My Movie Mind/Το Κινηματογραφικο Μου Μυαλο

Mixed-media collage painting
By Angela Zafiris

My mind is a movie mind and aside from making art and taking photographs I also like to write screenplays .  This side of my creativity is what inspired me to make this collage. I am a very visual person I can see things in my mind that I have never seen before. I see the people, and the places in my mind. I hear the dialogue between the characters; which at times is  funny and other times is sad.  I don’t need the television or a movie theatre to entertain me. It’s all in my mind 🙂

The background is composed of torn images from magazines. I painted the background with orange and blue acrylics. I then added pieces of paper from magazines added a layer of Gesso. After it dried I  painted over the papers with turquoise  acrylic paint and set it to dry. I made an outline of a human profile and I painted it yellow. Then I made a movie projector and painted it yellow as well.

Egocentric/Ο Εγωκεντρικός

Collage on paper by Angela Zafiris

I was inspired to make this collage after thinking about the ego. The ‘ego’, from the Greek word ‘Εγω’ ‘I,’ can propel us to do great things in our lives. We can reach great heights, higher stations in life. But, too much egotism, and an overuse of the word ‘I’ can bring about a great downfall. There should be a balance and we must think of the group. We have always been part of a group. We are tribal people and forever will be, even though many modern people have taken solitary paths.  I believe that we are at our most happiest when what we do benefits the group, because that’s what we have always been doing on this earth. Every one of our actions was for the benefit of the group.

 “The problem is that we have allowed our egos, the part of us which believes that we are separate from God and separate from each other, to dominate our lives.”

~ Wayne Dyer

Athens Street Photos/Δρομοι Της Αθηνας

It was a beautiful and sunny day in downtown Athens. And of course , like the tourist that I am, I had to take photographs of the unique little streets of Athens.

Ηταν μια πολυ ωραια και ηλιολουστη μερα στο κεντρο της Αθηνας. Εννοειται οτι επρεπε, σαν μια τουριστρια, να φωτογραφησω τα γραφικα σοκακια  της Αθηνας.

Plug It In!

Bustling Side Street

Move That Car!

Now This Is Inspiring!

Hmmm that bread looks yummy!

Helmuts? No! This Is Athens

Old Parliament Building/Παλιά Βουλή

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Last Saturday I ventured downtown to get a few art supplies at an art and hobby store. As I was walking down Stadiou St. I noticed the old parliament building. In  the  past I  have stood in front of it to take pictures of the statue of Greek General Theodoros Kolokotronis who is depicted riding a horse . I had never been inside the building, but that day something came over me and I decided to follow the group of people that were heading into the building. There was no entrance fee or anything and I was free to wander everywhere.  The building was built in 1875 with plans by French architect Francois Boulanger and with foundations that were layed by Queen Amalia of Bavarian origin. After the Greek war of independence Greece had a monarchy for a short time that began in the late 19th century.The building has ceased to be used as a parliament building in 1932. The current parliament building is located at Syntagma square.

The parliament building is now the National Historical Museum. When I walked in I was awe-struck by the amount of historical artifacts that are displayed in the old building, from the conquest of Constantinople by the Ottoman Turks in 1453 to the Second World War.  Also, there are costumes and works of art from drawings to paintings and statues from different time periods and many weapons that were used during the many wars that Greece participated in.

 

Breaking Free/Ελευθερια

Torn Paper collage by Angela Zafiris

For a very long time I would see, in my mind,  a woman being released from her isolation.  I saw her walls breaking down. She walked alone with the wind behind her pushing her toward the blue sky. The sun is coming out of the clouds and is ready to greet her. She doesn’t know what fate has in store for her but has an undying hope. Green symbolizes hope this is why she wears a green dress instead of black which symbolizes mourning.  This woman mourns no more…

In this collage I used bits of torn blue paper from magazines for the sky. Torn bits of brown paper for the bricks and green for the females’ dress. The papers were glued on 34 x22 cm cardboard paper.

Love?/Ερωτας;

The first photograph is my collage at its first stage before being completely altered.  After all the images got glued down on cardboard paper.  I let it dry for a few hours.  I then added a  white wash to blend everything together.  After the wash dried I painted over it with  phthalocyanine blue. It was too dark, so I used burnt sienna mixed with a bit of  titanium white acrylic to tone down the dark blue.  It looked a lot better.  Then I added the images  and the text. I thought that the text stood out too much so I glued tissue paper over the text.  A crimson acrylic was then applied with a key card, to make a border which is not seen in photo.  The basic key to making a collage is layering and more layering and use just a couple of colours.

Love? (incomplete)

Collage on paper by Angela Zafiris

Conversation Heart Collage- #IHeart Art
Collage Heart B&W

Collage Hearts by Angela Zafiris

Today, I participated in an a webinar hosted by ‘clothpaperscissors.com’ . I learned how to make  a three-layered heart collage using cardboard paper, text, pen and pencil, gesso, ribbon a hole puncher and glue. I didn’t have the right fabric for the second layer so I used bits of red coloured paper. For the smallest heart you can write a love poem or quote. There are so many things that you can do. I was very inspired and will probably make more for friends and family.  It’s a nice little gift to give to someone you love. You can hang it anywhere you want.

So get crafty!

Fall Goddess/Φθινοπωρινή Θεά
Fall Goddess

Mixed-media painting on canvas 45 X 35 cm
By: Angela Zafiris

My first painting of the new year is a mixed-media painting. I don’t usually paint faces. I do make sketches and I will be painting more faces in the near future.  I mostly enjoy ripping paper to make collages, but I thought I’d take more risks and stretch myself more.  For the painting I used leaves from my garden to use as stamps for the background. The climate in Athens is different from Western Europe and Northern Greece which is why I was able to gather leaves in the winter.  I painted some of the leaves gold and glued them on the canvas.  The gold leaves became a headdress and it shines beautifully in the light which I am glad the photograph captured.