Ala Ilescu
Ala Ilescu is a Canadian artist who was born in Eastern Europe. She is a former circus artist and juggler. Being part of a circus family, she traveled everywhere around the world on several tours. She has a University degree in show management.
At the age of 26, she decided to emigrate to Canada, where she met her husband. They have two children together. While in Canada, she retired from circus life and explored other careers like customer service and real estate.
Ala was always a creative person. In 2018 she started painting, exploring different mediums and styles. "I feel like I found myself when I discovered watercolor".
Ala loves painting women's portraits in abstract, fantasy and surrealist styles.
Ala gets her inspiration by reading poems.
ARTIST’S STATEMENT
Ala Ilescu is a Canadian artist who works primarily in watercolor. She paints beautiful realistic portraits of women and adds an expressive layer of emotion with color and surrealist elements.
She likes to combine the spontaneity of this unpredictable medium with realistic, detailed elements, achieved through a layering technic.
Her paintings are mostly inspired by poetry. She likes to illustrate what poets beautifully describe in words. Ala wants her art to evoke feelings and strong reactions, by challenging the mind and intellect on different subjects.
Ala Ilescu is a Canadian artist who was born in Eastern Europe. She is a former circus artist and juggler. Being part of a circus family, she traveled everywhere around the world on several tours. She has a University degree in show management.
At the age of 26, she decided to emigrate to Canada, where she met her husband. They have two children together. While in Canada, she retired from circus life and explored other careers like customer service and real estate.
Ala was always a creative person. In 2018 she started painting, exploring different mediums and styles. "I feel like I found myself when I discovered watercolor".
Ala loves painting women's portraits in abstract, fantasy and surrealist styles.
Ala gets her inspiration by reading poems.
ARTIST’S STATEMENT
Ala Ilescu is a Canadian artist who works primarily in watercolor. She paints beautiful realistic portraits of women and adds an expressive layer of emotion with color and surrealist elements.
She likes to combine the spontaneity of this unpredictable medium with realistic, detailed elements, achieved through a layering technic.
Her paintings are mostly inspired by poetry. She likes to illustrate what poets beautifully describe in words. Ala wants her art to evoke feelings and strong reactions, by challenging the mind and intellect on different subjects.
$400.00
Watercolor on paper.
11x15"
Original watercolor artwork "Hurt by rejection" 2023 by Ala Ilescu Watercolor on 140 lb paper 11" x 15".Vertical position. Signed. This is the original painting from the art/ poetry book that I published in 2023 "My sad is sadder than yours" Here is the poem featured with this painting:
Loves Blow-back
shot through the heart
by the bullet of rejection
no time to notice
to stop its deflection
now feeling mortally wounded
bleeding out real bad
my heart in pieces
on the floor and so sad
so many questions run through my head
why did this happen?
was it something I said?
breakup is harsh
no matter how it happens
the clouds descend
and your whole world blackens
the only thing now
is to try and heal this gaping hole
restore some sense of norm to the soul.
Donna McCabe ©
$400.00
Watercolor on paper.
11x15"
Original watercolor artwork "Heartbroken" 2023 by Ala Ilescu Watercolor on 140 lb paper 11" x 15".Vertical position. Signed. This is the original painting from the art/ poetry book that I published in 2023 "My sad is sadder than yours" Here is the poem featured with this painting:
for the first time
i was looking for a pain
in my frostbitten soul
to arouse my numb thoughts.
Mehran Hashemi
$400.00
Watercolor on paper.
11x15"
Original watercolor artwork "I cry I cry I cry" 2023 by Ala Ilescu Watercolor on 140 lb paper 11" x 15".Vertical position. Signed. This is the original painting from the art/ poetry book that I published in 2023 "My sad is sadder than yours" Here is the poem featured with this painting:
standing in front
of the ashes
of another
wildfire
in my heart
I am empty I am lonely I am torn
I’m deserted I’m rejected I’m alone
I am broken I am wounded I am sore
I’m discouraged I’m defeated I’m forlorn
standing in front
of the ashes
of another
wildfire
in my heart
I cry
I cry
I cry.
[unhappy endings]
Michaela Malek
$400.00
Watercolor on paper.
11x15"
Original watercolor artwork "Curly hair" 2023 by Ala Ilescu Watercolor on 140 lb paper 11" x 15".Vertical position. Signed. This is the original painting from the art/ poetry book that I published in 2023 "My sad is sadder than yours" Here is the poem featured with this painting:
Far away
i'm feeling like a star
happy for shining
sad for being far away
from the moon
Mehran Hashemi
$400.00
Watercolor on paper.
11x15"
Original watercolor artwork "I'm the darkness" 2023 by Ala Ilescu Watercolor on 140 lb paper 11" x 15".Vertical position. Signed. This is the original painting from the art/ poetry book that I published in 2023 "My sad is sadder than yours" Here is the poem featured with this painting:
how shall I ever find the light
with darkness dripping from my eyes
dripping from my mouth
dripping from my heart?
[ i'm the darkness ]
Michaela Malek
$400.00
Watercolor on paper.
15x11"
Original watercolor artwork "Purple tears" 2023 by Ala Ilescu Watercolor on 140 lb paper 11" x 15".Vertical position. Signed. This is the original painting from the art/ poetry book that I published in 2023 "My sad is sadder than yours" .
$400.00
Watercolor on paper.
11x15"
Original watercolor artwork "Don't hide yourself away from the world" 2023 by Ala Ilescu Watercolor on 140 lb paper 11" x 15".Vertical position. Signed. This is the original painting from the art/ poetry book that I published in 2023 "My sad is sadder than yours" Here is the poem featured with this painting:
Someone
dSomeone
don't hide yourself away from the world
show them, be someone.
Donna McCabe
show them, be someone.
Donna McCabe
$400.00
Watercolor on paper.
11x15"
Original watercolor artwork "Dead things" 2023 by Ala Ilescu Watercolor on 140 lb paper 11" x 15".Vertical position. Signed. This is the original painting from the art/ poetry book that I published in 2023 "My sad is sadder than yours" Here is the poem featured with this painting:
every cell of my brain
is infested
with the stench
of decaying memories
that I'm unable
to let go.
[dead things]
Michaela Malek
$400.00
Watercolor on paper.
11x15"
Original watercolor artwork "I'm feeling alone among the crowd" 2023 by Ala Ilescu Watercolor on 140 lb paper 11" x 15".Vertical position. Signed. This is the original painting from the art/ poetry book that I published in 2023 "My sad is sadder than yours" Here is the poem featured with this painting:
i'm feeling alone
among the crowd
chasing your shadow
through the darkness.
Mehran Hashemi
$400.00
Watercolor on paper.
11x15"
Original watercolor artwork "Her only friend" 2023 by Ala Ilescu Watercolor on 140 lb paper 11" x 15".Vertical position. Signed. This is the original painting from the art/ poetry book that I published in 2023 "My sad is sadder than yours" Here is the poem featured with this painting:
'Brown bricks, bare bulbs'
little feet on the cold hallway floor,
raised voices just beyond the door,
cold ice replaces childlike freedom,
this place called home is now a prison.
the almighty thud as mum hit the ground,
a child should never hear that sound.
eyes, too innocent to take it in,
now stuck in time and unable to begin.
upstairs now and the floorboards creak,
just a mattress on the floor
with discoloured sheets.
the view from her window
is another block of flats,
brown bricks, bare bulbs -
she finds safety in that.
a bare bulb,
without a shade is very bright,
the arguing is loud,
but the bulb brings light.
she wonders,
'who is sitting beneath that bare bulb?
a child having her bedtime story told?'
the window is her place to go,
she gets lost in that yellow glow.
disassociation becomes her only friend,
a way to survive... until it ends.
then, it starts all over again,
and the bare bulb, her only friend...
beckons her right back in.
Susannah Lee
$400.00
Watercolor on paper.
11x15"
Original watercolor artwork "Strange thoughts keep messing with my head" 2023 by Ala Ilescu Watercolor on 140 lb paper 11" x 15".Vertical position. Signed. This is the original painting from the art/ poetry book that I published in 2023 "My sad is sadder than yours" Here is the poem featured with this painting:
When the blues come calling
Feeling enclosed
Alone
Strange thoughts keep
Messing with my head
Drawing my soul
Into a pit of despair
Strength of body
Will and mind
Are numb
A connection laid bare
Eyes fixed upon nothing
Staring into space
Unable to rejoice
In anything.
Donna McCabe
$400.00
Watercolor on paper.
11x15"
Original watercolor artwork "Am I really healing?" 2023 by Ala Ilescu Watercolor on 140 lb paper 11" x 15".Vertical position. Signed. This is the original painting from the art/ poetry book that I published in 2023 "My sad is sadder than yours" Here is the poem featured with this painting:
did I really escape
when your malevolence still haunts me every night in my sleep?
am I really moving on
when horror has made itself at home in my dreams?
did I really survive
when I'm stuck in the past like an insect in a sticky trap?
am I really healing
when every flashback reveals another knife stabbed in my back?
did I really work it through
when my memories still pulse like an open flesh wound?
am I really being strong
when my skin is so thin I am almost see-through?
[666 questions & not one answer
Michaela Malek