women

Timeless Beauty/ Διαχρονική Oμορφιά

Mixed-media on canvas 30 x 24 cm By Angela Zafiris

My recent painting happened by accident. I think that the best things happen by accident. I usually plan a painting. I make a sketch first and I try to picture how it would like when it’s done. This time I just let myself be more free and just let myself take a few risks. I applied layers of paint with colours ranging from yellow to blue over the photos from magazines, then I decided to make a mini collage for the center with the background posing as a thick frame.  Then I applied a bit of gesso  to give it a more foggy, haunting feel. The scan made the painting more vibrant than it actually is.

Free Woman

By Angela Zafiris
Collage on paper 24 x32 cm

Happy New Year! Today is the Chinese new year and I believe-like the Chinese that the New Year starts at the end of  January and not at the beginning. This gives me more time to work on my resolutions for this year ;)))

The idea for my new collage titled ‘Free Woman’ came to me last week. It’s my first completed collage of the year. I used white tissue paper for the background and added some colour.  The bird coming out of the woman represents the free bird hidden within all of us waiting to be set free. I like to use text in my collages. I like to write poetry, so I put some text with poetry that I wrote and pasted it onto the bird.

“Maybe some women aren’t meant to be tamed. Maybe they just need to run free til they find someone just as wild to run with them.”

Sex and the City quotes

21st Century Woman

© By Angela Zafiris Collage on paper 24 x 34 cm

The idea for my 21st Century Woman collage came to me in a flash when I started to think about how complicated things have become for women these days. Women have become more expensive, with their clothes and accessories and make-up.  Women are expected  by society to have the latest style and to look their best, always. She is more ‘high maintainance’ now than she has ever been. Sure, in the past women took care of themselves but they were women mostly of the upper class who spent a lot of time and money on their look. But, even those women never spent the time and money on her looks as much as the modern woman has.   It seems that we have all become Queens now, wanting to be pampered and shopping for luxury brand items. However, our current economic crisis has made it harder for most women to have this kind  of life style.

Many females have had to cut down on the many indulgences that their mothers and grandmothers did not have.  They are dying and cutting their own hair, buying cheaper make-up and they are buying fewer clothes-if any this season! Maybe we are not  meant to be Queens and that we should just live a simpler life-save for a lucky few.

 

Inspiring Women-Γυναικες Που Μας Εμπνεουν

Labelled as the ‘weaker’ sex yet in every women lies an enormous strength. what women endure in their lives around the world is tragic and appalling even in so-called ‘civilised’ societies women are treated differently than men.  There is not country that is safe for women. There is always danger and few venture out alone at night in any city. We are weaker because we lack the physical strenght but  is it because we are also more sensitive and nurturing than men? Is that being weak? If we all got in touch with feminine power instead of masculine what a different more loving and compassionate world it would be.

This is why I love to hear stories about strong women who try to make a difference and who inspire other.  A friend of mine wrote an article about a woman named Kim MacGregor who’s daughter was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis. She and her daughter both are spokes people for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation her 12 year old daughter raises money for the foundation by selling her art work.

The video is part of a movement launced by Kim MacGregor. Kim lost her 31 year old friend Erika to colon cancer two years ago. The movement is called ‘I believe she’s amazing’ to honour her friend Erika who had a great impact on her life. For more information about Kim please click on the link below to read the article.

http://www.goodnewstoronto.ca/2011/05/may-2011-kim-macgregor-i-believe-she%E2%80%99s-amazing-because%E2%80%A6/

The Woman Who Knew too much/Η Γυναικα Που Ηξερε πολλα.

Mixed-media on paper By Angela Zafirs

‘He that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow’- Ecclesiastes, 1.18

‘Επειδή, σε πολλή σοφία υπάρχει πολλή λύπη· και όποιος προσθέτει γνώση, προσθέτει πόνο’. -Ἐκκλησιαστής

 

 

 

Beautiful Blonde(?)

Paper Collage by Angela Zafiris

“Everything has its beauty, but not everyone sees it” said Chinese philosopher Confucius.

Every culture has their own definition of beauty.  In Greece, if a woman is blonde and blue-eyed she is much sought after. I’m guessing that my Greek compatriots caught the  ‘blonde obsession virus’ during the German occupation of Greece during the second world war.  I find it so odd that even if the blonde and blue-eyed woman has missing teeth or an acne problem she will still be considered beautiful.  Okay I don’t want to be mean or anything.  What I’m trying to  say is that this obsession with blonde and blue-eyed people can’t just be due  to their rare colouring?

This blonde Aryan worship is widespread of course. Blonde ambition began in recent history in Europe and then the U.S. more specifically California where film actresses began to experiment with bleach.  In Hollywood blonde is beautiful, but in Asia you’re a freak.  Today I saw a scene in the film ”The Karate Kid’ [I was flipping the channels around] and Daniel was sitting with his mom at some diner. They were  talking about girls when the mother asked Daniel something like, ‘is this girl who you like  beautiful?’ and Daniel says ‘of course mom, she’s blonde!’  So, I started thinking,  ‘if the love interest was raven haired would she be considered ugly by Daniel?’

On Greek television there is a game show called  ‘Revenge of the Blonde’ .  The contestant stands in front of  300  blonde (mostly from the bottle) women. The contestant  has to try to eliminate all of them by giving the right answers to question covering a range of subjects from sports to history.  The funny things is that I don’t remember a contestant ever winning all of the money. So, in actuality they do get their revenge for being dubbed as ‘stupid’ all of these years.

If you’re not a blonde or you are a blonde and you are  feeling insecure about your looks; just keep this quote in mind: “Every time you see a beautiful woman, just remember, somebody got tired of her”-anonymous.