Help Someone Bring Out the Best in Themselves

"Anna Pereira, artist, entrepreneur, and former owner of the brand Super Sexy, has been painting and drawing since her early childhood and had won awards for her artwork in her youth. With her impeccable skills in airbrush and free hand painting and her amazing ability to transform a basic shirt into a jeweled corset, Anna was creating her artwork for clothing rather then canvas. She is a skilled artist and painter who had chosen to display her work on various styles of t-shirts and tank tops, with the goal of allowing women to feel confident, expressive and yes, Super Sexy!"

Have fun visiting her shop http://www.etsy.com/shop/AnnaPereira!

by Anna Pereira

Is it really worth getting up in the morning if you don't make a positive contribution to society, Earth or yourself? I like to feel good and I love making others feel good. There isn't a greater reward than helping someone to bring out the best in themselves.

My name is Anna and I have a hand painted and printed clothing line. I custom make shirts via screen print techniques and free hand dye effects and paint splatter. I mix my own dyes and paints and create my own screens. Also, I have a luxury handmade soap line that is decadent and pampering! My purpose is to help you feel and look your best.

I believe in positive energy and the law of attraction. If you believe it, you can live it. This has been a major influence that you can prominently see in my clothing line as well as my soap line aptly named "Angel Kissed" luxury soaps.

I live in NJ and my studio is located here. Every day I am doing something creative and hope to be an inspiration to others through my work and my friendship. My personal message: "Be good to yourself. Smile. And believe you can have and do anything. Maintain a positive attitude because even when you are down and you take a moment to realize how blessed you truly are, you will rise up out of your funk. Have gratitude. Help others. Stay focused."

Video interview in NJ News http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/video/video.php?v=1326796823341&ref=mf

Have a truly Blessed day!

Sandra Darling

http://www.SandraDarling.etsy.com/
http://www.sandradarlingvisualartcreations.com/

by SandraDarling

My background and training as a visual artist came from not only "a good art school education" but the greatest teacher of all - Life! I grew up in North Queensland which is both coastal and tropical; a precious and unique place where the rainforests meets the sea. It provided me with a rich tapestry of geographical as well as social exposure, and gave me my foundation as a young adult discovering my place in the world. I originally trained as a painter but I have always had an interest in all art forms and I expanded my canvas (literally and metaphysically) to beyond this medium. Since then, travelling to Europe, Asia and across Australia has enriched my outlook of the world and people around me.

It was from here that I found my platform for a visual language that has led me on the journey that has bought me to where I am currently at today. Through my art work, images rich in layers and textures, I explore all that is intrinsically human and in particular feminine. The quote "the present is just a moment passed" sums up our fragile and changing existence and I think it also gives a glimpse into the world of what my art work explores.

My Art has always investigated issues of the psyche and how we portray and protect ourselves through layering and masking our true inner self as a means of adapting and protecting our wellbeing in the world and environment around us. As well as this, how we make our mark on an ever-changing and transient world, through our habits of memento; a vehicle of grasping time, place and proof of our existence, methods of remembering and establishing our collective heritage. Being an avid collector myself, I enjoy researching to discover the origins of objects and their history and then apply this knowledge to contextualise my own work.

My influences are first and foremost everything I see, feel and experience, but I've always had a great love of the Decorative Arts and Crafts; the Art Nouveau and Art Deco period; the great 20th Century Artists; and I have a great admiration for the artists of the Renaissance period, my favourite from this period probably being Botticelli where images of mythology and flora are in abundance.

I see myself as a bit of a Bowerbird (distracted by “sparkly things” since 1968) picking and choosing what applies to me.

My best advice for anyone looking to buy art as an investment is to buy what you love, because a happy heart is the best investment you can make, and the eyes are the window to your happy heart. Immerse yourself in what pleases you whenever your can as I personally believe that it is the journey and not the destination that is the so called meaning of life in this crazy world!

Montage Studio's Creative Space

Montage studio has a fabulous space to create in . She has a beautiful and serene view to inspire her and great organizational tips. Check out her studio.

Montage Studio

I am a photographer and painter and do both in my home studio.

Visit http://www.montagestudio.etsy.com/

The space has a beautiful view, with mature trees and whatever wildlife my dogs haven’t scared away. My desk is where I alter my photographs and scan ephemera and painting to make digital collages. Although I shoot both film and digitally, most of my latest work is mainly digital.There is a large wooden table that I use for painting. It is wonderful to have such a big workspace, where I can leave several projects out at once. When I lived in Paris I always had several projects going at once and found that this really took the pressure off of one piece having to be utterly brilliant.

On the table I have a sweet little cubby to hold my paint; the larger bottles are housed in a lovely Salvation Army find behind glass doors.By nature I am a packrat and love being surrounded by “stuff”…BUT it can also get to me when there is no order to things and I spend half the day looking for a particular paintbrush!

I have been slowly tackling my piles, and am trying to keep “like with like” as they say: papers in plastic storage drawers; paintbrushes in earthen pots; books, journals and magazines on the new shelves that my brother-in-law put up recently (three 8 foot shelves: pure joy). I do TRY to keep my desk area tidy and free of clutter, but I am still working on that one!Having lived in apartments for most of my adult life, I feel so lucky to have a house with such an amazing studio space. I often work late at night and love the peaceful setting and the fact that the refrigerator is just a few feet away!!!

Check out Montage Studio's blog http://montagestudio.blogspot.com/

Inspiration

What inspires you? Is it a found object? Is it a new colour or something you have already created? Many things can inspire us and even change from day to day. Sometimes just the act of walking into my studio with all of my favourite things inspires me. Check out what inspires Andradra and her work.
Andradra

Hi, I'm Andrada and I'm a painter from Laval, Canada.

Here is my studio where I spend my time creating and trying new materials and mediums.
My studio is actually in the basement of my house and is not very big but I hope someday I will have a real studio with big windows and a nice view of some trees… Here is the table where almost everything is born! I do some of my paintings at the table, some of them directly on the floor, depending on the canvas size. I love to have everything around me and to reach my paint brushes or the paint jar without much effort. On the front wall I have my "Memories of my first day in Canada", an art project for my art studio class. It's a painting made with coffee stains and tree bark. I love the colors and vanilla coffee smell! I also have pictures of some of my preferred sold paintings, black&white photos, digital images that I did, and a lot of tests of new mediums. On the wall behind me I have my paintings. In fact I have my paintings everywhere around me… and not only in my studio. I have my paintings in my bedroom, living room, halfway, even in my friends' homes…

Again my wall and my table… A picture of my dog's nose, one diaper from the first diaper box that I bought two years and seven months ago for my son, some copies from the " Illuminated manuscripts" that are a real inspiration for some of my works, my pigments. I love to create mixed media paintings and to incorporate different found objects in my works. I use raw materials, fibers, cloths, egg shells, everything that can be incorporated in my mixed media paintings. I have a big box with a lot of nice found stuff from which sometimes I draw my inspiration. I'm fascinated by the past, ancient hand made things and relics. I would like to use real relics on my artwork but at this time my budget does not allow me to be eccentric. Maybe when I will sell a lot on Etsy and I will be rich I will be able to do this… Hahaha!

Here is another part of my studio where I deposit my paintings that are waiting to go and find a new home! The front painting is my son's! He is 2 years and 7 months and he is already a great artist! And here is the keeper of my paintings, my faithful little Foxy, who stays with me in the studio all the time.

What inspires me? When I create I don't have a clear idea in my head. I start to paint and the inspiration comes from everything around me. Sometime is another painting, sometimes it is a small object and sometimes it's my raw imagination. So this is my studio, the place where I love to be and where I create magical pieces for your home.

Please visit my art gallery at http://andrada.etsy.com/