In this abstraction, I explore textures using toothpicks to represent the eyes and nose of the upside down face. 
On a purple background, I am using short strokes of orange and gray payne, and in white I create the shape of the face. 
This is a serendipity painting because I realized I have done an upside down face after I signed it. LOL

Title: Upside Down Face
Medium: Acrylic paint and toothpicks
Surface: Acid Free Paper
Unframed
$300 - Free shipping in the USA

If you have been following these blog posts, then you know that I live as Zen Buddhist. I have also talked about how I like to paint dichotomies. 

When I was thinking about the topic for the philosophy section of this post, I thought of the first chapter of the Dhammapada which is titled Dichotomies! 
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In the next 26 blogs, I will talk about a section of each chapter and how to bring that into our current lives.

The Dhammapada was first introduced to the non-Buddhist modern world during the second half of the XIX Century. After reading and living by the Dhammapada, one experiences self-reliance, self-mastery and liberation. 

By understanding the Buddha teachings, one can understand the path of liberation he teaches to attain spiritual freedom, and to attain happiness and welfare in this life.

The first verse of Dichotomies goes:
"All experience is preceded by mind, 
Led by mind,
Made by mind.
Speak or act with a corrupted mind, 
And suffering follows
As the wagon wheel follows the hoof of the ox."

The last sentence clearly states the inevitability of influencing your world with your thoughts. You cannot have the ox pushing the wagon in the same way that you cannot expect to have a peaceful environment around you if you do not control your mind first. 

This verse also refers to one of the eightfold path - Right Speech.  

How you can practice right speech - For example, if someone you are talking to is not behaving properly, do not insult the person. You can say "your behavior, whether intentional or not, resembles the behavior of an asshole/moron/etc." Believe it or not, there is a big difference between calling a person a moron and saying that the behavior the person is adopting at that particular resembles the behavior of a moron. 

Imagine a wall that you punch in anger, and then you patch it and paint it over. The truth is that the whole, even though now masked by the paint, will always be there. It is a permanent hole. 
When you insult a person, the hurt in that person's soul will always be there even though if you apologize a million times. 

Virtual Art Exhibition - Wednesday, June 30 2021 - 5 pm Pacific Time -
Free registration at https://www.ceciliaanastos.com/event-registration.html
This is an exhibition of contemporary abstract paintings by Cecilia Anastos. There will be an opportunity drawing of a painting. 

Liberty Station - August 7-8, 2021

Little Italy - October 2-3, 2021

La Jolla Art and Wine Festival - October 9-10, 2021

Support Living Artists… The dead don’t need to make ends meet.I typed the phrase “support the living artists” on a search engine and I discovered many interesting posts, including advertising for t-shirts sold online with the “Support the living artists – the dead don’t need to eat.”

I understand that you might like art movements from the past. I do as well. My favorite periods are Impressionism and post-Impressionism. For the past, we have museums such as the Musée d’Orsai in Paris with an amazing collection of painters from these two movements. In San Diego, I enjoy going to Balboa Park and visit the many art museums we have there as well.

At home, I have many paintings from living Belgium painter Guy Moreaux, and living Australian painter Cindy Parsley, and of course some of my own. Although I have two reproductions from the French (dead) painter William-Adolphe Bouguereau, I did not buy them - someone gifted them to me. I would never buy a print or reproduction and spend a cent in framing it because I truly believe in supporting the living artist.

Of course you might think that this statement is a self-serving purpose. It would be if I have not bought paintings from other living artists but I did. I own eight Moreaux! 

These are some of the reasons why I want to help push this movement of supporting the living artists, besides the fact that the dead ones do not need the money, many did not leave descendants that would enjoy the profit of their posthumous sales, and auction houses are the ones that get the most from the sale of dead painters’ works.

I list the reasons below:

1. Art is an investment – If you buy from an artist that, like myself, participates in juried exhibitions and receives awards, then your painting will increase in value. A painter will either maintain its original value or increase. It will not decrease its value.
2. If you buy from a local artist, you are helping the local economy. Artists pay a lot of taxes each time we sell a painting, and those taxes go to support the local library, schools, road projects, etc.
3. When you hang the painting of a living artist on your wall, you can almost feel the story that inspired that painting. All of my paintings come with a Certificate of Authenticity that describes the inspiration or raison d’ tre for that particular painting.
4. There are many forgeries being sold in the art markets and even experts sometimes have a difficult time asserting the authenticity of a painting. When you buy from a living artist that provides a certificate of authenticity, you are receiving an indisputable proof for that painting.
5. When you buy a unique and original painting rather than a print or a reproduction, you are hanging something that nobody else has. This is the reason why my paintings are not available in print. I only sell the original so the owners of my paintings feel special because they have one of a kind.
6. When you buy the works from living artists, you are helping advance the future of the art world. I understand if you want to own a Picasso or a Pollock. If you can afford it, go for it (as long as you buy the original). At the same time, I would like to see in your home some paintings from a living artist as well. This way, you balance the scale. You also impact the career of the living artist.

I hope that you find any of these reasons compelling to go peruse my website or visit my art studio / gallery in Ramona, California, and hang one of my paintings on your walls. 
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Thank you for reading.

​Virtual Art Exhibition - Wednesday, June 30 2021 - 5 pm Pacific Time - Link for exhibition https://meet.google.com/zyd-mjvc-pst
This is an exhibition of contemporary abstract paintings by Cecilia Anastos

Liberty Station - August 7-8, 2021

Little Italy - October 3-4, 2021

La Jolla Art and Wine Festival - October 9-10, 2021

Every week I send out to my email subscribers a private message where I present the painting of the week with a discount coupon, and I discuss a topic related to cyber defense. In these blog posts, I will talk more about art and philosophy of life. If you want to receive cyber defense tips, I suggest you subscribe to my weekly emails. 

Topics in this post are:

• Abstract painting - Tokyo Drift
• Philosophy of Life Section
• Upcoming Art Events

Today's painting is an abstract titled ​Tokyo Drift. Why the title? Well, because I was preparing this for the Tokyo virtual exhibition. Then, it was decided that it was going to be a physical exhibition only and because of the pandemic and I cannot travel there this time. :-)
​
The choice of palette has to do with the importance of colors in Japan. Red and white are prominent traditional colors in Japan. Both colors are used in decorations at events which represent happiness and joy. Yellow denotes sunshine and nature in Japan. Black is a popular color in Japan for electronics and clothing. It mainly denotes non-being, mystery, night and anger.

Size: 24x18"
Medium: Acrylic paint
Surface: acid free paper.
Year: 2021
​Unframed. $550 Free shipping in the USA.

For this technique I am using in this painting, the acrylic paint needs to be mixed with an extender because the key is to prevent its quick drying. I cannot paint with oil paints because I am very allergic to thinner. Therefore, I had to figure out how to make the acrylic behave like oil when I want to do something that requires a lot of merging and meeting of colors. 

I like how a light color frame dresses the painting without robbing its delicacy. Note that it goes best in a wall which space is also defined by other objects. Look at how it is mounted on the bathroom wall, and above the desk / drawer table. 

Have you heard of Non-fungible Token artwork? It is a digital image with a very unique signature that makes unquestionable the authenticity of the work. This particular painting is also available as NFT at 
https://rarible.com/token/0x60f80121c31a0d46b5279700f9df786054aa5ee5:516808?

I will donate 100% of the sale price of the NFT to the nonprofit organization True Blue Service Dogs, Inc. 

Under this section, you will read about books I have read, and thoughts and tribulations of a thinker. 
I have began reading the book titled Homo Deus by Yuval Noah Harari. I have already read his first book titled Sapiens and I have very much enjoyed it. Something new that I learned from that book is that all species were roaming Earth at the same time; rather than the previous concept taught at school that each one of them was on the verge of extinction before the new one was taking over. 

Homo Deus was written in 2015, and interestingly, it begins with the topic of pandemics that took placed from the beginning of the Homo Sapiens time until 2015. The author stated at the time of writing the book that we no longer needed to worry much about famines, pandemic and war. Interesting turn of events we are living, aren't we? 

He posed this question - "What are the projects that will replace famine, plague and war at the top of the human agenda in the twenty-first century? I think climate change is on top of the list.

He touches on the concept of happiness and I will explore that on my next post.

Happy Easter and Passover!

Virtual Art Exhibition - April 23rd, 2021 - 10-11 a.m. Pacific Time at https://meet.google.com/wgu-nsiv-ehz - A display of paintings by Cecilia Anastos related to the concept of womanhood.

Open Studio / Gallery Art Exhibition in San Diego, CA.
Date:Saturday, April 25th, 2021
Time: 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. / 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. / 5 pm to 7 pm. Select a slot using the RSVP form below.
Event Title: The Concept of Women Represented in Paintings - An exhibition of figurative paintings related to women (portraits, high heals, silhouettes, etc)
Location: Mira Mesa, San Diego, CA 92126 - This is an open air studio and well-fitted masks are required at all times. No more than 10 individuals at a time will be present during the exhibit. You will receive exact location upon registration. No walk-in allowed.