I can’t believe it has been over a year since I posted anything! And of course, in that time I have embarked on a new creative project. Called Art Unbound By Celeste, it currently lives on Etsy, although I am exploring other options as well. “Unbound” has two meanings: 1) at the moment I am incorporating bits of old books into all of my art pieces and 2) I am unbound by conventions and limitations that that encourage me to pick a medium or style and therefore what I am doing right now and what I am doing in a year might be totally different. And that is ok.
I am really proud of this collage portrait I made of my daughter:
I started with a wood base, used acrylic medium to transfer a photograph of her, and then used a wood burner to form the rays of the sun. I painted the sun with gold acrylic paint. The blue areas are made from a hodge podge of cuttings from an old copy of What to Expect When You’re Expecting, and I filled in the sun rays with pieces from a sari my Bangladeshi host family gave me for Eid in 2004. I finished the piece with accents of gold mica.
You can see the process here:
This piece I will be keeping for myself, but I hope to create more pieces like it to sell soon! If you are interested in following my art shenanigans, you can follow me on facebook.
Do you think people would be interested in custom portraits? I would ask them to email me one or more photos, plus some information about the subject’s personality. I would send them a design sketch with the caveat that one of my favorite things about making art is its tendency to evolve in the process of creation. If you had infinite wealth, would you buy such a portrait of your loved one?
The Many Hats of Celeste Bocchicchio-Chaudhri 