Natura #3

Mixed media on Fabriano
5" x 7"
2013

@Patricia Ariel

NFS

Circe

 

Oil and acrylic on masonite
14" x 18"
2012

Original available. Please inquire.

Copyright Patricia Ariel

Eos

Oil and acrylic on canvas

24" x 18"

2012

Copyright Patricia Ariel

$400

Available here

Persephone

Oil and acrylic on canvas

18" x 24"
2012

$400

Available here

Copyright Patricia Ariel

cleaning off the spider webs

over two months and no updates? can't believe it.

i am still working on a new version for my website, when time permits. since the new site is powered by WordPress, i've been pondering if i should keep the blog here or migrate it to the website. i have been a Blogger user for years, and i am very fond of it, so the decision has been a little difficult.

meanwhile, lots have happened. i have a new show up, at Vertigo Rising Gallery, here in Everett WA. the show is called Venusian Odyssey and features artworks of artists Carol J Elsip, Cher Clemans, and myself. i am showing some old pieces and a couple new drawings i have prepared exclusively for the show.

Venusian #1 and #2

in December i will be the featured artist at the Habitude Salon and Spa, in Ballard, Seattle, where i will be showing for the first time works in oils and acrylics. the pieces are a blend of geometric abstracts + figurative work. sneak peak of a work in progress:

Leda, oil and acrylic on canvas. Progress detail.

2013 starts well with two more shows around the Seattle area. details coming soon.

around the studio, things are bubbly (and a bit confusing at times). slowly finishing a bunch of commissions i had in line since early this year, with new ones coming. playing more and more with abstracts, which has been greatly opening my perception of color, form, and composition, and also improving my inner sight. i think that my experience with abstract painting deserves a special post. my illustration work has taken a different direction, with bigger contrast color/grey scale, more detailed pencil work, and the return of my first love, the colored pencils. it has become sort of difficult to work following my old direction of colorful water media. this commission will probably be the last piece more or less following that line of work.

Wocekiye, mixed media on illustration board. Progress detail.

also, i have recently signed a contract with Pacifica Tile Art Studio to have my work printed in tile murals. The Chemistry, Yemanja, and Esperance have been already released. 

thank you so very much for all the lovely messages and the valuable support, and my apologies for not being able to return back to you as promptly as i'd like. hope you all had a scrumptious Halloween!

Me as a voodoo doll.

new website + painting in progress, step by step

so, between commissions, design projects, and weekly 2 and a half hours bus trips to Seattle (this part will finally be over soon), i have been managing to work on some essentials that have been neglected for a while. first, my new website, being completed bit by bit, when i have the time.



graphics on the website are all handmade. (striped curved lines on the left are an effect caused by camera + lighting + computer screen. they do not actually exist.)


drawing the graphics.

second, a new exciting personal painting project. i wanted to start experimenting for a commission on masonite i am working on, and thought that i should develop something personal first, using the same style + technique. my idea was to use an imprimatura underpainting instead of my usual multicolor abstract washes and see what would come out.




i made the imprimatura wash mixing raw sienna and a bit of black. in acrylics, because i had no oils available in that color. the drawing came after. if i hardly follow rules in life, much less in art.




at this point i was wondering if i would be able to do any tonal study, which is one the things an imprimatura is good for. i never do tonal studies of anything. my painting is pretty much instinctual. it is part of the fun, after all. :)



i ended up roughly trying the tonal study (notice the darker areas,) but, no patience. i want to go down the rabbit hole. no pencil rendering this time: my oil paints were smiling at me. part of my visual language is never to render my figures in realistic colors. i like them surreal, unnatural, spectral, in grey scales or showing the hues of my underpainting. i used the paints straight from the tube, without mixing with any vehicle. a bit difficult to work on more delicate details, but possible.




and, because my process is usually chaotic, and because i like to see a bit of each part of the work before finishing others so i can have a glimpse of the final product, i started to study the background before even finishing the face.




i also started applying the flowers, in acrylics and free brushstrokes.




the face here is almost all finished. not bad for a first attempt i guess... oils are a fun, flexible, forgiving media, and a perfect substitute for my traditional pencil rendering in surfaces like masonite, wood, and canvas. the imprimatura worked well in its magic of playing with light absorbency, making the face almost luminescent. good good. more as long as the piece progresses. :)

+

the open edition prints poll is still open. i got samples of papers from the printing service, the prints will come out awesome. i am amazed how Persephone and Duality as disputing the first place in public preference. thanks for your voting, folks!

The Serpent's Stratagem

Acrylics and pencil on panel

12 x 12

2011

NFS

Temporal

Acrylics, oil based pencil and watersoluble pencil on gessoed hardboard

14 x 18

2011

$800 USD

Temporal means "storm" in Portuguese.

Rebirth

Rebirth

Acrylics, oil based pencil and watersoluble pencil on gessoed hardboard

16 x 20

2011

$1,000 USD

Fragmented

Acrylics, oil based pencil and watersoluble pencil on gessoed hardboard

14 x 18

2011

$800 USD

The Waterman: Unio Mystica

Watercolor on illustration board,
15 x 20
2009
$480

Middle panel of The Waterman triptych.


I can see the King coming.
Naked and bright, like all the truths should be.
Simple and strong, with stars in his eyes,
and heart of petals, bathing the ground.

I can see the King coming,
and he comes barefoot, hair in the wind,
with no jewels or swords,
like a simple man,
bringing drinking water on his shoulders.
His hands carry the roses that blossom in the cross,
and his crown is a thousand petals lotus.
The King smiles, he is beautiful
and from his mouth lilies sprout,
and all the elements dance at his feet.
In his words the god of me rises,
and fingers my soul with the colors of a whole Universe.
The golden serpent rises,
and I, the free Fool, grow wings,
and dance at the edge of a cliff of dreams.

I can see the King coming
bringing many Graals
that are given freely, in the hands of the rich and the poor,
in the hands of the sane and the ill,
and of the children in backyards.
His kingdom is not of this world, even being so close
that we almost can touch it.
And it's in it that I see him, in red sunny afternoons,
smiling like it was the beginning of the world,
spinning the stars of Aquarius
and telling me secrets.

about "The Scream"

i explained in this post a little of what lead me to make The Scream. it's basically a piece about violence against women, a subject that really sensitizes me not only for being a woman, but also for being human and for dreaming and working for a better world based on respect and equality.

my first certainty about this work, in my brainstorm, was that I didn't want a piece that was oppressing or showed only the pain of the violence or abuse. I wanted something that could have a "voice", that could help people to reflect about how to change things.

I first envisioned a monochromatic piece, in brown tones, with some hints of red. but once more I couldn't help myself and distributed warm colors all over. they ended up contributing for the dynamism and strength of the piece.

the symbolism of the piece is quite simple and direct. there's a dual figure in the center. it might be the same woman in two different attitudes, if you like. the red-haired one is scared and in pain. she holds her bleeding heart and wears a mask to keep herself hidden from judgment or other losses. she might be the one who was raped in a party after drinking too much, the one who was abused for a family member but preferred to hide in order to do not cause disturbances in the family, the one who was beaten for her husband but kept silent for fear of losing her children. she might be one of the Congo women. she might be me, or you.

the black-haired woman doesn't wear a mask. she is screaming - although sometimes I think that she is in fact singing. what she releases from within herself is a bird, red as life. is the desire for freedom from a world conquered by force, not love. she screams her right to be treated as a human being instead of a second-class citizen, as a partner instead of a subordinate. her right to express her own ideas and have their own attitudes without being demonized for them.

there are also masks at the bottom, a pile of masks without faces behind them. they once belonged to women who decided to scream instead of keep silent and anonymous. that decided to stop pretending that that's how the world is and there's nothing that can be done to change it. but there's so much one can do just by having a voice... to demand political and social responsibilities. to educate the new generations toward respect and non-perpetuation of old habits that put men in a privileged position. in other words, to demand respect for being human.

the scream

here it is. description later!

in progress: spirits + the scream

Ascension and The Scream.

I've been able to accomplish more than I expected these last days and I'm happy. sometimes I think there's some kind of magic around here that makes me able to do so much and being a mother at the same time.

"Ascension" is almost done. it lacks only a few details now.

I decided to cut off some inches of board at the sides since I wanted to "lighten up" the figures and all that blue and violet in their hair. I committed the mistake of using too much warm colors like yellow and brown in the surroundings, and that kind of stole the attention from the middle.

I've also started working in my next project, which I've been calling "The Scream":







for the ones who've been visiting this blog for a while, this is the picture I planned to make about violence against women. I brainstormed the concept for several days and came to the conclusion that I should express something more dynamic than simply portraying the sadness and despair of the violence victims. I wanted to show solutions and hope. I then decided to "blend" two women: one in attitude of despair and another in attitude of rebelliousness and of breaking of the silence. because I believe that women must stop keeping their mouths shut, for fear, shame or even love. I understand the difficulty of all this. I myself had been a victim of such situations of abuse and this piece is my very own scream... and I wish it could be a scream for other women too, an invitation to put their "masks" aside and rebel. please DO NOT ACCEPT BEING ABUSED. you are a human being, and many times so full of love that you are unable to react. and for the authorities and society in general, I wish more understanding and compassion. I wish you could think in more ways to protect and support the victims of abuse and help them restart their lives with dignity. being a woman has to be a reason for pride and celebration, not to be fearful or feel humiliated.

when this piece is completed, I'd like to offer the rights of reproduction to pro-women rights groups, in case of interest to use it in items that can help maintain them or any other useful purpose. please contact me if you have interest or know somebody that may have.

unfinished projects.

I wanted to show off two of the paintings I've done (and have not finished yet) after all the experimentation I've been through. in these paintings abstractionism started to become very evident as a style. I don't know if they really lack something, I'm going to check them out more carefully in a near future.

Flourish is about to let your talents and everything strong and positive inside you to come out and make of you a reference and inspiration for everybody else. simply as that. so many people are so talented but hide their potential afraid of intimidating the ones that are supposed to be not that "special"... they do not suspect that they would give the others the"permission" to flourish also! it's also a message for the people that believe they have nothing to offer: try to leave accommodation, self-pity, self-denial or whatever negative emotion or opinion you have about yourself outside your door. believe in me, nobody is here for nothing. you are a co-creator and a very important part of the Universe. so, assume this position and start seeking for your light inside. flourish!

Totem #1 is the first of a series of pieces that represent an animal being attached to a human figure, like if they are part of a same body. they can also be animal totems, if you prefer. the Totems carry also a very simple concept: our deep attachment to Nature as one single thing. in those pieces, I intend to make the human head always black and white and naturalist, while the animal is colorful and filled with abstract shapes.

about Hecate

so I finished Hecate some days ago, right after the New Year. although I still think that there are things to be corrected, I got proud for this being a kind of milestone for me. first because it's the first "large" piece I make (20 x 15 inches), practically double the size of my former drawings; second, because it's the first work on illustration board I really managed to finish; and third, because is the first finished work of my new phase (I have 2 more pieces on paper I started several weeks ago but have not showed here yet.)

now, let's go to the story:
the piece was initially planned to portray Lilith. then, I added the two heads beside the main figure, which immediately reminded me of the triple aspect of a goddess I was very fond of: Hecate, the Greek goddess of witchcraft, childbirth and the crossroads. Hecate has power over skies, earth and sea, which I wanted to show in each one of the three figures. the central one carries several symbols attributed to the goddess: the pomegranates in her hair remind us of the legend of Persephone, in which she plays an important role; while she hides her right eye behind her hand, the eye still shows through the fingers, showing that she's got the "vision", or the capacity of seeing the past, present and future. the moon under her right breast denotes that Hecate is a moon goddess, and that she protects the women in labor and their offspring - the moon is associated to the motherhood. the black dog is one of her companions.

Hecate symbolism is so rich that your imagination simply flies away. I tried to be the simplest I could when showing her main attributes. who knows I can make another picture of her in the future.

William Blake, Hecate or The Three Fates