Book of Colours - Paola Minekov, Artist

Can you find the egg I've painted?

2012-02-22T06:33:00.005-08:00

Colourful World, Paola Minekov

This is so egg-citing! Over 200 magnificent giant eggs have been created by leading artists, designers, architects and jewellers have been 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

2012-02-17T05:26:00.006-08:00

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!

2011-09-21T16:27:00.000-07:00

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

2011-08-30T08:38:00.000-07:00

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

2011-07-28T13:21:00.000-07:00

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.

Gaslight London

2011-07-06T07:21:00.000-07:00

For me London has the appeal of a powerful ancient city, which is still making the transition to the ultra modern, where cosy little alleys rub shoulders with skyscrapers and quirky colourful fashion overpowers dress suites while the mist above the Thames serves as a reminder of centuries rich of history.

I guess I’ve always romanticised London a little bit and I must admit I’ve also always wanted to live here one day.

This is a picture of my mum and I, taken at the Private View of my current solo exhibition in City Tower... And I've already started working on a new cityscape of London, too!

Torn

2011-06-27T05:22:00.000-07:00

The paintings in the Dancers Series are rarely narrative, however this particular work tells the story of a woman torn between the two men in her life.

In a sense it is the work which helped trigger the transition from the Dancers series to a new body of work called Undercurrents, both in its subject matter and monochrome colour scheme.

Ballet Black, Da Gamba

2011-06-24T05:57:00.000-07:00

Every move in this painting comes from a dance, called Da Gamba, performed by Ballet Black at the Ballet Gala at the Britten Theatre in 2010.

Prior to the gala I had the chance to attend a rehearsal of Ballet Black, a company of professional Black and Asian dancers. Da Gamba is a relatively long performance of many parts, each coming with its own aesthetics and moody theatrical light. For this painting I chose the warm colours of Africa.

Sarah Kundi posed for the sketches this painting is based on. See her rehearse in this video on BBC.

More about Ballet Black and their current repertoire.

Celisa sees her paintings

2011-06-17T02:58:00.000-07:00

Celisa Diuana is a strong willed, energetic yet graceful dancer, whose performances can range from delicate to passionate in the blink of an eye and I hope I’ll have the chance to work with her again one day in the future.

Back in November, Celisa performed a number of times at the Ballet Gala, so unfortunately she had to stay backstage during the whole event and could not see the exhibition. She saw these paintings for the first time at my current exhibition in the Apothecary Gallery.

Dancers in White

2011-06-11T19:15:00.000-07:00

Spotlight and vibrant colours, bright and always in the same colour scheme, had always characterised the Dancers series.

Then one day I thought to myself, ‘This series would never be complete without a painting entirely in white.’

Corporate collection, Varna Bulgaria.

This painting has its place in the head office of PR Agency Anettevents, who organised the Ballet Exhibition in Varna during the International Ballet Competition in 2008.

In 2010 Dancers in White was featured in an article on Dulwich on View

About the Dancers and Circus Series

2011-06-08T17:25:00.000-07:00

I have always been drawn to painting the performing arts. For instance ballet, by far the most graceful of dances, is an art form which uses delicate beauty to tell dramatic stories of love, cruelty and passion.

The figures symbolise the dancers, clowns and acrobats and the transformation they undergo on stage, the characters they embody.

While in my Dancers and Circus Series I rarely paint specific people, what struck me the most during the time I spent working with Celisa and Sarah is that professional dancers, who often appear delicate and even fragile on stage, possess enormous physical strength and control over their bodies.

Early Works from the Dancers Series

With The Dancers I mainly depict movement, colour and energy, howeverdetails in the first few paintings of the series, such as the atypical for ballet position of the hands, were strongly influenced by ancient Egyptian art. The figures are often in semi profile, yet facing the viewer.

The Circus Paintings

I've only painted 4 Circus paintings, so perhaps one day I'll go back to this subject matter.

Later Works

After nearly 10 years break, in 2008 I went back to painting dancers in preparation of a ballet themed exhibition, which was included in the program of the International Ballet Competition, Varna 2008 in Bulgaria. One of my favourite paintings from that period is Dancers in White. Following the show, the series was widely reviewed. You can read some of reviews here: Once at an exhibition and The Dancers Series

I finally completed the series in 2010 with the paintings of Celisa Diuana and Ballet Black.

The Dancers Series and Other New Work

2011-06-05T14:11:00.000-07:00

My new solo exhibition runs from tomorrow, 6th June till 19th June 2011, at the Apothecary Gallery in Hammersmith. I'll be showing paintings from the Dancers Series and a number of Cityscapes, including two paintings of Amsterdam, which are in private collections abroad and have not been exhibited in the UK before.

The Private View is tomorrow 7pm - 9:30pm, 33 Greyhound Road, London, W6 8NH

EveryWoman

2011-05-16T15:13:00.000-07:00

This is becoming a bit of a habit, in a good way though - I've just received another book and this time my painting, EveryWoman, is featured on the cover.

The book, entitled 'Opening the Psychological Black Box in Genetic Counselling', is based on Joël Vos' Phd research into the psychological impact of genetic breast and ovarian cancer at the Leiden University Medical Centre.

Vos said: 'To me this piece of art shows the different faces of life that people can be confronted with, for instance when they receive genetic counselling. It is the visualisation of a dual attitude, in which one's light-coloured need for certainty contrasts with the dark-coloured uncertainty of reality.'

The author is a Philosopher and Researcher/Psychologist on existential psychotherapy at the Vrije Universiteit, dep. of Clinical Psychology in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Winner of the Leo Polak Prize... and on a positive note - he has become one of my favourite collectors and likes to cheer up his patients by showing them my art :)

Shropshire Butterflies: A Poetic and Artistic Guide to the Butterflies of Shropshire

2011-05-11T14:35:00.000-07:00

Last summer I responded to call for artists by Nadia Kingsley of Fair Acre Press, who was in the process of putting together an art and poetry book about the butterflies in Shropshire. I had been playing with the idea of doing a butterfly painting for quite a long time, so I grabbed the chance.

After some research into the butterflies living in that area, I picked my favourite one - the gorgeous comma. The finished artwork was selected for publication and now, almost a year later the book is hot off the press and I've just received my copy! (My painting is on page 12. YES!)

Among the other contributors are: Gillian Clarke, National poet of Wales; Katherine Swift, author of The Morville Hours; Paul Evans, radio 4 naturalist and Country Diary columnist for the Guardian; Peter Boardman, entomologist who works for Field Studies Council; Matthew Oates, the butterfly adviser to the National Trust, TV naturalist and author.

The book launch will be hosted by Katherine Swift on 11th June, 2011 in the Dower House Gardens, Morville.

Pre-order Shropshire Butterflies: A Poetic and Artistic Guide to the Butterflies of Shropshire on Amazon

Blackwater Court Open, Dulwich Festival

2011-05-07T16:01:00.000-07:00

This year, instead of the usual Artists' Open House during the Dulwich Festival, I opted for a group exhibition at Blackwater Court.

We have more than 10 artists spread over five exhibition spaces. I'm exhibiting at Push Studio I, together with SLWAs Maria Beddoes and Sally Ward.

The pieces in our show are inspired by the world of dance and music, with live dance performances on the night of the Private View.

Winning Pathways Coaching

2010-12-01T12:04:00.000-08:00

I've been featured in a series of articles about women artists on the blog of Winning Pathways Coaching. Claudia Crawley's wonderful blog post about my art became one of the most popular on the site, you can read it here: Paola Minekov: An artist with passion

About Claudia and Winning Pathways Coaching:
Claudia Crawley, Winning Pathways Coaching director, has a career involving 30 years’ employment in the UK’s social care sector. She has considerable experience of managing and leading change, managing, supervising and developing a diverse range of mainly women workers. She has a longstanding track record of actively promoting equality and diversity and equal treatment for all within organisations. Claudia’s emphasis is to use her niche and unique experiences to bring effective coaching to women.

Heartbeat: The rhythm of my art

2010-11-12T11:26:00.000-08:00

On November 12th my second solo exhibition opened at the Gallery of the Carnegie Library in Herne Hill.

I'm pictured here with Jeff Doorn, who initially approached me about exhibiting at the Carnegie, after having seen my work during the Dulwich Artists' Open House earlier in 2010.

Also, I'm delighted to share that on the night of the Private View the Chairman of the Friends of Carnegie Library acquired one of my prints!

Ballet Gala at the Britten Theatre

2010-11-07T06:53:00.000-08:00

On Sunday November 7th, the Honeypot Charity hosted a Gala evening of Ballet, Fine Art and entertainment at the Britten Theatre, London, in aid of vulnerable children and young carers in the UK.
The evening featured performances from dancers from the Royal Ballet, Ballet Black, Ballet Riviera, English National Ballet, several independent professional dancers and of course an exhibition of my Dancers Series, including the 3 new painting I completed especially for the event.

In the audience were Dame Vivienne Westwood, Clemency Burton-Hill, Monica Mason & Maina Gielgud.

SLWA at Dulwich

2010-11-03T03:12:00.000-07:00

In the last few months, since August 2010 to be precise, I've been very involved with organising the November show of the South London Women Artists in Dulwich.

SLWA organises 2 small group shows in Dulwich annually and 1 large group exhibition in central London biannually, as well as educational workshops, collaborations and professional development lectures. The exhibitions are opened to members only, however they are still selected and curated.

The November exhibition's selection panel included Emily Druiff, director of Peckham space who also curated the show, as well as Mella Shaw, Head of Exhibitions at Dulwich Picture Gallery and Maria Chevska, Artist. Meet them here.

The concept of the Dulwich shows is pretty cool. They take place in the Dulwich Library, hanging at the end of bookshelves which removes the distance between the viewer and the artwork, creating a much more intimate situation. I organised the show, together with SLWAs Gabrielle Bradshaw and Tori Wilckinson and we've been featured on Dulwich on View. We currently have 46 paintings hanging in the Dulwich Library and the exhibition will go on till 27 November 2010.

Photos from the Private View are available on SLWA's page on Facebook.

The Dancers Series at MWB - Photos from the Private View

2010-10-19T02:39:00.000-07:00

Take a look at the photos from my Private View in City Tower, London. Many thanks to Magda and Sarah from MWB Business Exchange for organising such a fantastic night!

Kiss in Blue - The "paint my heart" project

2010-10-14T16:39:00.000-07:00

Kiss in Blue, the artwork I've painted for the Paint my Heart project is framed and ready to be shipped across the ocean, all the way to America.
It has been confirmed that the exhibitions will take place in:

1. The HodgePodgery at The Stahr Center, Lancaster, PA
2. Viola's Bees, Columbia, PA
3. Central Penn University, Harrisburg, PA

SLWA Featured Artist - Interview

2010-10-08T15:50:00.000-07:00

The last time I gave an interview was back in 2008 when my exhibition during the International Ballet Competition opened, so I can't say it's something I have much experience with. Meeting Susan Wood was really pleasant though. She came over to my place and we had a really informal friendly conversation. She had looked at my website already, so she was familiar with my work, and I showed her the actual paintings.

Read Dancers, circuses and emotions - my interview with Susan on the South London Women Artists Website.

Solo Exhibition at MWB City Tower

2010-10-07T15:11:00.000-07:00

I'm thrilled to announce that I've just been offered to exhibit in City Tower in central London. This exhibition will be organised by Magdalena Skrok, an Operational Manager at MWB City Tower and serve as a preview of my paintings from the Dancers Series which will be exhibited at the Ballet Gala in aid of the Honeypot Charity in the Britten Theatre on 7 November.

The exhibition will open with a cocktail reception on 19 October and run until the end of the month.

For more details take a look at the Private View invitation /PDF/ or read this blog post on the SLWA website.

Sketching Ballet Black

2010-09-30T16:42:00.000-07:00

Most of these sketches are based on Sarah Kundi, a ballerina from Ballet Black, a company of professional dancers of Black and Asian descent.

Ballet Black are going to perform at the Honeypot gala and I've had the chance to watch them rehearse, they are simply amazing! Sarah was very sweet and took time from her rehearsal to pose for these sketches in moves from the piece they will perform at the gala!

View the sketches here.

Sketching Celisa

2010-09-26T08:03:00.000-07:00

Celisa Diuana works hard. She told me she dances 8 hours a day and then trains, every day but Sunday... unless she's performing on Sunday that is, in which case she dances then too. Right now I should mention that the Honeypot gala is in the evening on 7 November - a Sunday... and she's performing!

Being so busy, she could only pose for me on Saturday afternoon, and she came directly from the Opera House. So you can imagine how very surprised I was when she showed up 15 min. early, with a small pot of blossoming flowers! Not only is she very professional, she's also really really sweet.

We spent about 3 hours together, she posed for a bunch of photos and series of quick sketches from life, which I've uploaded to my Facebook page.

What can I say? I think it's amazing what Celisa can do... she seems to be able to take one of those unimaginably difficult but graceful ballet positions and stand still long enough for me to make a drawing. I opted for the quick sketches because it only takes me a couple of minutes to make one, but I have the feeling that she would be quite capable of keeping these positions even longer. She seems interested to pose for me again, and I'd definitely love to paint her!

Ballet and Art Gala in the Britten Theatre

2010-09-23T01:52:00.000-07:00

Celisa Diuana

It is very exciting to be me right now! :)

I'm scheduled to exhibit my Dancers Series at a Ballet Gala in the Britten Theatre. We are fundraising for the UK children's charity Honeypot, and quite a few interesting people have become involved in the event - we have 5 dancers from the Royal Ballet, 6 from Ballet Black and 3 independent dancers.

My father's happy to display 3 of his music and dance inspired bronzes, including an original cast of the statuette which was given as a Special Grand Prix award at International Ballet Competition in Varna 2008.

What's more, I'll be painting a painting (or maybe even two) especially for the event, and the lovely Celisa Diuana will pose for me this Saturday!

Heartbeat, Solo Exhibition

2010-09-22T02:16:00.000-07:00

A few months ago, during my Artist Open House, I got a visit from someone involved with the Carnegie Library and Art Gallery. He suggested that I should I check out the gallery and so I did... Now, I've been given the opportunity to show my work there from early November until the end of the year.

This will be my first SOLO EXHIBITION and I'm super excited about it.

And now the summer holidays are officially over and it's again raining all day long, I've started to work on the organization and planning the show. I've got some great news already: the Private View night will be sponsored by Avalon - I would say one of the best building and decorating contractors in town (with an average Constructionline score: 9.75 out of 10, compared to the national bench mark of 8.00, which sounds pretty impressive to me). The amazing thing is that they responded to my email literally within an hour. I think it's so important when private businesses are willing to sponsor the arts, especially right now when the government is proposing cuts to arts funding...

I found this gorgeous photo of the Carnegie Library of Flicker. It is by Valerie Goodman, who was happy to let me display it and also replied to my request right away.

The "paint my heart" project

2010-08-09T09:41:00.000-07:00

About a month ago, as I was browsing the Internet, I somehow ended up on the page of the paint my heart project. Organised by the American artist Hollie Chantiles, the project - a group show of small work, that would travel around the USA - sounded both fun and ambitious. Hollie was looking for 20 artist (whom she lovingly calls heartists, and you can check out their profiles here) to inspire 20 of her new paintings... And to paint one painting each themselves, which would be hung next to Hollie's corresponding work. Since I had just started looking for my first project abroad since my ballet themed exhibition in 2008, I dropped Hollie an email and she said that she'd be happy to have me.

I set out to sketch ideas for my painting and since it was all about hearts (and I had just celebrated my 3rd wedding anniversary), I came up with this really romantic little sketch of the profiles of a man and a woman shaping a stylized heart...

I cleaned it up a bit digitally... Well, if I need to be entirely honest about this, the pencil sketch would have probably been just fine as a guideline for the painting but I really wanted to try out the brushes app on the iPad... so anyway, the video bellow is the result, which, being a step by step animation shows how I make these drawings.

On creativity

2010-08-04T13:20:00.001-07:00

A few months ago, as I was returning to London from a holiday, I picked up this little book, called Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert at the airport. I had heard about it from girlfriends (inspiring, perfect for a holiday/flight), and seen women of all ages reading it wherever I went. I'm a fast reader, and the book's a treat - heart warming, funny and spiritual, so I finished it in a day or two, commenting aloud every once in a while and my husband Michael (who's not exactly into what he calls 'girly books') going 'hmm hmm aham' in response.

Yesterday though someone recommended this video of Gilbert on nurturing creativity on Facebook. Turns out she's a wonderful public speaker, and just as funny, warm and inspiring in real life as in the book.

Even Michael, who was listening from the other room (I tend to keep the doors opened and the volume on high), not knowing who the speaker was, went like: 'Wow, this woman's awesome!' :)

As a creative person myself, I can totally relate to what she's saying, and of course, now that the Eat Pray Love movie is coming out (starring Julia Robers), I can't wait!