The Card that Stole the Show
I was looking for a memorable card to gift my aunt for her birthday this year, when I came upon an unexpected surprise.
Unsuspectingly, I approached “the great wall” of cards – you know what I’m talking about! — I barely embarked on my mission when I spotted the tip of something buried within the collage that just caught my eye.
I reached for it and pulled it out… or perhaps it pulled me in.
It had a visceral effect on me at first. The image exuded a whimsical beauty interlaced with richness of detail, and an unusual time portal effect. It took my intellect several seconds to catch up and figure out that this was exactly what I was looking for. I loved it! And, I loved it for my aunt!
More than a card… this was a piece of art which quickly revealed to me that it was taking center stage – it in effect became the real gift.
My aunt, whom I affectionately call “N”, is a connoisseur of vintage, antique and rare art collector items, and I am inextricably connected to the world of performing arts through ballet. So this was a perfect union – the place where our worlds meet.
Part 2: The Artist
I did a tad of research on the artist, BELLA PILAR, who grew up in New York and studied fashion design at Boston’s Massachusetts College of Art and Design.
What got me right off the bat in Bella’s story is that precious milestone that all of us yearn for yet only few of us ever find: stepping into our Identity.
Bella says when she was just 9 years old, her mom began taking her to art classes, which appealed to her at once: “I immediately caught interest and quickly discovered how happy it made me. I knew then that creating art would be a part of my life forever.”
Identity is what we see when we are connected with our qualities, our innate talents, and it’s what makes us and those around us happy.
For those of you who follow my work, you know that this topic is paramount in my writings because this is what we are all looking for, and it is what makes a blog or an article relatable to each one of us. It is what makes Bella’s story meaningful for me.
For years, Bella worked as a makeup artist before her craft was discovered by an art director through an illustration she presented on her business card.
Today, Bella lives in Los Angeles and works out of her home studio.
Something else Bella said captured my attention because it shows how she sees the world: “I love to paint other people’s visions. I feel like it’s a way of sharing my world with other people.”
It’s all about her ability to CONNECT – a most important aspect of success in any endeavor.
You can read up on Bella in a 2017 WAG magazine article and her profile on Papyrus “Behind The Card”.
til next time!
SOURCES
http://www.wagmag.com/bella-pilars-most-fashionable-art/
http://www.prgreetings.com/papyrus/btc-detail/bella-pilar#.XY7LLJNKiqA
photo of Bella’s card by Elena Alexandra
photo of Bella from Papyrus Air on Twitter