A blurb on what inspired me to create my artworks and aura painting



Tuesday 16 September 2014

Painting Emotions and Spiritual Energy Workshop in Seoul


Long overdue blog updates on the workshop I taught back in August 2014 at Jankura Art Space, Seoul.
It is always a pleasure to teach at Jankura and every time I go back to Seoul I am always looking forward to this opportunity. My previous Aura-focused workshop at Jankura back in April was well attended and positively received, so this time I wanted to do something similar yet different. As a result, I thought to explore further the theme of  'Perception of emotions' more than focusing on reading spiritual energy.



Because of this much broader approach, all of the attendees appeared to be even more engaged this time, (even though the workshop was taught in English and not everyone was fluent in it), mostly because everyone felt somehow familiar with the topic of feeling and expressing emotions. Through bespoke tutor-led exercises, during the workshop all the students were able to enhance their perception of emotions and use these to produce something artistic. 

The workshop concluded with students describing their paintings to the rest of the class, in an art critic-esque way, and why the emotions were painted as such. With my surprise even those less artistically gifted were able to create remarkable artworks and in the end left the workshop rather satisfied with their little masterpieces!!




Once again I would like to express my thanks to Mike Stewart, owner of Jankura, for inviting me at his art academy and, most important, for giving me this wonderful opportunity. 

~ See you all again soon! ~



Sunday 14 September 2014

New and last painting of the Midian series: MIDIAN (정아)


Finally the last painting part of the series dedicated to the Korean band Midian  is now completed!!! The latest portrait belong to the only female member in the band, second guitar, 신정아. In a still primarily male-dominated environment such as the Heavy Metal scene (this particularly in Korea where, from my experience, women into Heavy Metal and Rock seem to be almost as rare as diamonds...) being the only female member of a band means working much harder then the rest and always having to prove yourself.

신정아's energy is definitely a really strong and somehow a dark one yet it retains the sensitivity and kindness of femininity. Inspiration for the piece comes from a field of wild flowers basking in the moonlight. The picture in my mind was actually that of dark red or purple flowers but as I know nothing about flowers it was really difficult to find a suitable image in internet. I hope the one I found still gives the same feeling, as it is really similar to the vision I had in my mind before starting to paint. This piece is actually extra sparkling and the purple is really vivid: I did try to represent on canvas the effect of the moonlight reflecting on the delicate flower petals.



Midian (정아)
Wild flowers basking in the moonlight




Sunday 7 September 2014

New Painting: MIDIAN (보현)

Here it comes the penultimate aura painting for the Korean band MIDIAN, the portrait of their lead guitarists, 김보현.

Inspiration for the piece comes from the image of the somehow fairytale picturesque landscape such as that of a waterfall or a stream with ivy and musk growing along its banks (a bit on the line of those Arthurian landscapes visible in Lord of the Ring's Elven cities). I tried to convey in the painting the purity and strength of both running water and nature combined and give the feeling of something in continuous movement, which reminds me exactly of 김보현's energy.


MIDIAN (보현)
The powerful waterfall