Disappointing numbers but I have an idea on how to improve them! - Vote on the previous post below please.

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So, my first stab at getting participation has not been as successful as I thought it would be. But it's ok...I'll keep at it. Patience, perseverance and creativity will eventually get me results. If I can get 50 votes by next week I will give away 2 signed prints.



OK, those of you who know me know that the patience part is bullshit. I want and need results now! I will not be ignored! - Saying that in a Fatal Attraction psycho voice. Not much of a stretch from my normal voice!

For the 8 people who took the time to vote for me, I have a way of saying thanks AND an incentive to encourage, coerce, suggest, bribe, etc. other people to vote. I will have a special drawing for a signed print for only the 8 that voted IF, they get 5 people to vote. If only 3 of the 8 can do it, I'd say the odds are pretty dang good. The most though will be the initial 8 people for this drawing. Then next week I'll have another drawing for another signed print from everyone who's voted. That gives the first 8 people another chance to win.

So...Ranga, Lee, Ravi, Maggie, Babs, Liz, David and Mike E. thank you and show me some more love! Once you know that 5 of the people you've harrased into voting have done it, email me their names at iheartfrida@gmail.com.

And in case you were wondering...no, I have no shame and will continue to self promote until I am more famous than Oprah! Haha! Made ya laugh!

Join in the creation of my next piece!

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Now that I've shared more about my process and hopefully helped you experience my sketches/paintings instead of trying to "figure them out", I'd like to introduce the next step to my new direction. I'd like to invite you to participate in the creation of my next piece. Your participation will be in choosing the next sketch and in choosing the colors or color scheme. I of course will execute the piece and document each step so that you can follow my progress and see your choices come to life! 

During the following two weeks I'll be posting some of my recent sketches so that you can vote from a grouping, that will then give us the finalists and the from there a final voting for the sketch that I will then paint. Before I start the painting though, there will be a similar yet quicker process to choose the colors or color scheme based on your ideas and votes.









To vote for your favorite sketch, please reply with a comment and vote for 1, 2 or 3 accordingly in the order in which you see them. Please only vote for the one you like the most.
If I get enough participation I will be doing a give away of a signed print, details to follow in the next post.

Thank you all in advance and please help me get more participation by doing one or all of the following:

1.Share it on the right hand navigation bar and choose Twitter or Facebook...or both!
2.Send this blog post to all your email contacts.
3. Follow me on Twitter (http://twitter.com/MonicaMelgar) and RT the update about this post.

My heart aches

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About 9 years ago I found this tiny newborn kitten, crying, squirming, dying. She was covered in dirt and fleas. I brought in her inside, washed her, plucked all the fleas off of her and wiped the puss off her eyes. Ran to the pet store, got some tiny bottles and milk. Since that day, she was mine and carved a place in my heart that is now in pain. She got sick and I had to let her go. It had been long coming and I thought I was prepared. I had in a strange way become distant with her as if I resented her slow departure. She was slowly becoming a cat I didn't recognize. She no longer pulled at my cereal bowl, she no longer knocked things off the counter, she no longer was the crazy dog-like cat that I knew. We would never again share corn on the cob.
It is amazing to me how this tiny furry creature could make me both so happy and now so sad. I wonder if she knew how much joy she brought me.Silly thought I know, even for me. A part of me thinks, its just an animal! And yet the pain is real and the sadness is deep. Death, loss, pain...all a part of life that gives us the ability to feel alive and true joy. Necessary I know, but still sucks! For those of you that have never loved a pet, this probably sounds ridiculous. For those of you who do though, well I know you're with me.


For all the time I had with her, for her entering my life and bringing me laughter and many happy moments...I am grateful. Frida...I will always heart you!  

She left us at about 3pm on October 20, 2009


P.S. For those of you who have my number, please no phone calls about this.

Not that kind of penetration!

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The title to this piece is "Penetration". When I initially showed this piece in San Antonio in 2007 the title alone drew some attention. It can be taken in a literal way and being that graphically speaking there is some insertion of sorts going on in the painting, it's about so much more. What I really love about this painting/sketch is that it came to me without me knowing what it meant. It was only as I looked back at my life and took notice that it all made sense. These kind of subconscious surprises are what really gets me excited when creating anything. When we can allow our minds to disconnect in a way in which just our creativity flows through us and produces something without thought its actual magic!

I've now realized that this sketch and painting represent how I feel when someone new enters my life in a way that I am forever changed by the new feelings that have been born in me. How someone's energy joins yours to make something that didn't exist before.How someone leaves a print on your soul forever becoming a part of you. It is an amazing gift when you are lucky enough to connect with someone at this level and I am forever grateful when someone gives me this gift.

From ink on paper to paint on canvas

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I've been asked before how I come up with my paintings. I start with a sketch like this one and then paint it! I doodle all the time and not all of my sketches make it to the canvas. Soon I'll be posting some new sketches and maybe you can help me pick the next one to paint!

Abstract art...what is it?

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In my effort to elaborate on what you may already know about abstract art or explain to those who don't know about it...here's some info and thoughts!

Abstract art uses a visual language of form, color and line to create a composition which exists independently of visual references to the world”. - Wikipedia.

In other words, what you see is used to create something that does not exist already in the world you are used to seeing and relating forms to.
There are two main categories of art, representational and abstract. Unless a painting is obviously or even in an abstract way representing a recognizable image, then it is abstract. Abstract art does not seek to imitate or re-create physical objects that our mind can relate to from the world we see.
To some, abstract art can seem meaningless because of the need to relate it to something we recognize. On the other hand to others it may seem intimidating because its meaning is elusive or altogether beyond comprehension. However, abstract art is not meant to be “understood” in the traditional sense. There are no clear intentions with images of death, political oppression, freedom or any other of the human conditions artists strive to represent. With abstract art there are titles that have no meaning or no obvious relation to the piece itself. Many times when viewed on screen or in print, an abstract piece is hard to appreciate to its fullest extent.
And here in lies the uniqueness of abstract art. It is meant to be an experience. The piece is created so that you may disconnect your conscious mind and just see the whole painting without relating it to anything logical. See the colors, the composition, movement, textures as a group of items coming together to give you an experience, a feeling.
It’s been argued that to give an abstract painting a title influences the viewer’s experience. If an artist tells you what they meant then where’s the individual experience that the viewer should have? How is it then the viewer’s experience? Then it is as if the artist is telling you what to feel or see. The title can then replace the relation of objects and take away the abstract intent.
However, it’s also been argued that to not give a title separates the viewer from the artist. Perhaps it seems pretentious or even selfish. If the artist’s intent is to share something from within, then why not give it a title that represents either the intent, the inspiration or circumstances that lead to the creation of the piece?
So, do I let you figure out for yourself what my pieces mean on your own without any influence? Do I give you an idea of what it meant to me and then see if you can relate to it as I did? Or…perhaps we figure out a way to meet in the middle.

New direction

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Today I start a new direction for my art. Because I haven't figured out exactly all the steps or defined what the overall turnout should look like, I decided to start this blog to document the process itself. My intent is to engage the audience in the process and that new work is created in collaboration with people via this emerging phenomena of social media.

Stay tuned and you can join the fun!