Simona Abid
I have always been an art enthusiast, but I did not pursue a career in arts early in my life. Instead, I trained to be a medical doctor, and have served my patients in the field of Geriatrics for many years before I realized that I can - and should - paint.
I am a self taught artist, deeply in love with creating beautiful things with my hands. Painting is my biggest love, and I am truly humbled and so very grateful for having discovered this gift, even if later in life.
ARTIST’S STATEMENT
I have always been creative. I seemed to have many natural talents, and I remember drawing visual materials for my mother to use in her teaching job, making my own clothes when nothing could be found in the stores, since I grew up in Europe on the wrong side of the Iron Curtain. Then later on I enjoyed making jewellery, and even some limestone sculptures. I painted a couple of abstract landscapes for my living room when we bought our new house, but then, mission accomplished, I stopped right there. And I had no idea that, almost a decade later, I would go to a community art class one evening at a friend’s behest, and the teacher would encourage me to start painting ‘for real’.
And after having my eyes opened, there was no stopping me from seeing; everywhere I look now, I see scenes I would love to paint! I am most passionate about everyday things and regular people, whose beauty now strikes me as remarkable and worth immortalizing. The dancers in the Corps de Ballet, looking in from behind the curtain to the Principal Dancer performing on the scene, the longing in their eyes, the strength in their backs, formed the theme in my 2023 series ‘Behind the Stage Light’. I am also fascinated by street architecture and the play of light on the walls of houses in a typical town or village.
But my greatest love is painting people, portraits of everyday people who could be taking the subway alongside me, or go to the same store. Yes, many artists love painting flowers, or landscapes, or horses, but I, I love depicting them ALL in my paintings.
I use oils or acrylics, or sometimes both. I like to find old frames in thrift stores and bring them back to life. I paint on canvas or cardboard or wood… and sometimes I paint on paper, to suit the non-standard size of my repurposed frames. The pleasure of framing my own works so I can hang them up on my wall right away, and get to enjoy and admire them, before they leave to their forever homes, is yet another perk of what I do.
This is only the beginning for me, but it is a powerful calling that will take me on a great adventure filled with exploring new materials and learning new techniques, all so that I can bring the beauty of people, things, and places onto a canvas and into a frame on the wall. I want to thank you for the interest in my art, and I would be delighted and grateful if you joined me.
I have always been an art enthusiast, but I did not pursue a career in arts early in my life. Instead, I trained to be a medical doctor, and have served my patients in the field of Geriatrics for many years before I realized that I can - and should - paint.
I am a self taught artist, deeply in love with creating beautiful things with my hands. Painting is my biggest love, and I am truly humbled and so very grateful for having discovered this gift, even if later in life.
ARTIST’S STATEMENT
I have always been creative. I seemed to have many natural talents, and I remember drawing visual materials for my mother to use in her teaching job, making my own clothes when nothing could be found in the stores, since I grew up in Europe on the wrong side of the Iron Curtain. Then later on I enjoyed making jewellery, and even some limestone sculptures. I painted a couple of abstract landscapes for my living room when we bought our new house, but then, mission accomplished, I stopped right there. And I had no idea that, almost a decade later, I would go to a community art class one evening at a friend’s behest, and the teacher would encourage me to start painting ‘for real’.
And after having my eyes opened, there was no stopping me from seeing; everywhere I look now, I see scenes I would love to paint! I am most passionate about everyday things and regular people, whose beauty now strikes me as remarkable and worth immortalizing. The dancers in the Corps de Ballet, looking in from behind the curtain to the Principal Dancer performing on the scene, the longing in their eyes, the strength in their backs, formed the theme in my 2023 series ‘Behind the Stage Light’. I am also fascinated by street architecture and the play of light on the walls of houses in a typical town or village.
But my greatest love is painting people, portraits of everyday people who could be taking the subway alongside me, or go to the same store. Yes, many artists love painting flowers, or landscapes, or horses, but I, I love depicting them ALL in my paintings.
I use oils or acrylics, or sometimes both. I like to find old frames in thrift stores and bring them back to life. I paint on canvas or cardboard or wood… and sometimes I paint on paper, to suit the non-standard size of my repurposed frames. The pleasure of framing my own works so I can hang them up on my wall right away, and get to enjoy and admire them, before they leave to their forever homes, is yet another perk of what I do.
This is only the beginning for me, but it is a powerful calling that will take me on a great adventure filled with exploring new materials and learning new techniques, all so that I can bring the beauty of people, things, and places onto a canvas and into a frame on the wall. I want to thank you for the interest in my art, and I would be delighted and grateful if you joined me.
