I have been amazingly busy this season with all the spring and early summer weddings coming up. I am creating, painting and drawing everyday. Several weeks agao I took some time to reflect on my experience as an aritst and where I draw my inspirations.
I have a deep rooted background in Fine Art that began as a young child drawing cartoon characters after bedtime by the bathroom light. I continued to explore my love of art with an amazing teacher, Sue Hand (what a perfect name) who introduced me to the wonders of watercolor. I continued my passion in college while studio mix media painting and drawing.
I still find myself referring to the masters or at least the masters of my experience. Frida Kahlo is one of my masters. Two weekends ago my husband and I took an impromptu trip to Philadelphia. We stayed in the historic Boutique hotel, The Morris House, near Antiques Row and enjoyed every wonderful minute of our trip – what a wonderful city full of hidden treasures.
We were lucky enough to enjoy the Frida Kahlo exhibit during its opening weekend at The Philadelphia Museum of Art. I have studied Kahlo, watched the movie but never had the privelege to experience her work “in person”. The four room exhibit is immediately engaging with is intensely colored walls and the first glance of Kahlo’s richly hued, precisely painted canvases.
As I ventured deeper into the exhibit I found myslef intoxicated by every photo from her personal collection, every artifact, every canvas. I marveled at the intensely powerful stories you could feel she was compelled to paint. Her canvases were a diary of a life rich with experience, love and pain. I often felt I couldn’t get close enough – I stood within an inch of her “Self – Portrait with Thorn Necklace” and got lost in her sunsual brushstokes and velvetly color palette.
If you have the chance, I urge you to experience this exhibit. Whether you are an artist, lover of color or simply someone with a story to tell – see this exhbit.
