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.

"Compassion Lost (with beginnings of Cubism)"

 "Compassion Lost (with beginnings of Cubism)", acrylics, water color, pen
(11 x 14)


This piece was created in order to express my feelings towards past relationships. 
 I made a man and a woman the subject of this painting. The man (right) is pictured
 offering a rose and crying to the woman (left). However, the woman is crossing her arms
with an angry expression on her face. I placed the image of the Golden Mean Rectangle
on top to show how this relationship cycles around and around.


This is my reason for creating this specific art piece; however, it is open to interpretation,
and, as always, you are free to take any meaning you want from it!


This piece will be on etsy.com with a price in a few weeks.
Let me know if you are interested in this painting.

 *All pieces come with a clear finishing coat over the original painting for protection. They also come with the title, and artist's signature on the back.

"Spring Time Pond"

"Spring Time Pond", Acrylics
(16 x 20)

I created this piece with a custom-designed stencil of an abstracted bumblebee. 
This piece was originally created to be a figure-ground study (where the subjects and
the background both neither advance nor recede and act as decorative space). However, as this piece evolved it turned more into an abstracted view of a pond.

The price will be posted on etsy.com in a few weeks.
Let me know if you have any interest in this piece!

*All pieces come with a clear finishing coat over the original painting for protection. They also come with the title, and artist's signature on the back.

Esty.com

Hello Everyone!

I wanted to let all of my blog followers and fellow bloggers
that I will be selling some of my art work on etsy.com soon!

Etsy is easy to navigate, and you can search for me on the site
by my e-mail, ella.bella7@gmail.com!

I really do love all of my blog follwers and supporters, so because
of your positive feedback, and interaction on my blog, I will
be posting all of the art work that I will be selling on here, first.

(so you can get a first look, and pick...contact me at my above 
e-mail if you are interested in any of them!)

Peace,

Ella Bella

Rj's Surprise

"Rj's Surprise", pen, photoshop

Merging Realities

"Merging Realities", Acrylic, India ink, mat board

Hey kittens, sorry it's been a while since I've posted art work...it has been crunch time as far as the spring semester goes. This is one of my last pieces for Design II. And, guess what!? It's 2D & 3D, fun, hmm? I made a woman from simultaneous perspective with abstracted colours. I do not have any certain conceptual purpose behind this piece, but I do think that the overlapping hand came out more creepy than intended (she's going for my face!! ahh!!). Any comments? Peace out.

A Continuation of Katie

This is a continuation of my earlier series of the most fun model, Katie. {:

Pepper Logo

"Pepper Tat", original drawing, colour swatches
I originally drew this character as a food self-portrait (which can be found in the archive!), but my mentor, Mr. Henderson, wanted to create a car decal for his truck (or should we say a tattoo for his car?). I decided to redraw the original self-portrait, and give it more elements of Mr. Henderson, and base loosely off of Pepper Pots from Iron Man (which became the central focus for the piece!). Then, we abstracted the colours, and created a closed colour scheme, which became a better abstract representation of an actual pepper, as well. And! The decal has now been printed (Thank you Mr. Henderson), and I have a few sheets of the sticker...one currently resides on my laptop. Any ideas of where to put the others? 

Colour & Space: A New Series

Colour & Space Series original photography, graphic design
(T-B: Katie (awaiting title, ideas?), self-portrait, "The Innovator with Lana Del Rey"
Hey all you kittens! I know it's been a while since I've posted some art...but, stay assured, I have been busy creating it! The title is to-be-determined as of now because I have just started this series. However, I can tell you my inspiration that sparked this series: this series, like the pieces themselves, are a collection of several different concepts. Upon studying colour theory, my professor had the class watch scenes from Fantasia (still one of my favourite movies to this day). I was really inspired by Walt Disney's colour palette and selection-rewatching scenes from this movie reminded me what a masterpiece the movie was, and how much I have missed viewing it. This series has also been sparked due to the music I have been listening to-specifially Lana Del Rey (thank you Rashawn for introducing her to me!). I feel that her music is very layered-as my art work usually turns out to be. I am also aiming to better my skills of using space and perception in my works (studying this unit in class, now). And for now, that'll do, Pig.

Series of Hunter

"Series of Hunter in the Fall of 2011", original photographs (untouched)
This is my roommate, Hunter. I have mentioned her earlier on my blog when I did a portrait of her out of cotton and denim. We went out with two other students to take portraits around the Lynchburg College Campus. Anyone who hasn't visited-should. Especially if you're into nature and outdoorsy activities. 

For you, Olivia {:

"The Lesser Hand" (top), "Releasing" (bottom), acrylics on canvas board.
I posted these two pieces for you, Olivia! My dear friend, Olivia (with such a classy fashion sense and a natural knack for photography), is working on an abstract expressionist piece, so I am posting these two pieces in honor of you! Whether these help with your assignment, or just help you procrastinate...hopefully you find them of some use. {:  I created these two pieces a while ago in my free time. These two pieces are evidence that art is my way of expressing emotions, concepts, words, and many more things. I created the bottom one in a fit of anger, and, I can honestly say that I felt relieved after I created it. Sometimes, all you need to do is throw a canvas board on the ground, fling some paint, and scratch the board a little bit, and....voila! Okay, so it's not always that easy, obviously, but I can say that Art is there for you whenever you need it. (By the way, check out Olivia's art blog at http://oliviaephotography.tumblr.com/) #supportyoungartists

Lost, partner art

"Lost" Partner art; original photographs, digital effects.
I've heard that young artists often spend their early years in art creating self-portraits. I can say that I definitely have done quite a few (as I'm sure you have noticed...:P). I have just generally found that using myself as a subject for my art is convenient, for starters-because you already have consent. But, on a deeper level, self-portraits are so much more than convenient-they are a way of figuring out who I am and expressively documenting who I am at that moment in time...which seems is always changing...

Movement.

"Movement", spray-paint, charcoal, paper.
This is an art piece I did for the Value Unit. This piece isn't extremely conceptual, and the beauty of its minimalism and abstractness is that you can grasp whatever meaning what you want from it. {: I wanted to achieve a clean-cut, but intriguing design with this piece. As time goes on, I continue to admire simple, clean-cut, but riveting designs. This was one of my first pieces that I intentionally explored a more clean approach to my art work. You must know,Photo credit goes to Professor Pumphrey, my design teacher. Comments? Don't be shy!

Vibrant Rose

"Vibrant Rose", original photograph, digital effects.
This photograph was inspired by a rose that was given to me a while ago. I took many photographs of it, and decided that I would hang it to dry. I took photographs of it as it aged. I decided to go back to one of the first photographs I took of it, and use it to reflect how this rose made me feel when it was first given to me.

Good job, Martha Alf

"A Piece of Soul Escaped with studies of Martha Alf", original photography, digital effects, original drawings.
This piece was inspired by the song, "Sleeping with Giants" by the Academy Is...There is a line, in specific, that states, "A piece of my soul escaped", and I what it would look like if a piece of my soul did escape-and this is the product! And thank you to South Park, for making this art piece strictly ironic (for those of you who do not know, South Park made an episode on Gingers, and said they do not have souls, so many people would jokingly argue that I have no soul for it to actually escape...). I love working in layers, and I decided to include  a series of thumbnails that I drew in a Martha Alf study I did for drawing class. I included them because I have always loved to draw, and wanted to show that I am currently studying how to better my techniques and my dedication to art. If you look closely, you can see parts of still lives that I replicated from her drawings...more power to Martha Alf for making fruit and everyday objects interesting (because I certainly have almost no desire for capturing the essence of a tomato...:P). As for the rest of the elements in the piece...I'll leave it up to your imagination. ;)

Free Paint Samples!

"Simplification of Dalí's The Christ of St.John of the Cross", canvas,spray paint, samples.
I recently created this art piece for my Design Fundamentals 2 class. The assignment was to create a replication of a "master" work, but to turn it into a value study. I used paint samples because I did this piece not long after I finished the auction item (so my hands were in the pre-carpel tunnel state...le sigh). My art teacher had mentioned doing a value study with paint samples, and I like the idea a lot (and so did my sore hands), so I went to Wal Mart and grabbed all the paint samples that consisted of values only. I honestly wished I would have spent more than one day on this project because it turned out to be more of an abstraction of the original than a replication...so it didn't meet the objectives as much as I would've like for it to. A huge positive about this piece is that this is the first canvas that I successfully spray-painted evenly (one step close to a master graffiti artist :P)I am going to do another piece soon with more paint samples...so stay tuned...and hopefully I won't get busted for taking too many free paint samples...

20+ hours later...

 "Mirrored Memories", original photo collage-photos taken by yours truly.
My mom and I collaborated on this item that we made for the annual auction that Sacred Heart School holds every year. Every year, each teacher is required to come up with an original auction item. We originally were going to make a photo collage wreath of the students in her class. However, my mom had the idea of giving it a more utilitarian aspect, as well. She wanted the piece to be decorative, but also serve a purpose. My mom picked out a mirror that had a wooden frame with French curve cut outs. We arranged the photos that I had taken and editted over the course of the week on the frame. I then proceeded to spend 20+ hours cutting out every French curve. 2 Xacto knife blades and 2 sore arms later...voila! Ha ha...sounds easier than it was, but the hard work paid off-the mirror sold for $210.00! As an alumni of Sacred Heart, I was glad to contribute to the school's benefit, and it was wonderful working with my mom. Our collaboration was a success. ;)

Valentine's Day

"Suga, Suga", original digital photography, digital effects
This photo collage was named after an inside joke that Hunter and Cole have together (Title credited to musicians Babie Bash & Frankie J). I created this piece in honour of Valentine's Day and to show that there is genuine love in the world. The couple's chemistry is evident on camera, which makes them a great couple to photograph. Often, it's hard to photograph more than one person because there are so many more variables that go into the composition. However, Cole and Hunter are a pleasure to photograph because they are both naturals in front of the lens-and even more so because of how they "click." O, shout out to Cole and Hunter-thanks for all the awesome weekends...looking forward to many more. XD By the way, the quote at the top is credited to Audrey Hepburn.

More Katie

 "Katie", original photograph series
This is my second post of photographs that I took of Katie...all of these are unedited. {:

Love you, Mom

"Young Adulthood", original photograph with digital effects
Just having fun with this photograph, instead of doing other things that are productive...
I decided to title this one, "Young Adulthood" because it was inspired by a graphic in the Wall Street Journal. It was a comical picture of a teenager's brain, that I found very funny and accurate in a strange way. The article was about all of the things that occupy a teenager's mind, and the picture showed words, such as: "Angst", "Vroooom", and "Heartbreak". I decided to piece together my face in different values and colours (with different proportions) to show how this is such a transitional time in my life. It is a transitional time in many teenager's lives (and all young adults, too)-I wanted to portray the different sides of me that may develop or happen to be an influential part of who I am now. As for the background....that's ,"City-Scape Puddle Reflection" (thank you, Mom for helping me title it!).