Molly Ringwald Imitation Portrait

"Molly Ringwald Imitation Portrait", Graphic Design

For my Photography I class, we had an assignment to do three imitation portraits. For one of my portraits, I decided to replicate the 1986 Seventeen Magazine cover featuring Molly Ringwald. There is no huge conceptual idea behind this piece; it was created for the assignment. Several months ago, my friend mentioned that I looked like Molly Ringwald, so I decided to embrace our similar features, and use it to my advantage in this assignment. I used Photoshop CS6 for the picture editing and details, and I used Adobe Illustrator CS6 to layout the magazine cover.

Comments, critiques, questions?
Be curious.

Peace,

Ella Bella

Multiple Personalities

"Multiple Personalities Self-Portrait", original photography with photoshop effects

Hey bloggers, fans, critics, and everyone!

I know it has been a while since I have posted some new artwork. However, that's also good news because I have been busy creating some new pieces! Here is one of my newest ones called, "Multiple Personalities Self-Portrait", which features 10 versions of me!

With this piece I wanted to convey the different facets of me through the replication of my body. I dressed differently for each facet of my personality that I wanted to convey. For example, I am sure you can pick out some obvious personality types, such as: "athletic" and "nerdy". There are also some more complex dimensions of my personality revealed in this photograph.

This piece came from an assignment that we had in photography class to demonstrate our skills in photoshop. How do you think I did?

I am so happy to be posting on the blog, again, and so glad you are taking the time our of your day to read this!

Peace,

Ella Bella

New Art!

Hello everyone!

I know it has been quite sometime since I have last posted some art work. The good news is: I have been busy creating artwork! I am so excited to share my new photography and Graphic Design with you. As we all do at some point or another, I have been occupied with a lot scheduling, work, and tasks. 

I also wanted to update you on my etsy shop. Yes, I had previously planned to sell my paintings on my etsy shop. However, I am now realizing that this is the time for me to focus more creating artwork, then selling it. Although I am very upset that I am not in the position to sell my art work right now, I do know that the time will eventually come when I will be able to do so. I will keep you updated on my etsy shop progress when that day comes!

So this blog post is all about just keeping you updated, and letting you know that I will be posting some artwork this week, and thank you for being faithful viewers and fans!

Peace,

Ella

New Logo!

Hello kittens!

Today is an exciting day! Why? Because today is the day that I post my first logo!

I had previously blogged that I would be selling my paintings in a few weeks on etsy.com. I wanted to create my own logo for my etsy shop, and overall, just for business purposes (because I had my first customer as a free-lance photographer this summer!). I drew mayn designs, and I liked many of them. I spend quite a long time trying to decide which drawing to use, and I thought I had hit a dead end, when...bam! This one picture that I drew stared right at me, and I knew that drawing was the one that would become my logo. 

This graphic that I have posted here includes the original drawing combined with information. The picture logo that I spent so much time deciding on was the image in the bottom right of this graphic. The logo has two eyebrows, one lifted up and lips and a mole.

This logo is close to my fascination and love for Marilyn Monroe. I talk about my connection with Marilyn Monroe in an earlier post (in which I created a self-portrait with her eyes, lips, and mole). When I first discovered Marilyn Monroe in middle school, I remember instantly being connected with her image. I never really knew why I felt this connection with the idea of Marilyn Monroe, but the early Hollywood beauty always seemed to stare beyond the internet image and see me. As if, I had known her. As I am reading a biography on her, I am finding out more why I feel connected with her as an icon, star, person, and artist. In a tribute to Marilyn Monroe, I added the mole to the logo. The lips are a cartoon version of my own, and the eye brows are based off of my own , as well (I love curving one eyebrow down and lifting one up...).

I hope you enjoy! Thoughts?

Soon to be selling...

Hello everyone!

I wanted to update you on when I will be selling my paintings.

Because of circumstances, I will start selling paintings throughout the year. I will also continue to post photographs of the paintings that
I plan to sell on here, first. This way, you can have a fresh sneak
peak at what I will be selling!

I have been thinking a lot about selling my artwork, and this is really something that I
have been wanting to do for a long time, now. Ever since I was young, it was my dream to be an artist, and it is so surreal that I will be able to sell my own artwork, soon! In the end, though, the art for me is not about the money.

I believe that the art process is healing for me, and I would imagine that a world without art would be very dull. Art is a beautiful, and worldly experience. I have been surprised to have run into as many people as I have that expect artists to work for free and live a humble life. Although I just stated that creating art isn't about the money, artists are still people who have families, bills, and are involved in other activities that require money. To me, an artist is someone who loves their job, and, in that, the term "artist" becomes a part of you, and not just your occupation.

I believe you should be able to live whatever life you want to live, and, in that statement, I am upholding your own ideals and occupations. It's beautiful that you can live your own life, and you can live to live, live to make money, live to die, and it's your choice, and that choice is powerful. To me, every human life is special, and if you want to work for no money as an artist, more power to you, but it shocked me that I ran into people who believed that a part of being an artist was being "poor", so to speak. All I can say is that, someone hasn't check up on history recently.

Continue being yourself. That is essential, and that is beautiful. {:

Thanks for reading my rant. What do you think?

Peace,

Ella

Custom-designed frame

Custom-designed frame, acrylics

I custom-designed this frame for a family print. Originally, I wanted to create a very textured frame. However, as things always shift and evolve around us, my frame idea evolved into something different.

I decided to use the palette knife, in order to create a thick texture (love using the palette knife!!!!). However, the white paint was more watery than I had anticipated, and did not create thick texture. Instead, it formed around the thick, black paint that had dried the day before the white was applied. 

I loved the ending result much better than my original idea! I went with a black & white scheme for the frame design because I knew that the picture already had a lot of color, and I wanted the frame to compliment the photo, but not dominate it. 

I have never designed a frame before, but I have certainly painted a lot, so this was a new experience that I really enjoyed, and I will definitely be doing more of it in the future!

What do you think about it? 

Peace,

Ella

Happy Anniversary

"Happy Anniversary", original photographs
I was asked by my friend, Becca, to shoot a series of portraits of her and her
sisters as a surprise for her parent's anniversary.

These are the group photographs, plus some sentimental graphics. 

It was a joy, and here is my artist's statement for it (addressed to their parents).

Becca approached me about creating a surprise for your Anniversary. She and her sisters decided that they wanted to pose in a series of photographs, in order to show you how much they love your dedication to each other and to family. After talking to Becca, I decided that I wanted to help collaborate with her and her sisters to create a keep sake that you two and the whole family could have for years to come.

Through the photo shoot, Becca, Laura, Michelle, Jessica and I were hoping to surprise you two. I have known Becca for a few years now, and meeting and working with Laura, Michelle, and Jessica as well was an amazing experience. I decided that I wanted to come as close as I could to capturing the girls’ appreciation, love and dedication to you two through this series of photographs. Originally, we had decided to stage the photo shoot at Dan Daniels Park because of the natural scenery. However, the day we chose to do the photo shoot ended up bringing scattered showers and thunderstorms. We then decided to move the location to downtown because of shelter, in case of more showers. This ended up being a wonderful choice, as downtown has been a long-time symbol of history, loyalty, and appreciation. I realized afterward that downtown was a great parallel for a successful relationship because as you two know, a solid relationship requires a strong history with each other, unwavering loyalty, and appreciation and love. We used several locations for the photo shoot: the train yard, around the Science Museum, and Down Town doors. I wanted to frame the girls to create a simple photograph, so they could show their love and appreciation for you two. It was their idea to keep the photographs in color, and they are all unedited. I kept them unedited because I felt that reflected the genuine quality of the girls and of your family.