Hellooooo from the art studio 😀! I’ve been working hard and I wanted to share with you, a few behind the scenes clips, on a sculpture which is very nearly done – yay! 🙌💃
And for more videos and updates like this one, be sure to like and follow me on Facebook, at Facebook.com/ArtByAdesina
Hugs,
Adesina ❤❤❤
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¡Holaaaaa desde el estudio de arte 😀! Estoy trabajando mucho y quisiera compartir un video detrás de escena ¡sobre una escultura cual está casi completa! 🙌💃
Y para más videos y noticias como ésta, por favor siguenme en Facebook, en Facebook.com/ArtByAdesina
Abrazos,
Adesina ❤❤❤
There is nothing morally wrong with creating art for the sake of art. The creation of something visually captivating and aesthetically appealing is never a bad thing. That being said, art is an extremely powerful tool for communication.
Art has the ability to fill in where words fall short, and can make a huge impact. Art can be used to communicate concerns, ideas and opinions, on subjects that are important and relevant to society, or even just to convey one’s own personal feelings. Artwork can serve as compelling commentary on the state of the world at large.
Many of us wonder how to add more depth and meaning to our work. One dimension that could potentially be expanded to enhance our artistic output, is that of purpose. There is so much more that you can communicate via your art, by fueling and directing it, with a relevant cause or message that you wish to put out. This gives you, and your work, purpose.
In this post, we will elaborate a bit on one possible route you might take during such an artistic, purpose driven process.
There are many causes worth taking up and fighting for in our world today. Some of the more commonly known, include fighting against animal cruelty, racism, and sexism; as well as advocating for women’s rights, children’s rights and environmental conservation.
Think about what is important to you. Find your cause, understand what it’s about, and then allow it inform your artistic process.
You need to figure out how you wish to communicate that which you feel is relevant and important. Get a sense of what medium or mediums you want to work with. Will it be a public display or something more intimate? What kind of impact are you looking to make with your work and how will you go about achieving it?
These questions are important to ask while you are deciding both your medium and your style, and before you begin the actual work.
Last but not least, while actually working on your painting, sculpture or other work of art, let the cause you care about, inform your creative process. Let it influence your choice of color, stroke and composition; allow it to reveal itself in the shapes on your page or canvas, or in the folds of your clay. And while creating work that is overtly about the subject matter in a very obvious way is definitely a clear way to go about it, remember that sometimes it is not a blatant message, but simply the essence of the matter, that is enough to make the impact you’re looking for. Symbolism, abstraction, and allegory are fabulous tools in that case.
Like we said, there is no evil in creating art for the sake of creating art — so many artists have done it, and will continue to do so. However, creating art with purpose, is what the world needs more of! If you’d like to see some inspiring artwork for sale in NY, lovingly created with purpose, then check out artist Adesina’s commentaries on ecology (Bleak Future), mortality (original skull art), and equality (I Have A Dream 2013), or give us a shout on social media (@ArtByAdesina on most platforms) or our contact form, for more gorgeous, heartfelt material!
– The Adesina.com Team
Art has been used to instigate, support and bring about social and political change for a very long time. Today, artists the world over, use their skills and expertise to spread awareness as well as to comment on a host of global issues.
Since some of my readers might be confused or unclear about how art has the power to bring about and encourage change, I’m going to elaborate on that a little over the course of this blog.
There are so many smaller elements that make up the whole; and if you go through each of the headings below, by the end you will see how collectively each contributes to the overarching effects that art has on society.
By providing us a safe space to explore, art helps teach us to try new things, understand different perspectives and challenge norms and rules that we might have grown up with.
By providing inspiration, art can push people to do better, be better, and evolve, as well as face and conquer various problems they are faced with.
Being a form of expression, art encourages people to come out with what they are holding onto within. Often times this brings likeminded folk together. When together, like minded folk, with ideas on how to improve the world around them, get things done.
Art can be used to discuss and dialogue on matters which could otherwise offend people to the point of violence, in a lighter, more psychologically acceptable way. In other words, it can be used to challenge wrongful acts and injustices, without offending.
Whether you’re appreciating art together or creating it, a sense of community is formed. Art brings people together and encourages personal involvement. This paves the way for timid yet highly intelligent individuals, who want to take part in meaningful causes, to do so. The interaction helps breed confidence and further productive action!
Another amazing trait of a good piece of artwork, is that those interested will endeavor to understand the deeper meaning in the work. It doesn’t matter if you’re following the life of an artist or analyzing their use of color and style of stroke. The skills you’re honing, are those of critical thinking and analysis. Both are crucial when it comes to sociopolitical involvement and action!
We don’t all speak the same language, but a sculpture, a painting, or other thought/emotion provoking piece of art work can be understood by most. Even if it does not look appealing by conventional standards, the ability of a piece of art to evoke a feeling, is what communicates its meaning.
Art is a language understood by people the world over, regardless of background, educational history or age.
Though on their own these elements might not seem consequential, together they set the stage for the ways in which art can create and inspire critically thinking, socially active, as well as socially empathic, human beings. It is individuals like these, who both on their own, and collectively, push and rally for change the world over! And this, is why I as an artist, am driven to create.
If you would like to purchase affordable art prints, sculptures, paintings or ceramics, while supporting meaningful causes, then please feel free check out my site, Adesina.com, or give me a shout on social media: @ArtByAdesina on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, DeviantArt, YouTube, and various other platforms.
xoxo,
Adesina
Happy MerMay!
So I started this drawing last MerMay, and even though I signed it, I never really felt I had finished it. So since May has swung around again, I thought I’d take it out and add some more color!
Here is last year’s post — Hit the right arrow to see the original progress video 🙂
And here’s an update from today! Check out the deep blues and greens of the water – What do you think? Should I add some coral to the sea floor?
I hope you guys like the picture so far, and stay tuned for a finished version!
Love,
Adesina
What is the importance of Art in our lives?
Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time. It changes the way we see the world and everything around us.
Keep on reading to find out how great art can help us define our very lives, and share this infographic with anyone who would like to see the many wonderful ways that art has shaped and reflected society <3.
xo,
Adesina
While I mull over the final finish for my latest sculpture, Objectification (I), I thought I’d put together a video of the process, to give a little glimpse into the weeks of hard work that even a small sculpture can take.
From molding the clay on the armature, to covering it in several coats of plaster to make a cast, to letting that dry only to dig out the original clay, and fill it with more plaster, to finally chipping away at the mould to reveal the final sculpture underneath, it is quite a journey!
I hope you enjoy the video and the process, and I can’t wait to share the final reveal when her patina is done.
(Read more about the meaning of this sculpture, here»)
Love,
Adesina
Adesina poses in the studio with her sculpture Objectification I
Above drawing: Cartoon Portrait of Star Ruiz by Adesina, 4.5″ x 6.5″. Copic Markers (all colored areas), Sharpie (large black areas), Sumiiro brush pen (black lines), white gel pen (white highlights), & watercolor (gray in eyes & teeth), on heavy weight drawing paper.
So I’ve been meaning to try out Copic Markers for the longest, and I bought a couple packs a few weeks ago, but I didn’t have a chance to open them up until now.
Copic Sketch marker sets – aren’t they beautiful? 😀
Well was I in for a treat! These markers are so much fun to use; nothing like the regular markers we all played with as kids. First, they blend really well – if you color in an area all at once, you get almost no streaking, and if you layer a light color right next to a dark color that is still somewhat wet, you can blend the edges together to create an almost watercolor effect.
In fact, that’s what I would compare them the most to: watercolors. Like watercolor, they also bleed through regular paper. I used pretty heavy drawing paper for my drawing, but the next page in my sketchbook still had lots of bleed through on it, so next time I will put a piece of scrap paper in between. Also, I noticed that any area you color bleeds a bit into the adjacent areas, especially if you are heavy handed, so in future I will not color right to the edge of my lines, but instead I will stop maybe a millimeter away, and let the bleed carry the color to the edge.
Also, I discovered a few things about the colorless blender. I thought it was something I could use similar to the way you use the colorless blender pencil with Prismacolors: layer two colors one on top of the other, or side by side, and then rub the blender on top to make them one solid hue, or to create a seamless transition. Nope. The markers themselves actually naturally blend on their own. Layer colors one on top of the other and they will create a new color (and not always the color you anticipate either, so test it on scrap first lol), and as I said before, if you use one color right next to another that is still wet, they will also bleed into each other naturally.
The colorless blender is actually more like an eraser of sorts. You can use it the same way you would use a clean brush dipped in water, with watercolor. It can lighten colors, and I was even able to use it in order to clean up some edges where the markers bled excessively. But if you are too heavy handed it can also cause the paper to warp, and colors to bleed even more, so be careful.
Timelapse of my drawing:
And, similar to acrylic paints, these markers dry lighter than they go on. Which made it a bit confusing when I was trying to touch up some of the shading on areas that were already dry — it was hard to tell if I was actually making the area darker, or if it just looked darker because it was wet compared to the dry areas. I think in future I will try to only work wet into wet when I am shading, or at the very least, make a mental note of what colors I used where, so that I can either match the color, or pick the right darker color to shade it with.
And finally, I definitely understand now why people buy so many different colors. Although they do blend, the colors they create are not always intuitive and some unexpected results can happen. If you really want a specific color, you need to buy it, because chances are, you won’t be able to mix it perfectly with just the primaries. So I think I’ll invest in a few shades of gray, as well as some secondary colors, next :).
If you want to try out these markers for yourself, here are the ones I bought, below (I think the skin tones are sold out until May, but the primaries are avail now):
Copic Sketch Markers – Perfect Primaries
Copic Sketch Markers – Skin Tones
I also bought the colorless blender (Number “0”) and a loose marker, RV25 “Dog Rose Flower” which is a hot pink.
xo,
Adesina
50 years ago yesterday, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated at 6:01pm on the balcony of his room at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. That day, we lost one of the greatest leaders in history.
And with all that has happened in the interim: from wars to peace protests, from globalization to technological advancements; Dr. King’s messages of equality and civil rights and non-violence remain relevant. Yet, no leader of the same caliber and reach has emerged in his absence. Where are today’s leaders, who can push society forward in greater increments, the way Dr. King did?
Two weeks ago, in Washington DC, a little girl from Alexandria stood in front of the nation at the March For Our Lives rally, and spoke her mind:
Her name is Naomi Wadler, and she’s eleven years old. Please watch her speech below:
Regardless of where you stand on gun violence (and at the very least, I’d like to think we are all united in wanting to curtail needless deaths, even if the methodology is often a point of contention), it is undeniable that this young lady is incredibly well-spoken, and brave, for being so young and articulating her thoughts on a national stage, and for organizing a walkout at her elementary school.
And while I would never compare a child to any of our great leaders of the past, every leader was once a child too, and seeing our young people stand up for what they believe in this way, gives me great hope for the future, and for a better world. We need more children (and adults) like Naomi! I hope she continues to speak out and make a difference; she has tremendous potential.
I hope you like my drawing of this incredible little girl; please feel free to share it! At this time it is not for sale.
xoxo,
Adesina
Hello my loves,
As Women’s History Month comes to a close, I wanted to share one of my recent sculptures, focused on the female form, which is currently drying in my studio & awaiting a coat of varnish and a patina: “Objectification (I).”
If you have a moment, here is her story:
In the aftermath of the #MeToo movement earlier this year, I’ve been thinking a lot about what it means to be a woman, in a culture where sexual predation still occurs, yet somehow has been ignored in certain sectors, for so very long. Especially since I have been working in the entertainment industry as a television host for the past 13 years, and even having been introduced to the “casting couch” myself (to which I said “No thank you, I’ll pass” lol), the entire movement hit very close to home.
Objectification I sculpture by artist Adesina – legs, feet and face only.
This sculpture, a nude woman, her face neatly removed as if through a futuristic, bloodless surgery, and placed by her feet, is not so much about sexual assault in and of itself, as much as it’s about the erasure of women’s identities, in the midst of all these accusations and public outcry. It’s about how it feels to be exposed to the world, with one’s story of sexual abuse or harassment, and being made into just one of a huge number of interchangeable women – angry women, mistreated women, scared women, women who were in the wrong place at the wrong time, or women labeled as just plain stupid, or manipulative even, for having been in these situations in the first place, and for either disclosing, or not disclosing, after the fact (and in many cases – you are wrong no matter which you choose).
It’s the objectification not of the body, but of the mind & of the soul, which leaves one naked and alone, even as we stand strong, and our voices rise together; so that we remain faceless, in the aftermath of a movement that we put so much hope into, and of which we have yet to see what the far-reaching outcomes will be.
Once the sculpture is completely dried and a patina applied, I will post more about her, with some video of the process, which if you have ever casted a clay sculpture in plaster, you know is quite an ordeal hehe!
Thank you so much for reading, and if you’d like to place a bid on this piece before it’s done (thus securing her for yourself in advance) please contact me here.
Complete sculpture – Objectification I – by Adesina.
Much love,
Adesina xo
Happy Tuesday! I hope everyone is having a great day so far — I definitely am! I recently got to visit the house of one of my collectors, and LOOK — two of my “Rebirth” wine bottles from back in 2011!
It felt so good to see them displayed in a loving home setting, and to pick them up and remember all the time it took to paint them (30 hours just to paint the one with the eye – “New Sight Blooms”), not to mention how proud I felt to do all that work knowing 100% of the proceeds would benefit charity.
When I was first approached by Rawhouse Wine to paint these bottles, I was really excited, but honestly I was also overwhelmed, because I have a very detailed painting style, and I knew that painting six bottles, to the high standards I hold myself to, would be over 100 hours of work, and for free, since they were auctioned off for a children’s art & music charity.
But then I thought about when I was a child, and how badly I wanted to be an artist, but the NYC public school system was always cutting arts education, making it nearly impossible for me to get access to the training I needed. And I realized that I have to the power to help other little kids just like who I was all those years ago. So, I buckled down, joined team #nosleep lol, and I did it! And if I remember correctly, it was down to the wire and I was delivering the finished bottles something like the day before the auction, and up to the last minute, I still didn’t know if I’d be able to finish.
After the auction, I took two of the beautiful professional photos that Rod Savant took of the bottles, and sold them at an art show to benefit Artistic Dreams International, another children’s charity that I actually used to volunteer for, teaching drawing to underprivileged kids up in Harlem.
So you can imagine all the emotions I felt when I saw these two pieces again, still holding a place of honor in a home, so many years later. This is the legacy I wish to leave behind: Beautiful art & loving philanthropy, always.
What is the legacy you wish to leave behind? Perhaps there is something we can collaborate on, to help the community, and bring more beauty into the world? Feel free to leave a comment below, or message me here. I’d love to hear from you!
Love,
Adesina
