Meet Justine Almaraz | Intuitive Fine Artist + Tattoo Artist + Creative Entrepreneurial Educator

We had the good fortune of connecting with Justine Almaraz and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Justine, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
I’ve had an entrepreneurial spirit from the get go. From hustling my coloring book pages from the back seat of my moms car to starting my own face painting company at age 7 I’ve been obsessed with finding new ways to sell my art and creative skills. I don’t even remember a time when I wasn’t trying to sell my art. I wasn’t encouraged to sell things, it was just something that I believe was inside me, an intuitive calling that has never let up, it just grows louder and stronger and now has guided me to my deep soul’s purpose in helping others find this passion, courage and confidence in art as well. My business has now evolved into a solid tree with many creative branches. I make large custom oil paintings for my collectors, I make intuitive soul-inspired tattoos that flow with the body and drip with sacred intention and meaning and now I teach my processes, systems and business skills to new creatives online and in-person. My studio is called Earth Altar Studio and my educational program is, The Intuitive Artist Institute.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
My intuitive way of creating has been what draws my collectors to me most. They are really looking for a meaningful and soul-fulfilling way to connect with art whether it is a painting on their wall or a tattoo on their body.

Those who also want to learn my creative process are drawn to the intuitive, spiritual nature in which I create and desire to experience a new approach to art making that makes them feel more fulfilled and free. Overall, I view the world. from a lens of interconnectedness, divine order and miraculous moments all woven together from threads made of intuition and intention. It is this vantage point that I create and teach from weather it may be large paintings to intricate tattoo body suits or intuitive art retreats, it is sourced from a co-creative partnership.

It is all from the sacred and for the sacredness in each moment. Each brush stroke, line of a tattoo or way I teach is rooted in prayer, in trust of God’s guidance through me. It is a constant state of devotion that aligns my spirit to the divine and gives energy to my creative process. My art is my life and my life is my art. I don’t sense them as separate rather one just leading the other like footsteps, one in front of the next.

When I feel into the most sacred and most inspiring place on Earth I immediately visualize the ocean and I am flooded with warm, joyful memories from my childhood near the ocean. My draw to the ocean deeply inspired my way of drawing, painting and being in the world. My clients most often remark on the “flowyness” of my work that they love and it all comes back to the interconnectedness of us all and I believe it is through blood, human lineage and the water of our planet.

I am finding that the missing piece many of us are looking for is the peace deep within. This is why we love art, this is why we love nature because it reminds us of the divine order of all there is and that evokes the greatest and deepest soul-knowingness that peace does exist, even if we cannot alway grasp it. Ultimately this is what my art is about and why I love being an artist, helping others find their inner artist as well. This is my deepest experience of peace.

Right now, my life is seriously peaceful and I am so grateful for it! I am also filled with joy and ideas for what this next new chapter brings. This is very new news I am going to share with you, are you ready? I have just opened a new studio in Downtown Los Angeles, inside of the Spring Arts Tower just above The Last Bookstore. It is such an inspiring, buzzing hub of DTLA. This new studio will be very different than anything I’ve opened before as I will be merging my loves of painting, tattooing and educating under one roof in the ultimate artist loft experience. So, if you are ready to dive into my intuitive creative world you are going to want to keep in touch with the new evolution of Earth Altar Studio.

Owning a large studio has not always been easy, let me tell you! Back in the spring of 2023, the owner of my previous tattoo studio called to inform me that they were selling the building. I had 2 options, buy it for 1.2 million immediately or move out. I opted for the latter. I searched for a new studio in the area with no luck, (apparently not many landlords like renting to tattoo artists due to a bad rep, which I have always been trying to transform) so I I took it as a sign and closed the doors. I put my nose to the grind stone for the rest of the year working on my paintings, while also teaching art and business to aspiring artists remotely.

What I realized over the past few months was that the tattoo artists I had previously apprenticed had grown so rapidly and were doing so well, that they all opened their own studios! It has been amazing so see them all flourish even after the sadness of needing to disband.

This showed me that what I had created at Earth Altar Studio Version 1, was also a launch pad for new artists. It was a training ground and I still LOVED apprenticing new artists. I love watching them become fully self-supporting and more self actualized creativity. Closing the studio in May was one of the hardest decisions I have ever had to make. Although it has taught me so many things and has really grown me in every way. This new chapter is to me an honoring of the team and foundation we all created together from the ground up at our OG Eagle Rock location. I have so much gratitude to all of them! What a wild and beautiful ride we had. Everyone blossomed so much. You can still follow up with them on the Earth Altar Studio website too.

So, now we set out to sea again, in a new ship. This new chapter will be very different and a fresh take on what I had originally set out to create. You’ll have to keep in touch with me, who knows what this will expand into!

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Los Angeles is my TOWN! I love this city passionately! I love Huntington Beach because of how laid back the vibe is there, less fancy. So we would definitely start at the ocean. Go for a bike ride and walk on the sand and get a virgin pina colada (because they taste better) Then we’d stop in Downtown to look at art at the Broad museum and get a bite at Guisados Tacos or a more romantic vibe for tapas as Garcons. Then I would take them for a hike to the observatory and then to get coffee and a few slices of cake at my favorite cafe in Los Feliz, The Alcove.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My BIG shoutout goes to my husband Luis, he has been the most supportive, creative collaborative partner I could have ever dreamed of. His trust and excitement in my visions and ideas is monumental. I have become so grounded and present in a whole new way because of his influence in my life and in my entrepreneurial journey.

I’d also love to honor my mother and grandmothers who are/were all artists, painters who taught me the skills to paint and trust my intuition. I am so grateful for my whole creative family who believed in my creativity. I am so blessed in so many ways! It is this epic love I have had the opportunity to have which is why I do all I can to share this creative encouragement and pass it on to my students and others on YouTube and new ways coming soon. Stay tuned and keep in touch with me so I can meet you too. 🙂

Website: JustineArtStudioLA@gmail.com

Instagram: @JustineArtStudio + @EarthAltarStudio

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/justineartist/

Youtube: YouTube.com/JustineArtStudio

Other: TikTok @JustineArtStudio

Image Credits
Jessie Coleman Mary Carol Fitzgerald Katrena Chung Andrea N. Fabian