Kokabella

Mystique Photographic Art Ad Design

Kokabella — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 13:25:06 +0000

My week’s off to a bright and mystical start. It’s amazing what a perfectly smooth cup of coffee will do for a designer!

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Where Does Your Road Lead?

Kokabella — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 14:42:18 +0000

As I created this piece of photographic art to print on canvas and also mail out for Mail Art 365 at IUOMA, I thought; “Isn’t it odd how predictable change is even when one has well thought out plans?”

My cute little mini-me will turn three in a few weeks. One thing that has been set in stone between my husband and I is the importance of providing her with the best possible format of learning as possible. She has been in Montessori School since the age of eighteen months and it’s been an incredible experience. When we relocated from Austin to central Florida for a terrific career opportunity, we struggled with finding a good school. We were able to move to a beautiful vacation property at the beach in Palm Coast for the sole reason of finding a local Montessori School for her. It didn’t take long to figure out that the school was not at even close to being a true, traditional Montessori school. (A class of little boys and girls wearing nothing but underpants and tops in the classroom, not potty-trained? Unsanitary and degrading to say the least. That was just the tip of the ice burg).

So I asked myself, where is this road leading us next? We have been very carefully researching Montessori schools and residential communities with the most adamant goal of not putting our daughter through another awful experience or move unless it is absolutely necessary.

Through all this upheaval and disappointment, here’s what I’ve learned to do to start figuring out how to get back onto the right road:

Focus on the most important issue that needs to be changed and make a list of ways to achieve change.
Set a timeline for this action to make the change happen and start researching solutions.

In our case, it was to map out an area within 40 miles of my husband’s workplace, research best neighborhoods within that radius and find the schools within driving distance of these areas and finally, contact the top realtors who will work to find us a great home.

{Luckily, I can continue my business from anywhere as an artist with the majority of my business being done online}.

Lastly, use the mistakes of the past as tools for your present and future goals. Once you achieve your new goals, continue to nurture your new path and build on it. Again, in our situation, it’s about making new friends, continuing to grow as a close family unit, involving ourselves in our daughter’s educational development and embracing all the great things that this road has lead us.

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Make a new beginning

Kokabella — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 00:08:50 +0000

Title: “New life, new beginning.”

This was such an easy photograph to create from. New life, new beginning. Simple as that. We may not be new to the world in the birth sense, but it is never to late to change your mind, change the way you see the world and make a new beginning.

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Everything you see is lovely if…

Kokabella — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 00:02:52 +0000

Title: “Everything you see is lovely if love is what you choose to see.”

It’s amazing how something as easily forgotten as a dead leaf on the ground can be so easily disregarded. Look around. There’s beauty everywhere, even in a leaf.

Several years back when I lived in Malibu, I met a songwriter, Dean Grakal with whom I shared a few interesting conversations with about our life experiences. One of them was after I had been at the barn riding my Warmblood, “Blind Faith.” It was this perfect, sunny Southern California day and the view was crystal clear as far as I could see out over the ocean. After my ride, I spoke with Dean and told him about how everything I could see was so clear, as though the world was standing still and it was as perfect of a moment as anyone could possibly experience.

So the next time I saw Dean, he pulled out his tattered, worn notebook and said to me; “Everything you see is lovely if love is what you choose to see.” That was what he got from what I explained as that epiphany/perfect moment. At the time, he was working with Ringo Starr on an upcoming album. He incorporated those words into a song that went on to be one of Ringo’s albums.

The skinny of this story goes back to the dead leaf, dried up on a sidewalk. If you feel and see love, it’s what you will see all around you. I have to thank Dean for summing that up for me. It can be applied to so many things on a daily basis… like this beautiful leaf! That’s why I love creating art from something so easily looked over as the leaf or the second-hand shoes that I created a canvas piece from a few days back!

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Woman of Worth

Kokabella — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 19:32:00 +0000

I was recently commissioned to photograph and design a piece of photographic art for an upcoming retail franchise. I was on location when I came upon a concrete bench that overlooked a small lake with a water fountain. On it, was this engraving. It gave me this very appreciative sense of meaning as I read it. Can you think of anything more respectful and valuable than being remembered as a woman of worth?

It added so much to my day and made me feel this great sense of purpose as I walked away with the props that I was there to photograph. When I got back to my shabby little beach cottage, I took shot of the engraving within the concrete bench and added some feminine, rosey posey texture and this sparrow; the pretty little creature that has always reminded me of my grandmother.

A woman of worth… that’s a lifelong achievement to work towards. It gives me something to strive for as perhaps it does for you as well! If you’re still reading along, I ask you, what would you like to be remembered as? I would very much love to read your thoughts below. As for me, I would like to be remembered for finding my light and making it somewhere over the rainbow :-)

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Martin Luther King, Jr. Quoted Art

Kokabella — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 13:58:20 +0000

I ran a little contest at the last minute on this piece of art that I created early this morning. Since there wasn’t a winner, I will leave this open to comments for a bit and will randomly choose from someone who leaves a comment with a really interesting quote or phrase. Be sure to leave your email address (which remains private to all but me!).

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