Showing posts with label inspiration. Show all posts
Showing posts with label inspiration. Show all posts

Wednesday, August 26, 2015

Artist Appreciation Month: My Metal Art Inspiration


I first heard about Artist Appreciation Month this year from fellow artist Patience Brewster whose whimsical Christmas Ornaments I love. As part of Artist Appreciation Month activities I was asked to write about artists who inspire me. I have chosen to write about the artist who inspired me to start making metal art. 

It was Christmas over ten years ago and my sister Atsango and I were shopping for Christmas gifts. She, been a lover of art, and I been a recent returnee to Kenya we decided to go by the art gallery at the Kenya National Museum. There I saw the most stunning piece of metal art (see a photograph of it below), I felt an immediate connection to it and so did Atsango. Since I was a broke college student at the time she ended up buying the art piece for herself and one other piece by the same artist for my brother and his wife. 

African Metal Art purchased Kenya National Museum, Artist Unknown 


Unfortunately, since the artwork was not signed, I am yet to learn the name of the talented artist who created this piece, but I remain forever grateful to him/her for re-awakening my creative spirit. Should anyone know the name of this artist please get in touch with me. 

On that day over ten years ago I decided I had to learn this wonderful metal art form. Soon after as I was walking in one of the malls, I checked the notice board and saw a tiny advert for classes in hand embossed metal art. I took down the art teacher’s phone number and called her shortly thereafter. Her name was Taruna and she taught me the ancient Indian art form of embossing aluminum metal. From then on I developed my own style based loosely on the Indian art form. To this day I work primarily with metal.  



Monday, February 2, 2015

Live, Laugh, Love, Dance

After what turned out to be a rather lengthy hiatus I am back to blogging. Time flies by so quickly and before you know it one, two, three years.... a whole lifetime has gone by. I took what I thought was a short break from blogging and posting articles online turns out a whole two years have gone by. In the intervening period I slowed down on my creative pursuits but still did a few art commissions as well as gifts for family and friends. Now I am back to my creative ventures, my muse burst forth with a vengeance in December last year. Looks like she won’t be silenced anymore. I have notebooks and sketchpads full of ideas just waiting to be brought forth. I was hoping to catch the January wave but I missed it, so I will be starting with February the season of love. Here is a sketch I did in January to start off the New Year on a wave of inspiration. Wishing all of my readers a blessed New Year and a fulfilled life. Look out for the new Love Collection art pieces I am doing for February.

Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined. 
 ∼ Henry David Thoreau ∼  

Inspirational Art by Injete Chesoni: Live Laugh Love Dance Series (1)

Friday, December 28, 2012

Inspirational Metal Art: Basket of Butterflies

Earlier this year I received a request to do a commission of three metal paintings featuring young women. The commission was for a young women's institution with a focus on leadership. So I wanted to do paintings which were inspirational and which at the same time captured the essence of young women. While working on the commission I created a few other paintings and this is one of them. The butterfly is symbolic of inspiration, flight and freedom.

Basket of Butterflies Portrait
Inspirational Metal Art by Injete Chesoni
Medium: Acrylic Painting on Embossed Metal
Size: 16.6" x 29.3"
SOLD
Send orders to Buy Artwork to minjete@gmail.com

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Be Bold: Inspirational Poetry

Another New Year is upon us and with it the usual New Year resolutions made only to be broken :-). This year I have centered my New Year Resolutions around just one simple pledge to "Be Bold." To all of you reading this blog post may you find inspiration in the words of my poem and live life boldly. Happy 2012 and blessings in the year ahead! Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it! - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe / W.H. Murray

Lion Photograph from http://www.public-domain-image.com

Be Bold
(An Inspirational Poem by Injete Chesoni)

Be BOLD
My child
Step out of your comfort zone
Go where you have never gone before

Be BOLD
My child
Be who you thought you never could be
Reach much further than your eyes can see

Be BOLD
My child
Do what you thought you never could do
You have nothing to lose
Except the you that you thought was you

Be BOLD
My child
You have so much to gain
Your struggles will not be in vain

Starting now
Starting here
Be BOLD
My child
And conquer fear

Be BOLD
My child
Be BOLD
So that when you
come to the end
of life’s road
You can proudly say
With no regrets
I lived my life well
I was BOLD