Born in 1955 near Tacoma, Washington, Lars grew up creating artwork from childhood, where some of his earliest paintings were used to raise money for mission projects at his church. His mother was a high school art teacher and his father a naturalist, religous book salesman and teacher. After taking a 4 year art program at Walla Walla College, Lars spent 5 years in Victoria, British Columbia working as a gallery artist. From 1985 to 1991 he worked as an illustrator for Pacific Press and Jerry Leff and Associates in New York as a book and magazine illustrator. In 1991 he started Justinen Creative Group and in 2000 GoodSalt.com both of which took him into the world of creative direction, writing, and new media. Today he, his wife, Kim Justinen http://www.kimjustinen.com - also an artist - and their two children live in a small fishing village on Northern Vancouver Island where Lars divides his time between his companies and painting.

Lars sums up his philosophy of art this way:

"So God created man in His own image." Genesis 1:27 Like the Sovereign God of the Universe, we find joy and pleasure in the works of that we and our fellow artists create. The act of creating is, in many ways a spiritual experience. “In the beginning, God created...” Genesis 1:1