Saturday Art Saves: Aurelie Alvarez

Aurelie Alvarez

Each Saturday I focus on a different artist that I admire. From potters to painters, chefs to collectors, seamstress to songwriters, lifestyle to lovers... anyone who set the paintbrush, pastry brush, hands and heart on fire to create.

Those who inspire art to flow where it may.

Aurelie Alvarez speaks with a passion that only comes from someone born to be an artist. I have known Aurelie's mother for over twenty years and Aurelie for a few, Aurelie is like her mother in that the both share a passion for that which is hidden from the eye, that which can only be seen with the heart and soul, that which can be brought to the light for other's to see by their delicate and loving touch.

Aurelie was born an artist.

Aurelie draws and paints on canvas. Using old techinques, creates her own paint palette and prefers the style of eighteen century and that of childhood whimsy.

A blend of young and old, intertwine in harmony.

Colorful,

Bright,

Floral,

Happy...

But that is only the beginning of her artist style.

"I can create whatever you want,"

Aurelie told me, "Bring a picture, an idea board, a scrap of color with some words..."

Aurelie will create your song with paint.

The first time I went into Aurelie's art studio I felt I had met a kindred spirit. Aurelie is someone who spoke straight to the center of my being.

A piece of old wallpaper tacked to her studio's wall, she tags notes above when inspiration strikes her.

Photo Source Aurelie Alvarez

Aurelie creates in an old studio... she sees the soul, sees this old, faded peeling, worn, torn habitat as grandeur. She is someone who does not try to change or manipulate her studio to become something, rather Aurelie lets that which is speak its own song and creates harmony within her surrounding.

Photo Source Aurelie Alvarez

Two painted canvases similar, but not the same-- a "faux paire," as they say in French.

Aurelie describes her studio, "My atelier is an essential vehicle in the creation of my work. Its an austere and authentic place which inspires me greatly and where I like to work and spend my time. It is a loft that is not insulated and is very cold in the winter."

"I have no intention of changing this environment. It is part of what I paint and I feel more and more at home within these walls. These are the walls that have been here for many centuries, they have their own history, depth, vibrations with layers of paint, which is peeling and changes colour depending upon the sunlight that hits them."

"They have their own mark, abandoned through time, witness to life, of which I now feel apart of. These walls guide me; giving my paintings their rawness. I also like working with the notion of 'dust', which stays like a spotless imprint, perhaps the dust of time that runs, a universal dust or perhaps the dust of my cultural heritage, which I attempt to reproduce in my paintings and my décor." Aurelie speaks her trademark touch.

Aurelie continues, "The notion of time or timelessness, also take centre place in the heart of my work."

"I don't attach or retell a story, only try to reproduce 'an imprint' that puts me in a place where I can dream and feel free. I am really transported by this place and I think that I owe a lot to this environment of which for me time does not exist. It is simply an invitation to travel (to be lost in another world)………" -Aurelie Alvarez