Located in the Metro Detroit area, I am a female visual artist. I prefer oil paint and encaustic mediums because they are like yin and yang, opposite but interconnected. My oil paintings are very planned out. It can take a year or longer to create an oil painting, from the conception of the idea to taking the source photographs to the completion of the painting. The pieces are very planned and full of personal meaning. Working with encaustic mediums, hot beeswax mixed with resin, does not allow for precise work. It dries in minutes and requires flexibility. I find the two mediums keep me creatively balanced.

Painting is a meditative experience. When I dip my brush into the oil paint or hot wax, time ceases to exist. Some people call this the zone or being in the flow. Whatever you label it, I think Cecil B. DeMille’s quote says it best for me, “Creativity is a drug I cannot live without.” My happy place is my studio.

My current encaustic work is a salvage project. A friend’s art books were ruined in a flood. I use various images in my works along with old jewelry. The encaustic medium gives the pieces a mystical, dreamy quality befitting of the ancient masterpieces.

Because life is not all hearts and flowers. I also express my voice through oil paintings about mental illness and the vices that go with it. I feel art is a great visual impetus for a conversation about important societal issues. For me, being an artist is about touching people’s lives. I have heard more than once: Your painting is about me. It’s my story. Some of my paintings have prompted tears and hugs. This is why I paint what I do: connection is healing.

Subodh is a diversified artist who enjoys telling stories through her artwork, whether it is through landscape, flowers, or abstract art. Her art is a fusion of Eastern symbolism and Western composition, influenced by 16th and 17th-century Rajasthani and Mogul art, and accented by poetry, passages, and phrases in Hindi, Sanskrit, and English. She admires Georgia O’Keeffe for her floral influence and Frida Kahlo for her courage. Whether it is the serene beauty of nature, her spirituality, or the current political climate, she finds inspiration. Having a life shared between India and America, she sees the beautiful similarities, like love that transcends all borders. Highly individual in her style, her works are described as emotional, mysterious, personal, spiritual, and humorous.

Arlette Stella is an abstract painter with occasional work that expresses surrealism. Her work is characterized by bold colors since she is mainly color-blind and needs bold colors to see the work. Arlette’s philosophical nature is the basis for her work. Every work is the result of a conversation she has had with canvas, paints, and colors. She is self-taught, late-blooming, and unstoppable.

Arlette Stella works predominantly in acrylic paint. Because of the open nature, she is always exploring, she also experiments with gouache, acrylic ink, molding pastes, and water. Painting is, for Arlette, an exploration into the possibilities and depths of thought and feeling.

Each work aims to incite, inspire, and maybe even nudge (kick you in the yeah-butt!) the viewer to experience and act on kindness. Arlette states clearly: Kindness is my brand! Arlette Stella is an artist member of the San Diego Artist Guild of the San Diego Museum and the Artist Guild of Palm Springs/Palm Desert, among other groups.

My main style is to paint the desire to touch the beauty of the relationship between nature and humans, using colors that appear in my mind.

I have mainly painted portraits, especially those of women. These portraits are not completely abstract, but appear, for example, with some lack of facial expression or as a fusion of hair and scenery, connected with Nature, the Earth, and the Universe on the one hand, and with Love, the Birth, the Awe and such other mental movements on the other hand. Furthermore, my pieces are connected strongly with my mind, my situations, or someone close to me, so they are self-portraits themselves. Someone could analyze my pieces, but I never paint by analysis. I just do it completely freely, moved by strong passion.

As a watercolor artist, I am deeply inspired by the beauty of the world and strive to capture the beauty and complexity of life through an impressionistic realism style, which allows me to capture the mood and atmosphere of a subject. My work is a reflection of my innermost thoughts and emotions, influenced by the Tai Chi Yin Yang principle of balance and harmony.

In my work, I play with the interplay of light and dark, use contrasting colors to create depth and vibrancy and use dynamic composition and soft and hard brushstrokes to create a sense of movement and energy. I believe that art should not only be visually pleasing but also evocative and thought-provoking and have an emotional impact on the viewer. Ultimately, my goal is to inspire others to embrace the beauty and wonder of the natural world and find peace and balance in the Yin and Yang of life.

I am fascinated by the fluidity and transparency of the watercolor medium and the ways in which it can transform even the most mundane objects into something truly remarkable. One of my favorite aspects of the artistic process is the element of chance. I embrace happy accidents, allowing the materials and techniques to guide me and bring unexpected beauty to my work. My inspiration comes from the world around me, and I am constantly seeking new ways to interpret and express the beauty of the natural world.

Through my art, I hope to convey a sense of peace and tranquility to the viewer. I believe that watercolor through its expressive and versatile nature has the power to evoke emotion and to transport us to another place and time. I hope to inspire others to take a moment to appreciate the world around them.

I mainly work intuitively, allowing my imagination to guide me, no matter what the media. My interests in architecture and oriental art influence my art. I have experimented with various art forms including watercolors, ceramics, and fiber. My current concentration is in abstract acrylic painting. Over the years, I have had the privilege of learning from many talented artists, and I have incorporated that knowledge into my artistic expression.

I don’t constrain myself to one type of medium or style. I often change it up depending on the kind of medium and what I’m feeling. My work is a response to and inspired by my mental health. I draw from vivid dreams as a result of my mental health and also as a release. To allow me to process what is happening at the moment. When I struggle to define what’s going on in my head with words I process it with my art. It’s becoming a driving force in my art journey. I can recall what my feelings and headspace were in making all my pieces. A part of me is left within each work, big or small.

Starting with the first application of color, I love to let a painting take me where it wants to go. I construct/deconstruct in layer upon layer. I will study the piece and ask myself a series of questions about design and composition, because the elements of a good painting are just as important, if not more so, in abstract work! My paintings are my expression of the beauty that color brings to arrangements of shapes, lines, values, and textures. I am grateful that I have color in my life. I am so grateful that the world is in technicolor.

I live for the moment when the art is finished -when that one last highlight makes the art look like the thing. As a kid, drawing along with Mark Kistler, I loved adding the curved action lines that turned a shark into a shark on a mission. As a teenager, I loved remembering to leave a tiny bit of paper white to make an eye seem wet and alive. Now, I kind of love the tedious inclusion of every fold, bend, curve, or shadow that makes me say, “Ah, there it is.”

There is no theme to my work except that I like to paint things that I like to look at. I like an unexpected angle or subject. I like when the photographer’s reflection makes the picture an accidental self-portrait. I like when an image contains a little humor. I like abstraction, but only when someone else is doing it. I decidedly don’t like writing about art, but understand that it is necessary.