Elena Ferdinand | Mixed Media Artist
Elena’s passion for art started in adolescence. Luckily, her artistic abilities came naturally. She explained the feeling the first time she picked up a pencil to draw.
“It was as if my hand had a mind of its own. I didn’t need to tell it what to do and the result was surprisingly accurate considering I was drawing a pair of sneakers. My art seemed familiar to me even though I had just embarked on this journey. I’d seen my work and remembered creating it before.”
In disbelief, she laughed and said “But I hadn’t.” You could tell that our conversation helped her to have an epiphany of sorts. The discovery of how being an artist was what she was inherently meant to be was comforting, like a weight had been lifted.
Through the years, she studied many forms of visual arts including drawing, painting, photography, graphic design, decorative arts, and mixed media. When life threw her some curve balls, the decision to bench her artistic inclinations tugged heavily at her heartstrings. Inevitably, she would find ways to revisit her passion over and over. While reluctant, picking up right where she left off was a natural occurrence. Emotionally, she had never been away.
Today, Elena works out of her home studio in Hudson, New Hampshire as a mixed media artist. Using a variety of medium to create beautifully textured and highly complex pieces of art, her resulting work is always vibrant, colorful, cheery, and whimsical. It is representational with quite a big dollop of abstraction. Each piece never depicting objects exactly the way they really exist.
Artist’s Statement
My inspiration comes from objects that boast playful proportions, vibrancy, and/or complimentary color palettes. It comes from both order and chaos (in life and art). It comes from my daughter, femininity, equality, and the intense need to empower women.
My art allows people to see things they wouldn’t otherwise have the opportunity to see in everyday life. My focal points, while they may represent recognizable subjects like a girl, house, or tree, are intentionally simplified, exaggerated or, in some cases, distorted and askew, to render you a peek into an imaginary world.
When you look at my art, you can escape from reality. You can imagine living among my whimsy trees that resemble colored Easter eggs or lollipops, in gingerbread-like houses surrounded by flowers so oversized, they block the view from your second-floor window. The magical, pixie-like, doe-eyed girl in my picture is your best friend and your favorite thing to do is hang out below a sky of effervescent abstract shapes as you snuggle with Rufus, your talking pet that could very likely be a mix of unicorn, butterfly and, perhaps, dragon?
At the very least, my art encourages fun and positive social interactions and, just when you thought you didn’t have an artistic bone in your body, inspires artistic perspective.
If it makes you smile, I have done my job. If it makes you happy, I have done it well!
“It was as if my hand had a mind of its own. I didn’t need to tell it what to do and the result was surprisingly accurate considering I was drawing a pair of sneakers. My art seemed familiar to me even though I had just embarked on this journey. I’d seen my work and remembered creating it before.”
In disbelief, she laughed and said “But I hadn’t.” You could tell that our conversation helped her to have an epiphany of sorts. The discovery of how being an artist was what she was inherently meant to be was comforting, like a weight had been lifted.
Through the years, she studied many forms of visual arts including drawing, painting, photography, graphic design, decorative arts, and mixed media. When life threw her some curve balls, the decision to bench her artistic inclinations tugged heavily at her heartstrings. Inevitably, she would find ways to revisit her passion over and over. While reluctant, picking up right where she left off was a natural occurrence. Emotionally, she had never been away.
Today, Elena works out of her home studio in Hudson, New Hampshire as a mixed media artist. Using a variety of medium to create beautifully textured and highly complex pieces of art, her resulting work is always vibrant, colorful, cheery, and whimsical. It is representational with quite a big dollop of abstraction. Each piece never depicting objects exactly the way they really exist.
Artist’s Statement
My inspiration comes from objects that boast playful proportions, vibrancy, and/or complimentary color palettes. It comes from both order and chaos (in life and art). It comes from my daughter, femininity, equality, and the intense need to empower women.
My art allows people to see things they wouldn’t otherwise have the opportunity to see in everyday life. My focal points, while they may represent recognizable subjects like a girl, house, or tree, are intentionally simplified, exaggerated or, in some cases, distorted and askew, to render you a peek into an imaginary world.
When you look at my art, you can escape from reality. You can imagine living among my whimsy trees that resemble colored Easter eggs or lollipops, in gingerbread-like houses surrounded by flowers so oversized, they block the view from your second-floor window. The magical, pixie-like, doe-eyed girl in my picture is your best friend and your favorite thing to do is hang out below a sky of effervescent abstract shapes as you snuggle with Rufus, your talking pet that could very likely be a mix of unicorn, butterfly and, perhaps, dragon?
At the very least, my art encourages fun and positive social interactions and, just when you thought you didn’t have an artistic bone in your body, inspires artistic perspective.
If it makes you smile, I have done my job. If it makes you happy, I have done it well!