Boxing Club Series ~ New painting!

Following my recent trip to Seoul and after a lot of time since my last painting of this series, here it comes my new work for a Korean Boxing Club!! The new work is for Kim Taek Min, a boxer that I recently met in Seoul during the 'Night with the Boxers' event (see previous blog entry for details).

The feeling I had was that of a dangerous wild animal hidden inside a dark cave and ready to strike at any time. I tried to replicate this in the energy pattern of the painting so to give the feeling of a very intricate forest with many hidden enemies. The surface of this piece is really sparkling, like menacing eyes would glow in the dark from the thick of the forest.

Hope you like it!

 Taek Min Kim - The dangerous forest

Kim Taek Min

A night with the Boxers! ~ Talking about art and boxing

Earlier this month my friend Loren invited me to Gangnam in Seoul to attend an evening with some of the boxers for whom he commissioned my aura-inspired paintings a while back. During the evening they filmed a documentary on Korean, Japanese and international boxing with interviews of all the boxers. Although I was not really keen on being caught on camera, somehow I think I ended up being part of some of the filming...(gosh!). But I have to admit it was really interesting to listen to all of boxers' life stories and get to know how they started their career on the ring. 

Not only it was a great evening overall but I really enjoyed having the opportunity to finally get to know in person people for whom I created a painting that has since been replicated on their fighting gowns. Below is Jungsik and the portrait I did for him in 2012 (I was told that he actually lost the first fight fought wearing the robe with my portrait ~~ I felt a bit guilty about that!)

Additionally I had the pleasure to meet a few new boxers and ended up greeting goodbyes with a bunch of new commissions. So expect to see more paintings coming this way soon!!! I am so looking forward to paint more portraits...

~ Once again I would like to say a BIG THANK YOU to my friend Loren for giving me an amazing opportunity as an artist and also for allowing me to be part of his boxing adventure. ~

Aura Painting Workshop in Seoul - The event!

On Saturday 12 April 2014 at Jankura Artspace 잔쿠라 아트스페이스 in Seoul I had the pleasure to teach a workshop on Aura Painting to a full house of art students with an interest in the esoteric.

 In truth I could not have asked for more!!! As usual the support and encouragement offered by Mike Stewart, Jankura's owner and director, was amazing and I have to say, after several weeks in Korea, I did really appreciate his idea of having a style pre-workshop 'lunch meeting' at one of the British pubs down the road from Jankura! (wow, what can you find in Seoul, hum? Excellent Fish and Chips like in England!)

After setting up the room with candles and all what necessary to create the right atmosphere, the workshop started off with a presentation on 'Aura and Energy' and how to use these as a source of creative inspiration for painting. But it was when the actually painting started that the workshop really took off. Only at the very end we discussed results and the meaning of the colours so none of the participant felt restricted by the fear of using the wrong colour during the painting session and were able to express themselves freely and painted what they felt more appropriate.

During the two hours students produced a lot of art: first a portrait of their own inner energy and subsequently a portrait of the energy of another person in the same room. I have uploaded here a selection of some of the work produced during the day.

Many students decided to paint my very own aura!  It was very interesting for me to see myself through their eyes and artistic skills. I was truly touched and mesmerized by their effort. Here following are a couple of examples.

Overall, what an amazing day!!! I am looking forward to return to Seoul and hopefully teach another workshop on the same theme.

~ SEOUL wait for me, I will be back!!! ~

Esoteric Art - more Aura Paintings!

Despite having painted these two pieces a very long time ago, I though to add this entry because for an artist the best reward of all is to see the faces of satisfied customers, even better when these are close friends.

These two pieces are part of my Esoteric art Aura series and are sketches in acrylics on papers. Due to the success of this series I am actually considering doing more esoteric art and I might participate to fairs and exhibitions on this theme, so watch out for more aura painting to come!!!

Aura Series - Mike

Aura Series - Liviana

Charity Work

After what it feels like a very long break, here I am, finally working on some artworks!!! It was about time I say!

This time I have created a long overdue series for a UK charity. There is nothing better than creating some art for a good cause so I am totally thrilled to be one of the participating artists. These pieces are extremely glittered and glossy despite the small size (CD case size, 12 cm x 12 cm) and I am pretty happy with the final result. I hope profits for their sale will help raise money for those in needs.

As soon as the pieces are up on sale I will  post here details of the charity, just in case someone might want to participate to the cause and buy some art!

Autumn's Colours 1

Autumn's Colours 2

Emotions Series - Anger

Emotions Series - Jealousy 

Emotions Series - Love

The Phoenix - Araba Fenice

Whilst spending time in Italy aura painting at the Ferrara Buskers Festivals I was commissioned a couple of paintings by my friend Gaia for her restaurant-pizzeria Scaccianuvole, Ferrara, Italy.

The first painting is called The Phoenix as I wanted this to represent a great new beginning for Gaia's new thriving business. To the back of the painting I added a good luck spell which I hope will bring happiness and success to the business and, most important, to my friend. Still working on the second painting. Wait and see...

The Phoenix - L'Araba Fenice 

Gaia: io e la sorella ti siamo sempre vicine in spirito! (~mwahahhahah~)

SNR: a Saturday night of Renaissance Art in Seoul

A few weeks back I took part to this event organised by Mike Stewart from Jankura Artspace in Seoul, dedicated to Italian Renaissance Art. It was a real pleasure to be back at Jankura for this and Mike organised a great night which was very well attended!

Fist off we started with a drawing session with a model dressed like the Mona Lisa and posing as the Gioconda's painting (Mike painted a great background for it!!). The resemblance as a hole was truly uncanny!!!

Despite all the technical problems encountered with the setting up (a gigantic THANK YOU to James Greer for helping out on this), everything worked well in the end and the lecture on Italian Renaissance Art was very well received. My presentation caught a lot of interest from the crowd and we had an excellent Q&A session with lot of questions asked about the lives of Renaissance artists. I was truly impressed!!!

Whilst there I noticed that not only one of my paintings was still hanging on the wall of the art centre but one of my little sketches from the Hanbok (한복을 입은 여자) drawing session had been used by Mike in one of the advertising leaflets at Jankura!!!!!! I felt really flattered by that.

I would like to say thanks once again to Mike for organising the event and giving me the opportunity to talk about Art.

See you all again in Seoul!