Bound together

– Bound together – © Sabrina M – 2018 –

The have a dark skin but their names are Flemish.
A journey from warm beautiful Ethiopia brought them here.
Seen as strangers in the land they live in, seen as strangers in the land they come from.
They have one advantage, they are forever bounded to each other.

This is something I tried to show in this commission piece. The bare, misty Belgian landscape opposite the rock they float on. They float between their homeland and birth land.

Leave a comment and let me know how you feel about the image, about adopting or the love between a brother and sister. I’d love to hear.

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The mystery of the hidden secrets.

Throwback Thursday.

This is one of the first images I created back in 2015.
The inspiration for this image is rather obvious isn’t it? The Anthropomorphic Cabinet of Salvador Dalí, he used the drawers as a symbol of mystery but also sexuality.
My vision here was to portray a woman with all her secrets she wants to keep hidden. Chancing the color of the grass from green to purple was a conscious decision as I wanted the picture to have something mysterious.

The mystery of the hidden secrets. ©️Sabrina M – 2015

How would you portray this topic? Would you have chosen an other color? What do you see in the image?

Let’s talk about the color yellow

We all know color has an influence on how we experience the world around us.

Just have a look around you and look at the logos companies use. Or notice how color is being used to let us buy things. Color can be a powerful tool to direct people in a certain direction or feeling.  Using certain colors in our work is going to elicit a certain emotional response from the viewer.

Abandoned

A few days ago I came across some great music on YouTube. Well actually it was Vero that whispered it in my ear.

The artist is @Jorge⁠Millar with the song “Solitude” 

I’ve listened to it a few times now and it keeps popping up in my head. In Belgium we talk about an #earworm . I don’t know if it’s called that in English but you know what I mean. A catchy piece of #music that continually repeats in your mind.

So thumbs up from me 👍🏻

I found my image “Abandoned” really fitted the song. It’s a pity I haven’t got a speed edit of the image because Solitude would be a great background song.

Visit his account on Vero or many other spaces which you can find on his account here. Jorge on Facebook – iTunes – Twitter – Spotify –

Solitude By Jorge Millar

 

 

Quirky and amazing Chirstmas gift

 

This little quirky book is the history of the family Bell. I can guarantee you, they are quiet unique.
The whole family has about 19 pictures and I made a small coffee table book with them, spiced with little stories and fun facts about the person.
The book is set up like a family tree, so you can browse and search for the family connection.

Read about there unique stories.

It’s a translating of a childhood fantasy of having an interested family.

I spend hours browsing old pictures in search of a portrait that could become a new member go the family tree.
Once a portrait is found, the imagination kicks in, adding props and colours, slowly building the character and persona. Using Photoshop to digital hand-colour and manipulate images to make then fun, quirky and surreal.
I often use my own genealogy as a guide to get the dates right, couldn’t have a family tree where the mum is older than grandma.

This is an absolute great little gift for a friend or yourself.

You can now order “The perfectly bizarre and fake Family Bell’ in Etsy only €35 or $40 shipping included.

Why not give someone something different as a present, they will love it and certainly put a smile on their face.
The perfectly bizarre and fake Family Bell on Etsy

Lest we forget.

Remembrance Day

11-11-2018 at 11am World War I officially ended.

In Flanders fields.

In Flanders fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row,

That mark our place; and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved, and were loved, and now we lie

In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw

The torch; be yours to hold it high.

If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders fields.

Major John McCrae – 1915

Artwork “Lest we forget” by Sabrina M

 

Where do I see myself in a year?

To be honest, I never think about the future very much. I hardly make plans, I just “go with the flow”. Not a very good tactic, I know. I never expected anything from my art. I started it to keep my mind busy and perhaps relief from all the negative stuff from the past. (As you can read here in a previous blog post)

But then about two years ago I got the question “would you like to exhibit your work here?” I felt so honoured people actually wanted to see my work that I didn’t hesitate for one second. In all my excitement I forgot the expenses it would involve. Without prints, no exhibition. Without frames, no beautiful presentation of the prints…. you get the picture. But my husband supported me and said “go for it, grab your chance, it’s perhaps a once in a lifetime”

So my first prints got made, a whole adventure in itself which I will blog on later and my first show was a fact. A permanent mark in my own little history, you know something to tell your grandchildren. 😉

That same year I found a little gallery near Bruges that was willing to exhibit my work and I sold my first fine art print. I can’t even describe how I felt. People didn’t only wanted to see my work, they also found it good enough and the images had enough emotion that they were willing to put it on their wall. I was flabbergasted, what an honour and truly humbling experience.

One thing lead to another and in 2018 I got accepted to 10 shows. 5 in the USA (a big achievement for a European), two shows in France, Paris and Arles (I mean the thought of being on show in Paris and Arles still gives me the shivers and goosebumps) and three shows in Belgium, one being a solo (little me, a solo? Still can’t believe it)

In 2018 I sold 15 pieces, yes I still have to pinch myself to believe it. I also made a little quirky book and sold a few.

So how can I set goals for 2019? I already achieved so much more than I ever could of dreamed off. I’ve already accomplished more than I ever thought would be possible. My depression is a thing from the past now. I’ve never been happier in my life and with my life as I am today. So what more do I want? Nothing really.

But the topic of this blog post is “where do you see yourself in a year?” So I’ll forced myself to make a little list.

My fine art

• To have the same amount of shows I had this year.
• Being represented by a gallery, although I have no clue how I could achieve this
• Make new work no matter what my health is like and don’t let pain problems get in the way.
• Do some commission work

The surreal Passé composé series

• Sell “The perfectly bizarre and fake Family Bell” in a bookstore.
• Make a new series around a new theme.
• Do some commission work “pop surreal style”.

Personal goals

Have the courage to have the treatment that might help with my chronic pains and however scary it will be trust the doctors to solves the back pain issues due to all sorts of stuff so I can finally devoted more of my time to making art instead of waiting for the pain to go away.

If you are interested in buying the little quirky book “The perfectly bizarre and fake Family Bell” you can see some the family without their stories they have to tell se the link below and order it on my Etsy shop or send $40 and your contact information to my PayPal

The art of magic.

Some amazing things have happened to me over the last few years but I didn’t realize it, until now.

I started making my fine art composites as a means to release feelings that have been imprisoned in me for years and years.
In a very short time I started to change. No more angry and depressed Sabrina. Instead I found myself laughing, smiling, singing on a daily basis. I had a reason to live for the first time in my life.
Sounds gloomy, doesn’t it?
Well, I can assure you, it was.

And then the magic happened.

I had my first show and a small amount of people loved my work. They could relate to it and felt what I had suppressed for so long.
Great isn’t it?
But that wasn’t the magic. In time I had more exhibitions and met more people and the magic is the power my work has on people opening up to me.
They started sharing their stories pains and struggles with me. So by showing my feelings to the world it helped kindred spirits to open up to me, telling me things they have never told others.
Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying I’m saving all those lovely souls. But by taking that first brave baby step of sharing their emotions, they take a massive step forward.
All of this have resulted in a series of amazing conversations, sharing love, listening, crying and laughing and the very important feeling of knowing you aren’t alone and there is always a person who understands your mess.

But it doesn’t stop there.
there is another kind of magic at work, predestination.
Something that never crossed my mind. Let me explain what I mean.
If I sell a piece of art, I like to deliver it myself if possible. And as I hand over the work, people are excited, nervous, happy… Then they unpack and pick up the piece, walk over to the place they have chosen to hang it and its like all pieces of the puzzle fall into place.
from the art they have chosen, to the person they are and the home they live in., it all becomes one.
How extraordinary is this? I’m even getting goosebumps as I am writing this.
It is all meant to be. That piece of art in that particular house, loved and picked by that person.
Now call me crazy but this I find to be epic.

So art isn’t just to cure my own sadness, angriness and pain for me anymore. It’s a step to help many more lovely souls with their sadness, angriness, loneliness …
It’s a key to open up those who have always been locked up.
It’s the wings that help to break free.
It’s a start of a conversation with souls who where unable  to speak.

Even people who don’t have this emotional baggage seem to be attracted to the right work for them. It always seems to reflect the person who bought it.

And that is so much more important than 138 likes on facebook. 98 retweets or whatever.
That my sweet friends is what I call magic.

The magic of art. 

Take care, my door is always open. Don’t hesitate to step inside.

Lots of hugs and love. 

Sabrina M 

 

Why do I create?

Photography is phototherapy for me. It all started when I was diagnosed being an Asperger girl. Before that I suffered from severe depressions, was called manic depressed or the said I had on acceptable social behaviour and the list goes on and on. Until … Asperger. I got the advise “you are bored out of your brain”, your brain needs food, you are bored out”.

So I picked up my camera and start learning again. Not just clicking everything I saw but really tried to ventilate my troubles and emotions.

And so my fine art started.

I always start from an emotion, a story, a struggle, something I want to ventilate and channel into a image. At first it was all about releasing cropped up emotions until more and more people started asking me about my art. People begun to tell me their stories, their hurts and hurdles, their struggles. And I realised I was making art not only to help me self, it also helped others with their feelings.

So gradually my fine art became not only important for me, but it opened conversations. It’s all about sharing, getting stuff out there, opening up boxes that would otherwise kept closed. Giving dark images sense of hope. Showing everyone goes through dark times and that it’s normal to have dark or weird feelings sometimes even you yourself don’t understand. No Facebook or Instagram wall shows us real life, no ones life is instaperfect.

On the other hand I’ve been creating some pop surreal images too. You could say it’s miles apart from my fine art but actually it isn’t. As a kid I’ve always been called weird or different. Nothing a kid wants to hear, they just want to be a part of the big “normal” tribe.

But now I know I am weird and different although this has cost me half a lifetime to accept. I’m not a typical grey mouse and I’m beginning to be proud of it. So why not show my twisted side too. You could say they are the opposite of the darker fine art images. Although still strange or creepy most of them put a smile on peoples faces. And the conversations don’t go about deep difficult emotions but the images open up conversations too. They are more an expression of the “newly accepted me” more fun, less serious, still strange.

I’d love to hear your stories. So let’s share them. Don’t be afraid. I may be weird but I don’t bite 😉

You can follow my fine art on my Facebook page Fine art by Sabrina-M

Or Instagram @sabrinamfineart

And website Sabrina-M

My pop surrealism page Passé composé – Instagram @sabrinampassecompose