Mother

 

It's hard to put the meaning of the word mother into words. A mother is a figure of authority. She is someone you look up to. She's a protector and a symbol of strength. She is someone who gives you strength. She loves you unconditionally. She is a healer. She gives life and is therefore larger than life. A mother is fierce. 

My painting Mother will be exhibited for the first time at SNAP! South London Women Artists at the Bankside Gallery this May.

The Seducer painting... an insatiable longing for love

When I was a little girl, one of my mother's closest friends - a charming and extraordinary woman I love dearly - was married to a man who regularly abused her both physically and emotionally. As I was growing up, every once in a while I would ask her why she was still with this man. She had lots of excuses but never a good answer, not one that made much sense to me anyway. A recurring theme seemed to be 'his outstanding intellect'... He made her believe he was so much better than her.  A few years back she finally left him but even now she's still in close contact with him. She spent the best years of her life with a man who made her intensely miserable!

Ever since, I've met a number of other women who have chosen to spend long periods of their lives, sometimes all their lives, with men who systematically hurt them. Men who cheat, lie and constantly manipulate them into believing it is all somehow the woman's fault. I've often wondered what makes it so hard for these women to walk away from their dysfunctional relationships.

As you can imagine, I've been planning this painting for a long time, it was always going to be a subject matter in my Undercurrents series. A few months ago however I got my hands on a new novel about psychopathic seduction by the art critic and author Claudia Moscovici and things suddenly fell into place. The seducer will initially shower his victims with love, only to take it all away and give them just enough to keep them coming back for more...Why do women stay then? Claudia has provided me with a good answer in her latest blog post, featuring my painting The Seducer, based on her novel by the same name. It’s because within us, someplace, somehow, there’s an insatiable longing for love. I encourage you to read it here: http://fineartebooks.wordpress.com/2012/04/04/paola-minekovs-painting-for-the-seducer-a-novel/

The Seducer: A Novel is available to order on Amazon.co.uk.

Can you find the egg I've painted?

Colourful World, Paola Minekov

This is so egg-citing! Over 200 magnificent giant eggs have been created by leading artists, designers, architects and jewellers and hidden across the streets of the capital... and The Big Egg Hunt has started!

Now I can tell you some more about my egg. It is called Colourful World.

I was inspired to paint the globe as an interlocking jigsaw, using primary colours to suggest a playful childlike simplicity which contrasts with the complex reality of geopolitics.


To celebrate the event, Living South magazine has just published an article about the making of the egg, my inspirations and plans for the future! Read it here /PDF/.

Fabergé & Fibreglass, Interview with Paola Minekov in Living South Magazine, March Issue 2012

Colourful world is No 76 on the Knighsbridge and Sloan Square map. Yes, it's one the 50 outdoor eggs!!

During the event, the Fabergé eggs will be auctioned in support of the 2 charities. If you'd like to bid on Colourful World, or know someone who does, here's the link to my profile page on the Big Egg Hunt website and the online auction: http://thebigegghunt.co.uk/egg/76


Happy hunting!

The Fabergé Big Egg Hunt

The Big Egg Hunt starts in London on Tuesday 21 February and will run for 40 days up till Easter.

Adults and children, whether they are Londoners or visitors, can have amazing fun taking part in this record breaking event, and it's all to benefit the charities Action for Children and Elephant Family..

200 giant fiberglass eggs, some decorated by famous artists and designers, are located around the capital, and I was lucky that my design was chosen too. Can you tell what my design is? I am not allowed to reveal it yet. The location is a secret too, but I hope you can find it, it's in a well known part of central London.
Happy hunting!

www.thebigegghunt.co.uk

Greeting Cards for sale in Amsterdam!

As of today a selection of my greeting cards are for sale in Nurjaree's Boutique in trendy central Amsterdam, just a stone's throw away from Leidseplein!

The cards feature more than 20 paintings from all my series. They are blank inside and printed on 350gsm FSC* silk card, an envelope is included with each card.

Nutjaree creates and sells beautiful handmade jewellery, organises jewellery making workshops and even has this massive professional photography studio at her premises.

So if you happen to be taking a long weekend in Amsterdam, be sure to check it out and treat yourself, or a loved one, to a set of pearl earrings like I did or better yet, this rather spectacular statement piece :)

The boutique's address is: Kerkstraat 99b, 1017 GD, Amsterdam. It is opened Wednesday to Sunday.

* FSC provides assurance that paper is manufactured from the material sourced from forests certified according to strict environmental, social and economical standards.

Cityscape

In my cityscapes I reveal my memories and visions of the cities we live in.

I spent my early twenties in Tel Aviv and this work is strongly influenced by the energy of the Mediterranean city, the strong bright light and the sea. While loosely inspired by the Tel Aviv promenade and Bauhaus architecture, the location pictured here doesn’t exist in reality.

Amsterdam cityscapes

A few months before moving to Amsterdam (2005 or so...), I spent a day walking around in this picturesque city and this is when I discovered my absolute favourite spot.

Right behind the buzz of Rembrandtplein, this set of adorably crooked little houses overlooking one of the canals captured my fantasy.

Luckily I had my sketchbook with me so the sketch for the small work /bellow/ was done on location. The larger painting  is based on the same composition but painted from memory.

 

The originals of the Amsterdam paintings are in  private collections in the Netherlands and USA respectively, however I have managed to get both of them scanned and prints are now available.