Sunflower Painting: Abstract Art by Injete Chesoni
Acrylic Painting on Paper
Monday, November 21, 2011
Poetry Contest and Abstract Sunflower Painting
One of the websites I write for HubPages.com is running a prose and poetry contest this month (November). I submitted an entry titled, Sunshine Filled Yellow Rays an inspirational poem about depression. The poem is dedicated to a dear friend of mine who has been battling clinical depression for years, you can read the inspirational poem at Hubpages. Those of you who are artistically inclined may want to enter the contest the deadline is November 22nd, 12:00pm (PT). If you miss the contest it is still worth joining Hubpages.com you can earn money from articles you publish on any topic and it is a good way to generate income from your creative work. I created an abstract art painting to accompany my poetry contest entry. For the art piece I chose the subject matter of a sunflower for two reasons, I love the brilliant yellow color of sunflowers especially when contrasted against a blue sky and for me the sunflower represents happiness. Here is my abstract sunflower painting.
Monday, November 7, 2011
Large Metal Art African Masks
Those of you who are familiar with my metal artwork may have noticed I tend to make smaller art pieces usually less than 12 by 16 inches. This is not due to a love for miniature art work but more due to the limitations of the metal I work with. Well that all changed in September when I got a commission for a larger art piece. The customer wanted a metal art piece that was at least 18 by 24 inches. So I had to stretch both my creative thinking and metal in order to come up with a piece that was 18 by 24 inches and still aesthetically pleasing. I joined a number of metal art pieces together and the end product was rather delightful. Best of all my customer was pleased with his new art piece. Here is a photo of the completed piece below. It is part of my African Masks collection and is based on my original Fathers Mask art piece.
African Mask: Embossed Metal Painting by Injete
Fathers Mask (18.5 by 23.5 inches)
African Mask: Embossed Metal Painting by Injete
Fathers Mask (18.5 by 23.5 inches)
Saturday, July 23, 2011
Evolution of An Artist: from Shadows of Doubt to Fields of Dreams
Today I am celebrating my evolution as an artist. It is always good to examine one's growth over time. I started my creative journey back in 2004. I was working as a consultant back then and never defined myself as an artist. Throughout my high school and college years I leaned towards Economics and the sciences. I never even took art as a subject in high school even though I enjoyed painting and made some rather amateurish attempts back in my teenage years. Then one day in 2004 I just began drawing again I can't explain why or what moved me (see Shadows of Doubt drawing below). My mother loved the art piece which I stuck up on my bedroom wall and suggested I should pursue art more seriously.
In December 2004 my sister Atsango and I were doing Christmas shopping at the museum art gallery and we came across two beautiful metal art pieces, she bought one for herself and one for my brother Solomon and his wife Ina. I fell in love with metal art on that day and I knew I had to learn how to do it. One day while strolling through a shopping centre I saw a sign on the notice board advertising classes in hand-embossed metal art. I excitedly copied down the information and called the artist a Kenyan Asian lady called Taruna. I was her first African student. I discovered that apparently embossed metal art is an ancient tradition in India. From her I learned how to emboss and create images on metal. However, I never did discover what we used to paint the metal because she didn't tell me and she got all her supplies in India. So I spent many years trying to find paint which I could use on the metal (last year after "Googling" I finally discovered it was gold rust liquid). But in between I made a few fascinating discoveries of my own. So I don't use rust liquid to paint my metal art pieces and I have since developed my own metal art techniques. These are images of the first art piece I sold and of one of the new art forms I developed (handmade metal art cards) which are miniature 4 by 4 inch metal art pieces in a card format.
I also started out with a love for oil pastels so once in a while I use those and much as I love the look of oil paint I simply don't have the patience to use it anymore. Just the other day I discovered another new technique using acrylic paints. As they say "Necessity is the mother of invention," I would like to paraphrase that to, "Necessity is the mother of creation." Last week while working on a painting for my sister Laura which is based on my original "Shadows of Doubt," art piece I realized what a long way I have come as an artist. I have developed a variety of art techniques and people who are familiar with my earlier work have acknowledged my growth and best of all I have actually received commissions and praise from people other than my family members :-). Don't get me wrong, I appreciate my family's support especially because many of my family members have great taste in art but the praise of strangers and their art purchases really do make me think at least I can lay claim to been an artist.
I have also sold some of my art gifts on Zazzle and best of all I have actually sold some of my poetry! Now that I consider an accomplishment because poetry is not easy to sell. So I decided that I really must do a blog post celebrating my evolution as an artist and strangely enough when I checked the date I started this blog it was almost two years ago in June 2009. So hoorah for me and thank-you to all of the people who have supported my creative journey over the years. Here's to what I hope will be many more fruitful, creative years!
Shadows of Doubt: Oil Pastel and Pencil Drawing by Injete
In December 2004 my sister Atsango and I were doing Christmas shopping at the museum art gallery and we came across two beautiful metal art pieces, she bought one for herself and one for my brother Solomon and his wife Ina. I fell in love with metal art on that day and I knew I had to learn how to do it. One day while strolling through a shopping centre I saw a sign on the notice board advertising classes in hand-embossed metal art. I excitedly copied down the information and called the artist a Kenyan Asian lady called Taruna. I was her first African student. I discovered that apparently embossed metal art is an ancient tradition in India. From her I learned how to emboss and create images on metal. However, I never did discover what we used to paint the metal because she didn't tell me and she got all her supplies in India. So I spent many years trying to find paint which I could use on the metal (last year after "Googling" I finally discovered it was gold rust liquid). But in between I made a few fascinating discoveries of my own. So I don't use rust liquid to paint my metal art pieces and I have since developed my own metal art techniques. These are images of the first art piece I sold and of one of the new art forms I developed (handmade metal art cards) which are miniature 4 by 4 inch metal art pieces in a card format.
Two Mothers/Confusion: Metal Oil Painting by Injete
Sax Player: Handmade Metal Art Card by Injete
I also started out with a love for oil pastels so once in a while I use those and much as I love the look of oil paint I simply don't have the patience to use it anymore. Just the other day I discovered another new technique using acrylic paints. As they say "Necessity is the mother of invention," I would like to paraphrase that to, "Necessity is the mother of creation." Last week while working on a painting for my sister Laura which is based on my original "Shadows of Doubt," art piece I realized what a long way I have come as an artist. I have developed a variety of art techniques and people who are familiar with my earlier work have acknowledged my growth and best of all I have actually received commissions and praise from people other than my family members :-). Don't get me wrong, I appreciate my family's support especially because many of my family members have great taste in art but the praise of strangers and their art purchases really do make me think at least I can lay claim to been an artist.
Buy Art Prints by Injete at FineArtAmerica.com
I have also sold some of my art gifts on Zazzle and best of all I have actually sold some of my poetry! Now that I consider an accomplishment because poetry is not easy to sell. So I decided that I really must do a blog post celebrating my evolution as an artist and strangely enough when I checked the date I started this blog it was almost two years ago in June 2009. So hoorah for me and thank-you to all of the people who have supported my creative journey over the years. Here's to what I hope will be many more fruitful, creative years!
Art Gifts by Injete, June and July 2011
Of late I have been extremely busy trading currencies and I have neglected my creative pursuits. My muse kept calling and since my fabulous younger sister Sandra was visiting from the States, I decided to do an art piece for her and for my other sister, Laura and brother in law, Ed. At the same time a friend of mine commissioned an art piece for one of her work colleagues, I had promised a family friend a wedding art gift and in the midst of all that I got a request from another friend to do a book cover (the original piece didn't work for him so I ended up sending him my sister's piece to use as a cover). So I wound up with a whirlwind of creative projects in June and July (I guess my muse decided to hammer me on the head since I kept ignoring her). Here are the fruits of my labour. I am quite pleased with my evolution as an artist and all the recipients loved their art pieces. It has been a busy but fruitful period. My goals for August are finding some balance, spending less time on currency trading and re-allocating time to my creative and online ventures.
Laura's Field of Dreams I: Abstract Art Women's Paintings by Injete
Sandra's Thinking Woman: Abstract Metal Art Painting by Injete
Vivian's African Dancers: African Art, Women Paintings by Injete
Janet and Jeremy's Wedding Gift: African Metal Art by Injete
Electric Blue, Guitar Man: Abstract Metal Art Painting by Injete
Laura's Field of Dreams II: Abstract Art Women's Paintings by Injete
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Hakuna Matata: Double Meaning Quotes T-Shirts
I am an avid fan of quotes, blame it on my late father who was quite the collector of quote books. So for a while now I have been playing around with the idea of a quote website (I know it's overdone, hopefully I can do it differently). Quotes are a common thread in most of my online writing and I have also created a few art products featuring them. I am now moving onto a different line of quote products and will be opening a new Zazzle store debuting them. However, in the meantime here is a sample of one of my famous quotes t-shirts. It was inspired by my good friends Musonda and Andrew and a cool website they showed me called wordboner.com. My t-shirt features the African quote, "Hakuna Matata," which was made famous by "The Lion King," movie. Hakuna Matata, is a Swahili phrase which means "There are No problems or No Worries." My t-shirt has a double meaning which when read one way says, "Hakuna Matata meaning No Worries," and when read another way says ,"Kuna Matata meaning There are Problems." Enjoy it and look for more double-meaning quote products coming soon.
Hakuna Matata_Famous African Quotes T Shirts Kenya by Injete
Check out more Hakuna matata T-Shirts at Zazzle
Hakuna Matata_Famous African Quotes T Shirts Kenya by Injete
Check out more Hakuna matata T-Shirts at Zazzle
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