A beautiful show opens this weekend at Bill Shire Fine Arts here in Los Angeles. Esther Pearl Watson + UFOs! C’mon, you’ve gotta have the flu not to be there.

during my research about frida kahlo, i stumbled across this doll house that artist, elsa mora, made to teach her daughter about the renowned mexican painter. you can find more photos and details of the house here on elsita’s website.

Chun Eunsil

Check out Mark Todd’s new work, Fragments, at La Luz de Jesus tomorrow, Friday, January 2nd. If his past work is any example, you’re in for a treat!

Frida Kahlo is a very famous Mexican artist who used bright colors to create fantastic, dreamlike paintings. She grew up with four sisters in her parents’ house, La Casa Azul (the Blue House). Frida was especially close with her father, Guillermo Kahlo, a German Jew who immigrated to Mexico.

The Mexican Revolution began when Frida was only three years old. Her parents protected her during the battles and they cooked meals for the revolutionary soldiers. Little Frida was proud of the revolutionaries. She even told grown-ups that she was born on the day of the revolution so that they would think of her when they thought of the Mexican Revolution.

Frida was a sickly young girl but she was curious about medicine and loved sports like boxing. When she was a teenager, she was riding in a bus that crashed into a trolley car. Frida was hurt very badly. The accident broke her spine, her collar bone, her pelvis, her leg, and her foot. Frida did get better. She learned to walk again but she struggled with pain for the rest of her life. She spent months in bed and in the hospital.

After the accident, Frida began painting. She was stuck in a full body cast for three months. So, she made art to pass the time. With all that practice, she got very good, very fast. She especially enjoyed self-portraits. “I paint myself,” Frida said, “Because I am often alone and I am the subject I know best.” Her mother had a special easel made for her so she could paint in bed, and her father gave her his paint brushes and a box of paints.

Frida’s husband, Diego Rivera, was the most famous Mexican painter at that time. They were nicknamed “The Elephant and the Dove” because he was a very big man and she was a very small woman. Their home is famous in Mexico because it was actually two houses connected by a bridge. Kahlo and Rivera shared a love of politics. They even befriended Leon Trotsky when he ran for his life from Joseph Stalin’s deadly regime in the Soviet Union.

Kahlo’s artwork was very powerful. She used her life experiences to create personal symbols. She combined those with Mexican and Native American cultural influences to create sensitive and emotional paintings. Some art historians call her a Surrealist or a Magic Realist, but she considered her art to be realistic because it was about her life.

A few days before Frida Kahlo died in 1954, she wrote in her diary: “I hope the exit is joyful - and I hope never to return - Frida.”

Portrait by yours truly.

Well, here we are at the end of 2008. For me personally it was one of he biggest years of my life, and for some reason, on this last day, it’s all sort of hitting me how much I’ve accomplished. Marriage. Self-employment. Despite the bad economy and widespread sense of dread that seems to permeate our society lately, things are going pretty super. You can check out my 2008 recap over at PTV if you feel so inclined. I’d love to have you over…

As I’m sure most of you are thinking the same, I’m thinking about my New Year’s Resolutions. Creatively they’re pretty much the same as usual. Draw more. Take part in more creative activities both personally and in the community, stuff like that. I’m experimenting with something this year though. Only snippets. Little bites of change that I can easily digest. I tend to be a bit overzealous with my resolutions, so I’m keeping them simple this year: Keep a sketchbbok nearby. Write a bit more. Stuff like that.

Good luck to everyone and I hope for an extremely creative, art-filled 2009!

Ed Marion just introduced me to The Portrait Party’s long-lost sister-site, Different Strokes From Different Folks. Every 2 weeks, Karin Jurick posts a photo and scores of artists paint their interpretations of it.

This 3-week period, Karin has posted a portrait challenge so that approximately 65 pairs of artists will be swapping portraits. Karin seems to have opened the door for some last minute participants. Ed thought that we would all like to know about it. We would! Thanks, Ed!

Happy Friday IF’ers!

Aleksandar is from Serbia and focuses on children’s illustration. He recently emailed me about his work and enjoyed browsing though the illustrative patterns in his portfolio!