Featured Art: Evergreen

My painting Evergreen was accepted into the Rockland Virtual Arts Festival from April 1 - 30, 2021. As part of my participation, I created a video that lasted less than two minutes describing my painting. Here I talked more about the process than the feelings involved. You can watch the video below. It is on the Rockland Arts Festival Youtube channel.

What got cut out of the video is the meaning behind the painting. I use a lot of my representational work as metaphors for my feelings, experiences, and opinions. Evergreen is about our inner strength. It’s about our ability to go through the harshest of times, all the while discovering the inner strength that helps us to make it through.

©February 2020, Francesca Bandino, Evergreen. Acrylic on Canvas, 24x20x1.5 inches.

In situ image by Francesca Bandino

When the Angels guide my hands

A fellow Medium friend of mine once told me that the Angels showed her how they guide my hands when I paint. I completely trust her intuitive gifts, however, I'm a see-it-to-believe-it kind of person. It wasn't till I noticed something outside of myself moving my hands while working in the studio that I understood the message that she had delivered to me.

Work in progress Number 1 for White Light.

I started working on this abstract painting in December 2020 when I attended the Gathering of the Creatives virtually. My experience at this full weekend workshop was an absolutely spiritual artistic adventure for me. It felt like my soul had reached another level in both the creative and the spiritual parts of my life, and that these two parts had finally united. However, I was really confused about the approach to this painting. When I work on abstracts, there is raw emotion behind the process, but there was none of that here initially. So I continued to make marks and add layers, wondering where I was going with this.

Work in progress Number 2 for White Light.

Work in progress Number 3 for White Light.

Work in progress Number 4 for White Light.

Eventually, I did what many painters have to do at some point in their careers. I made some big brush strokes across the canvas to intentionally ruin the piece. I knew that I couldn’t make the painting worse, so I would only move up from there. I was still confused about the painting, but it helped me to express the movement that I felt onto the canvas. I added a message to myself and then worked to cover it up. Ultimately I was very happy with the colors I chose and the way the squares overlapped each other, I was happy with the movement and the feeling of joy, but there was still something missing. I did what I normally do when I'm not sure of where I'm going - I left it alone.

Work in progress Number 5 for White Light.

Work in progress Number 6 for White Light.

One morning in March while I was in meditation, I asked God, the Angels, and Spirit one of my usual questions: What would you have me do today? I immediately saw an image of how I was going to complete this painting. They showed me how I would make a big creamy scribble with pigment sticks. It wasn't my studio day, but I went into the studio for something else and that's when I saw this canvas again. I had a sudden urge to pick it up and do as I had been guided to do. I took my pigment stick out and I started to scribble the top line.

Work in progress Number 7 for White Light.

Work in progress Number 8 for White Light.

I began to smudge the pigment with my fingertips (it's a very creamy consistency) and it was at this point that I realized that I hadn’t even been looking at what I was doing. I had no control. My hands were being guided. Then I decided to make a second scribble below and again I began to smudge the pigment. This time my hands didn't need to be guided because I knew exactly what needed to be done. When I brought the canvas into the natural light, I realized that what I had created looked to me like God's White Light. It truly was a magical experience. 

©2021, Francesca Bandino, White Light. Acrylic, oil, and wax on Gallery Wrapped Canvas, 24x18x1.5 inches.

Powerful Bliss

This week I shared a video explaining what inspired the creation of my painting Powerful Bliss. As usual, apologies for the formatting of the video, as I created it with the intention of putting it on Instagram.

Okay, so in the video I stated that this painting wasn’t on my website yet. However, I do have a page now that I am building for any spiritual art I create. You can click on the image below to get to this painting.

Original Painting

ABOUT THE ART

This is the process of opening my connection to the Divine. After rooting and anchoring myself to the Earth, I feel the energy move up those roots and through my body. I allow those tingles to move through my head, up until it reaches Spirit, the Angels, and the Divine.

The magical inner goddess that radiates joyfully with the gift of bringing messages of healing, following the path that has been set for her by the Divine.

Acrylic on stretched canvas

Size: 18x14x1.5 inches

This painting is wired and ready to hang. 

©2020, Francesca Bandino, Powerful Bliss. Acrylic on Gallery Wrapped Canvas, 18x14x1.5 inches.

SHIPPING DETAILS

Ships in a box

Shipping costs: Shipping costs are included for shipments within the US. Enter code COLLECTOR at checkout.

Shipping time: This original painting will ship within 2 business days. Allow the carrier 2-5 business days to deliver the package. That means that you’ll receive your new painting in 4-7 business days!

Signature is required for this shipment

Let me know in the comments if you enjoyed this video, specifically if you enjoyed listening to me explain my painting. Sending you lots of love and light.

Renegade Craft Virtual Fair - June 2020

COVID-19 is still disrupting our 2020 plans. In lieu of showing my work in-person at art fairs, I’ve been looking for, discovering, and even creating my own virtual opportunities. Last month I brought you my Backyard Art Show in which I set up my tent, hung my paintings, and then explained the story behind some of the work.

This month I was accepted into the Renegade Craft Virtual Fair. Renegade Craft is known for hosting fairs in major cities, mostly across the U.S. The virtual version of the fair involved creators and makers going live during the fair with a tour, a lesson or a demo. I opted for getting onto Instagram Live and doing a live painting demo.

My work in progress from the live painting demo.

Before this fair, I had never done a live painting demo. In fact, I can count on two hands the number of people who had ever watched me paint before. When I paint, I listen to podcasts and concentrate on the work in front of me. Speaking while painting is a difficult task, but I somehow managed to do it.

I’m grateful for the people who showed up to the live session and asked thoughtful questions. In total, I painted and talked for two hours. I was surprised that some people watched and participated for almost the whole time. Wow!

If you weren’t able to make it, I hope you can join me in the future! I’ve included almost fifteen minutes of the live footage here. You’ll notice that I sometimes go towards the camera to read and answer questions. It may look as though I was talking to myself while I was painting. I promise that I was not! For some reason I thought the questions and conversation would be recorded, but since they weren’t, you only get to hear my answers.

Please enjoy and feel free to ask questions or leave comments below.

Getting back to my happy place

In the summer I enjoy painting outdoors, but in the winter I paint from photographs that I’ve taken during my travels. I travel to California often and I started taking pictures of bird of paradise flowers on one of my trips to Los Angeles. The following Spring I started painting from those photographs.

©May2017, Francesca Bandino, Bird of Paradise Blue. Acrylic on Canvas, 10x10x1.5 inches

The Bird of Paradise Flower series was my first body of work based on the study of a single subject matter. Although the first one I painted was very simple, the more paintings I created, the more details I explored. I also found myself experimenting with backgrounds and color choices. In the first part of the series I completed 9 bird of paradise flower paintings. Then I had other ideas percolating in my head and I moved onto other projects.

The following winter I had some issues in my studio including flooding (don’t worry, nothing was ruined). I took this as an opportunity to move into a shared studio space with other artists. I had been working on my own for a long time, so it was nice to be surrounded by creatives. However, the artist side of my brain didn’t seem to agree with the social part of it. 

For the first month I found myself making less than interesting work. I experimented with a few subject matters, but everything seemed completely out of my style. Even the flower paintings I made were not up to par with my other flower paintings. I was creatively lost. I was having a hard time connecting to my work in this new space.

A Bright Soul in progress on my easel

In my despair I printed out the pictures I had taken of the bird of paradise flowers in Los Angeles. I was hesitant to start. What if I had forgotten how to paint these majestic flowers? What if they didn’t look like the ones I had previously made?

However, I did what I usually do. I pushed my fears aside for the love of painting. I slowly started to feel myself sink into my happy place. My art companions were amazed at what I was creating. This was working. I wasn’t trying to create something unique or meaningful. I was simply creating a subject that speaks to me with colors that I love. I had shut out everything else around me and created something beautiful. The painting was A Bright Soul. I was creating something familiar but in a new way. It gave me the momentum to make paintings that I loved again.

“Radiant Plenitude” is my solo exhibition of bright and bold paintings which was on display at the Ocean City Arts Center in March 2019. Among the paintings in the collection is the Bird of Paradise Flower series. Each piece and each body of work carries its own significance. When I look at the Bird of Paradise Flower paintings I’m reminded of courage, comfort and the happiness they bring. 

From left to right: Blue Flight, Orange Rose, Bird of Paradise Blue, Voluptuous Blues, Dual Complexity