her story, artistic talent, colour, and creativity with our Hutt St Centre community.