Monday, April 9, 2012
Upcoming Website and Change In Poetry Posts
I have finally began building my new website and I am really excited about it. However, due to Google's rules on duplicate content I will not be able to post any of my new poetry on this blog until after I have posted it on my new website. Consequently, for the next few months you will not be seeing any new poetry posts however, I will continue to post my art work on this blog. Once my new website is up and running I will post a few poems here. In the meantime I hope you will enjoy reading the poems available and viewing my artwork. Thanks for stopping by my poetry and art blog.
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
(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
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
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.
Sunflower Painting: Abstract Art by Injete Chesoni
Acrylic Painting on Paper
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!
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