Start of “Composition 18”

by Somin Parate | Mar 3, 2014 | Blog

On January 3rd, 2014 I had my civil marriage in Des Moines, Iowa.  I am legally married!  My now husband is originally from Switzerland and ended up finding a full-time job in Zurich.  So off to Switzerland we go.

My main focus for now is, of course, my art, as well as, learning German.  For the fact that I am not Swiss and don’t know German, it’s difficult to find a job right away. But that’s fine with me because I would rather focus my time on producing more work for my collection.  In our new apartment, I have my own space dedicated to my studio where I can work on my paintings. The cool thing is that we’re on the first floor and people walking outside can see me while I paint. This is funny.

For my next pieces, I want to experiment working with a large canvases. For this one, the size that I chose was 140 X 100 cm (metric system now that I am in Europe).  Funny fact, I couldn’t have gone bigger even if I wanted to because the canvas almost didn’t fit in the car.  But then again, European cars are much smaller than American cars.

Start of “Composition 17”

by Somin Parate | Sep 30, 2013 | Blog

Just moved to Brooklyn, NY in August.  In order to make a living in New York, I have been focusing my time on finding a job in order to finance some supplies for a new painting to work on. As always, I am eager to start.  My hope was to find an art-based job but I soon found out how competitive it is here.  Since I know I am only going to be living in New York for a short time, I have to find something fast.

After about a month and a half of searching, I have found a job as a sales assossiate at Billabong, right on Times Square. I am ecstatic.  Billabong had been one of my favorite clothing brands for years.  Now that I am making money, I can finally buy supplies to paint!

I decided to work on a small canvas, 24″ X 18,” because I knew that I would have to ship it when I left New York.  Plus, I didn’t have my own art easel, which makes the job more difficult.

Art Show

by Somin Parate | Jul 20, 2013 | Blog

Yesterday, July 19th, 2013 I had my first art show! It was held at The Great Frame Up located in West Des Moines, Iowa, where I had been interning for the summer. I showcased my most recent artwork, as well as, my older pieces from when I first began to advance as a painter. Moreover, since I was interning at a The Great Frame Up, I was able to frame four of my beginning paintings! Framing artwork gives the piece in question a whole new perspective. Check those three framed painting at the bottom of the wall behind me.