Women in my life

This blog is dedicated to the amazing women in my life.  I was going to write about my new series but that will have to wait until next week as it's just not what I need to write about today.  Today I have immense love for the women in my life, I am blessed to have the love and support of these women.

We all go through ups and downs in our lives and I've realized no matter what these ladies will be here for me and I for them.  I am never truly alone and that thought gives me strength and confidence.  It also teaches me that the hard times will come but it will pass and I will come out the other side stronger and wiser.  I've also learned that it's okay to feel it, you need to feel it, don't ignore those emotions or else they will eat you up.

I know this blog probably seems kinda random but I hope you take something away from it and I will offer this, when going through something:
1. Feel it, let it wash over you, accept it and then move on.
2. Talk, don't be afraid to talk to those that care about you and about what you're feeling.  If they truly love you they will listen.
3. Learn and grow from the experience.  Sometimes that's all you can do, it may not be what you want but as long as you take some sort of life lesson from it then it's made you a better person.
4. Realize you are love, you are beauty and you are unbelievably special!

I sparkle, I shine!

Wanting - Original Gouache Painting

Wanting from Friends & Strangers Series

New art up on my etsy titled Wanting!  Recently I've been trying to get into the habit of either posting to my etsy shop or posting a blog, so far so good, aren't you proud of me?!

Wanting is part of the Friends & Strangers series, the man in this image is a stranger, at least at the moment.  What inspired this image was my longing for partnership.  Don't get me wrong, I'm about woman empowerment, being a strong independent women, all my single ladies put your hands up!  I love my life, my friends, my family, my job (working with all women), I'm grateful for everything I have but I'm going to be honest here, I do feel that missing something, that wanting for someone special.

So, this is that wanting put into paint, my hope to find love some day.  This is also why the image is cast in shadow, I don't know who he will be or what he will look like but until he comes out from the shadows I will focus on what makes me a happy single lady.

Lets dance to that!

Rising to the Surface

Yes, I am slowly but surely finding my way back up from the depths.  I've been sifting my way through some hard life, for lack of a better word, stuff.  This as well as my newest art series has consumed my time and my drive.  What little drive I had was going toward the new series to finish it in time for my art show.

So, I am working through my stuff and trying to find my light again and I think posting here, in my etsy and searching for positivity and passions (old or new) is helping.  Basically my candle was blown out and I'm trying to relight my flame, easier said than done but one step at a time.

So this blog isn't completely my rambling and devoid of art here is a new adition to my etsy shop!  It is titled "Mel" and is a part of my Friends & Strangers series.  This is a friend, an old roommate of mine actually who I've stayed friends with over time and she's super awesome!

Mel - From Friends & Strangers

  Can you tell what's surrounding her face?  Some people get it right away and some need a little help, can you figure it out? :)

Art Show: Temescal Lanesplitter's

Water and Wind

 Hey all!  I'm back to it, we'll see how long I last this time! Haha!  Any who, this blog is all about my art show at the Oakland Temescal Lanesplitter's Pizza and Pub.  I had my art up for the month of October displaying some of my previous series of work "Friends & Strangers" as well as 4 pieces from my new series "Earth, Fire, Wind & Water".

Earth and Fire

 The art reception went as great as my last Lanesplitter's show, actually even better because the bathrooms didn't flood this time!  There was a great turn out and a good steady flow of my wonderful friends!  The show was supposed to end at 9:30pm but the last of the group didn't leave until 11pm, which was great!  I also sold my "Andrea" portrait from my "Friends & Strangers" series and got a lot of good feedback about my new series.  I really enjoyed getting everyone's point of view. 

 I'm not going to say too much on the new series as I like everyone to interpret it in their own way.  I will say that it is oil paint with feathers and rocks incorporated and they are all self portraits.  Now let your imagination go from there!  I will be posting the new paintings in my etsy shop soon!

Emeryville Market Reception

 The reception went great!  Nicky and I came up with a last minute dark theme as we were shopping for goodies.  As you can see in the pic below it was mainly dark colored treats including chocolate chocolate chip cookies I made, red wine and black plates and napkins.

We got their early to eat, set up and, as I figured, people started showing up about an hour and a half into the beginning of the reception time.  It was nice to have a friend their to chat with until people started to make their way in.  Once people started showing we had a great group.  The reception was spent talking about our art, eating, drinking and just spending time with our friends.  I also auctioned off a small piece of art in which a friend and fellow Hipliner Laura Andel won!

My muse Andrea posing with her portrait

 The market closes at 9pm so we were nicely kicked out a little after that time and a smaller group of us decided to keep the fun going with a few games of pool at a pool hall next door.

What a great group of goofballs!

 All in all it was a great night!  If you haven't stopped by the market yet our art will be up for a few more days, the last day will be either Friday the 2nd or Saturday the 3rd.

Art Show at the Emeryville Public Market

 New art up at the Emeryville Public Market!  The reception is July, Friday the 19th 6-9pm, come check out mine and my friend Nicky's art!  Check out the facebook invite for more details!

Okay now that I've advertised here's the story on how this happened.  I previously had an art show up at a bakery called Sweet Adeline, which I'm behind on blogging so I think I missed the boat on that blog... Any who, I was having a little reception in which a few of my friends showed up to, thank you friends!  I was talking with them about the series and this couple came in who started looking at my work.  I approached them and introduced myself as the artist and we spoke about my work, how I did it and that they enjoyed it.

They then told me their names, Julia Lazar and Tom Franco, which if you know who his brother is props to you, I'm so bad at celebrity names I had no idea until Nicky told me later.  They work together in managing the Firehouse Art Collective in Berkeley and also curate work that goes up at the Emeryville Market.  They gave me their card and asked to contact them if I was interested in hanging my art there with a friend.  They have a lot of wall space so they always have two artists work up at a time.

I asked my artist friend Nicky, she said yes, we connected with them, set up a month and we hung our art up with the help of Tom on June 30th.  It was all very exciting for me because it was the first time I was approached and asked to hang my work somewhere, where as usually I'm seeking out places that will let me hang my work.  Made me feel like a real artist and I'm very excited to have my work up at the Emeryville Public Market.

You can check out our work at the market any time this month.  We are also featured in their blog and July NewZine!

Art for Partition Event

This was an amazing event!  The view was lovely, the food was super tasty, I learned a lot and met some great people!  So let's start from the beginning.  I find the location, squish into a tiny elevator (I mean tiny!), and went up to the Berkeley Sky Deck which was a super nice  location, here's a pic of the view...

There were large windows surrounding the whole place, it was amazingly calming seeing as I was a little nervous to be in this place where I knew no one and many had personal reasons for being there.  I definitely felt like an outsider.

I soon found my piece hanging near the entrance with its fancy title ;).  I also enjoyed looking at all the wonderful art that was donated to the event by various artists.

My donated art: Britt from Love, Paint & Dance

They then served some super tasty Indian food and we took our seats for the speakers.  I sat with this lovely family, they were super friendly and had two adorable children.  The little girl kept asking me questions about being an artist and that she likes to draw but she really wants to be a writer, adorable!  One of the women at my table also spoke to me about her work raising money for scholarships and asked for my contact info.  She asked if I was interested in donating my work to one of their fundraiser events.  It's always great to make new connections!

There was a special speaker, an author, Dr. Bapsi Sidhwa, who has written various books, one being Cracking India which is based around the events of the Partition of India.  She was a lovely speaker, I learned a lot about the dreadful things that happened during the Partition of India, how many lives were lost and how many families separated.  Their goal is to gather an many life stories from those who went through the events first hand and to document them for future generations and to hopefully learn from it so that it doesn't happen again.

View from where I was sitting of Dr. Bapsi Sidhwa

This was a wonderful experience I was happy to be a part of and has inspired me to look into future donation possibilities.  It's a great way to support a good cause, network and learn something new!  I greatly value growing and learning in every way we can so this was a wonderful and valuable experience I wont soon forget.

Sweet Adeline Art Show

My 4th art show is up and ready to go!  I hung my art series "Friends & Strangers", Thursday evening which was super easy seeing as Sweet Adeline is only a block away from where I live.  I went and did a bit of measuring, went back to my apartment, prepared the wires, walked my art on over and hung everything up in only 15 minutes.  It was awesome!  Oh the little things in life...

Even better, only a few hours latter I received an email from a man who works there requesting to purchase one of my pieces!  That is the fastest I have sold a piece of my art after putting it on display, it was a very pleasant surprised!  When I went by the cafe for him to purchase the piece he told me he's writing a book about a girl named "May" and the piece he purchased titled "Briana" reminded him of his character.

Above is the image he purchased.  It is one of my newest pieces and also one of my favorites.  The woman in the image is actually one of my long time childhood friends, Briana.  She has been one of my muses for many years, as you can see from this previous blog post "Goddess Watercolor Print".  I'm so glad someone can enjoy the piece as much as I do.  "Briana" will be available in my etsy shop as a print soon.

For those in the area I am having an art reception Saturday the 13th!  It is 3pm to 5pm and if you're around and nice enough you can join in the after party at my place down the street.

Art for Partition

In my last post which you can read here, I wrote about my very first art donation to a good cause.  Now it is two weeks away from the event.  I have dropped off my piece and it is now on their website ready for bidding on.

If you'd like to check it out or even bid on it you can do so here.  Bidding ends at 6:30pm April 6th.

There will also be an event that is open to the public and free at 2pm!  If you happen to live in the bay area and wish to come I'd love to see you there.  Here is a link to the facebook invite.

I'm excited and nervous about this.  I'm excited to do something new and for a good cause, to meet fellow artist at the event and I'm sure I'll learn a ton.  I'm nervous mainly because I'm hard on myself, and my work and hope people enjoy the piece I have donated and bid on it.  My fear is that not a single bid will come in... But again, that's just my fears coming coming to the surface, which I am trying not to focus on.

Wish me and my art luck!

Art Donation

I have another first coming my way, I will be donating a piece of my art for auction!  The proceeds will benefit the 1947 Partition Archive, helping them discover shared histories and preserving the last remaining memories of Partition of India which led to the creation of Pakistan, where a lot of human rights were violated.

About Partition

1947 was the year that marked the end of the British Raj in South Asia as well as the birth of India and Pakistan. The newly Partitioned boundaries and self-governance came at a cost however. Over a million lost their lives and many millions more were displaced from their ancestral homes as Muslims migrated to Pakistan while Sikhs, Hindus and others migrated to India, making it one of the largest mass displacements in history. During the ordeal, over 100,000 women were abducted and countless children orphaned.
 
Arjunels, the event coordinator contacted me, discovering my art from my etsy shop Elven Grove.  He expressed that he was impressed with my art and asked if I would be interested in donating to their cause.  I had never donated a piece of my art before and thought it could be a great opportunity to see how much my work might auction for.  It's also another way to get my work out there, the event will be featured in the New York Times, radio press releases and other various publications and of course it'll be great to do some good in 2013.

The event deets:

• When: April 6, 2013
• Where: Berkeley Skydeck in the Penthouse Suite, directly above Downtown Berkeley BART Station
• What: The event is an auction and lunch where donated works would be auctioned off .
• Who: High profile audience, who will be charged $100 a plate, and later be opened up to the general public.  High profile members include world famous professors and archeologists, corporate sponsors and Steven Spielberg is also one of our possible attendees. (I get in for free for donating)
  

If you happen to live in the bay area and want to come to this event, during the open public section which is 3pm-4pm along with lectures and food after 4pm, come on out!  I'll be there ;).

Piece I am donating, Titled: Britt

Heartbreak

I feel a little funny writing about this for all the interweb to see, okay maybe not all, my blog isn't quite that popular, but odd putting it out there none the less.  I'm going through some heartbreak right now, my boyfriend and I of two years are no longer.  It's called "break" for a reason, you feel the shards inside you, it may heal overtime but I believe if you truly love/loved someone there will always be a scar.  You are never quite the same.

Why put this out there?  Because we can't have the good without the bad and I think it's important to say hey, we're all human, we've all been through this (unless you're 5 and have yet to experience a relationship), we've been in deep dark holes... Why hide it?  Though it must be remembered there is a fine line, it's good to let it out, feel what you need to feel but don't let it overcome who you are.  Instead learn from it, grow from it, take something good away from the bad, lemons into lemonade as they say.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not suddenly leaping through flowery fields splashing lemonade on my face, I'm still healing.  However I have been able to squeeze one lemon, with emotion comes inspiration.  The artistic gears in my brain are turning, my emotions are wishing to come out on the canvas... My next art series is a brewing.

Feel the pain but turn your tear filled eyes up to the sun, this is not the end, there is more to come.

Friends & Strangers

This is my newest art series, a bit of a departure from the style and mood of my last series "Love, Paint & Dance".

Friends & Strangers was inspired by the people in our every day lives, people we know, friends, or those we walk by on our usually day to day events, strangers.  Although sometimes the rolls can be reversed, our friends can be strangers and strangers can be friends.

Laila

Friends: We have many different types of friends, close friends, acquaintances, distant friends, friends that are neighbors.  We can know many different sides to our friends, although no matter how close you are to someone we can never truly know everything about them, who they are to the core.  Such as, something as innocent as lying about liking a present you gave them to spare your feelings.  Or something as deep and dark as abuse in their past... We all keep our secrets.

Blue

Strangers:  These are the people we pass by on the street, we bump into them on public transit, we purchase our groceries from them.  We don't personally know these people, we don't know their name, where they grew up, what their favorite color is.  They are strangers to us.  Although these strangers can be friends as well.  A stranger walks by and compliments your dress, you slip and fall on a side walk and a stranger stops to help you up.  That person you walk by on the street just might have more in common with you than even your best friend, but you will never know how good of a friend they can be.








We all have layers and many of us judge each other on those first few layers.  In this new series I have painted images of people I know personally and others I have never met.  I could go on and on about the many layers of this series, which is exactly how I painted these images, with layers.

1. Illustration board
2. Layer of Gesso, painted with different types of texture and designs, whatever came to me when looking at the image of the person I know or a strangers image I chose.
3. Before Gesso dries, I wrote words into it that I felt described the person, either by just looking at them, first judgements, or if they are a friends, things I know about them personally.
4. Layer of Gouache, usually two colors.
5. Lift out and find the face beneath.

Take what you will from this series, but I definitely encourage you to look deeper and develop your own interpretation.

Happy 2013!

Happy 2013!!  I hope you all have had a wonderful New Year and are excited for the year ahead, I know I am!

Since my last post I have been lucky enough to have two more art shows and 2 more planned for this year!

Art show #2: Lansplitters Pizza in Berkeley
This was such a fun and successful art show... Well for the most part, but I mustn't get ahead of myself.  The show opening was a blast, there was free pizza for all my guests as well as half off beer and wine, this of course was a big help in getting people out!  Which it did, quite a group joined me that night and it was so much fun to discuss my new series, munch on pizza and drink some beer.

Now the "well for the most part" part, sadly the show was cut a bit short because of a plumbing problem and they had to close the restaurant early.  However this was a blessing in disguise as the woman in charge of booking shows apologized as well as promised me another show at a different Lansplitters after the new year!

Art show #3: Addis Habana Dance and Art Studio in Oakland
This was my least successful event of the 3 I have done this year.  It was a nice space to hang my work, however the turnout wasn't as great as the past two I had.  Those in charge of this studio, nice people, however it wasn't the most pleasurable experience working with them... That's all I'll say on that.

I know every artist has their ups and downs and not every event will go as smashingly as my first two.  I know I am lucky to have had two great events in which I actually sold some of my work and I will learn from this experience.

For these two events I developed a new series of work titled "Friends & Strangers".  More to come on that in future posts, but until then here is the Original painting that inspired it all.

Wishing you all fun, happiness and success in 2013!  I look forward to sharing my art world with you though out the new year! :)