aNaMaRiA ~ artblog

Tuesday, July 4, 2017

NAIDOC WEEK



We are celebrating NAIDOC WEEK, a time to honour Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture! Let’s continue recognising, experiencing, valuing and learning from the undeniable contribution and vital presence of indigenous people all over the world! Here I’m sharing with you one of the animated illustrations created for the lovely ARTISTS OF AMPILATWATJA project. 😄 🌿

Monday, June 26, 2017

Drawing & interpreting people




More sketches. Sometimes I feel I can draw what I see, sometimes there’s an obstacle in the middle. Anxious and rewarding days… both are worth living 🌿
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Monday, June 19, 2017

Painting leaves



Inspired by Rosie’s painting. 😄 She first started with green lines. Then she painted smaller, uniform marks: blue, purple and yellow. And then she swapped her paintbrush for a thin stick and began adding bright dots to each plant, like morning dew, intensifying their uniqueness. I thought about her when I was drawing the stems and petals, it felt like meditating, like knitting… “one by one… all is fine… we are connected”. 🌿


Thursday, June 15, 2017

Sketching expressions


Night sketches. I’m designing a few characters for @karukaru.studio, and drawing real people helps me to understand better how to make emotions visible. I’m feeling grateful because there’s always something to learn and re-learn, and so many lovely people out there to get inspired by! 😄🌿

Monday, June 12, 2017

Australian plants pattern



Another piece for the ARTISTS OF AMPILATWATJA project. I enjoyed designing the plants and thinking about the colours in relation to the work created by the aboriginal artists. I definitely love working with silhouettes and exploring shapes! 😄🌿

Wednesday, June 7, 2017

Sketching lovely animals :)


Sunday, June 4, 2017

Aboriginal painting inspiration



I’d like to share with you the image inspired in Margaret’s painting. She talked about the Therrpeyt (bush medicine) and how you can boil it, drink it and it makes you better if you have a cold. What I love about the ARTISTS OF AMPILATWATJA project is that you are given the time to contemplate a painting being made and you feel connected to the artist and the person. When I saw her canvas I noticed a little stream, a vibrant blue line, a landmark in the middle of a pattern. I knew she had visited this place many times and although its shape was abstract and minimal in her painting, it felt real… her story is real… the wisdom behind her words are real. That was my inspiration. 🌿

Wednesday, May 31, 2017

Self portrait :)


Self portrait 😄
Gouaches, confronting and revealing gouaches, I missed you.

Saturday, May 27, 2017

Medicinal bush plants painting



Another piece for the ARTISTS OF AMPILATWATJA project. Here is Lily boiling some medicinal plants in water. The colour palette was inspired by her own work and the shirt she was wearing when @laradamiani shot the documentary. @karukaru.studio animated the painting and hopefully  we’ll be sharing a few moving pieces with you soon! 😄🌿

Tuesday, May 23, 2017

KidLitVic 2017 :)


I had an amazing time at KidLitVic! Met lovely people and received fantastic advice and feedback regarding my work as a visual storyteller. I also learnt about the KidLit industry from inspiring hardworking passionate professionals! I am truly grateful for the experience, happy to continue learning from it, and wishing to keep on imagining and creating with my hands. Thank you cold, sunny and active Melbourne for kindly embracing me, my strength and my vulnerability during this adventure. ^_^




Wednesday, May 17, 2017

Australian Desert



“People used to hunt in the olden days and showed the young ones where to go to get food.” This is what Kathleen says while painting her beautiful desert. She’s a traveller like me, and her work and story inspired this image. 🌿

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Wednesday, May 10, 2017

Wavy plants for Ampilatwatja


This was one of my paintings interpreting Edie’s work :)
She talked about Ntang (edible seeds) that aboriginal children used to eat.
I loved how the leaves of each plant are wavy in her painting, giving a reddish underwater feeling.
The ARTISTS OF AMPILATWATJA short series is about to be completed! Can’t wait to see it @laradamiani & @karukaru.studio !
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Animated painting for Ampilatwatja


Illustration of Daisy, an aboriginal woman, whose fascinating painting process has been documented in ARTISTS OF AMPILATWATJA. She rhythmically added the coloured dots to the canvas. Her own painting is about the Kwenkart turkey bush, a medicinal plant used by her people for healing. This image was animated by @karukaru.studio as part of the lovely factual short series filmed by @laradamiani ^_^🌿

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Colour palettes for Ampilatwatja



Colour palettes & thumbs of paintings I did for @karukaru.studio & @laradamiani. ARTISTS OF AMPILATWATJA is a beautiful factual short series showing the painting process of aboriginal women in Australia, can’t wait to share more with you 😄🌿

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Friday, January 6, 2017

Monet: another study :)


Thoughts while painting this other piece by Claude Monet:
- I realised that I like intense saturated colours.
- White is never just white. In this painting I tried to be conscious about the colours behind the colour, and I was so aware that they became protagonists. I would love to be as subtle and efective as Monet! So much to learn ;)
- The forest is much more abstract and dynamic in my painting, maybe because I wanted to work fast so I wouldn’t over-work some areas more than others, maybe because I was excited :)
- The lady in Monet’s painting is more grounded, still, and made of “the same substance” as the world she inhabits. The lady of my painting seems to be adjusting, less rigid but also less secure. They seem to have different personalities. This is SO interesting!

- Working on someone else’s painting makes me feel connected to the artist, I definitely want to read more about Monet’s life! ^_^