Miami Trip (January 22-31st)
One of my greatest inspirations for my artwork is travel...seeing new cultures, trying new foods and being in a new setting always sparks my creativity and because of this, I am hoping to incorporate more travel onto my pages this year in 2019. I hope that through sharing these blog posts that I can transfer my inspirations to you!
My first stop this year was Miami, Florida this January. I've never been to Florida and it was really awesome to experience the culture there. It is heavily Latin based and the foods are from all around Latin America. While there I tried Cuban, Colombian, Venezuelan and would have arepas (similar to a corn pancake) for breakfast many mornings which is something we don't have here in Washington state. It is a very vibrant culture and definitely different than the Pacific Northwest.
On our way to Miami, I painted on a backpack which I later did a giveaway for to an awesome young girl...I've never experienced painting in an airport (or on a backpack). It was scary at first because I wasn't sure if it was allowed, but then people would start to come up to me and it was actually a lot of fun to get to know new people and talk about art while waiting for our flight. Most of the time when flying it is such a stressful and busy time rushing to get to your plane that people don't really stop to communicate so it was nice to get to our flight early and do something relaxing like a painting.
Unfortunately, when I was visiting Florida hoping to escape some of the cold weather we are experiencing in Washington, it ended up being windy and cloudy half of the trip! This actually made me appreciate the sunny and warm days that we did have even more and the sunsets. Sunsets were so colorful and I wanted to translate those bright colors into this pastel sky. I will attach some photos of inspiration that I took during my travels for this piece.
It was important to my wife and I to be able to be next to the beach so I could paint watching the ocean and go there whenever we wanted for some inspiration. I was looking for a quiet area that I could go to downtown whenever but something more peaceful and so I really enjoyed my stay at the Montecarlo in Miami Beach; they had everything including a kitchen and view of the ocean, I would recommend them if you'll be in the area!
Miami has an incredible art scene in Wynwood which I got to experience while interviewing an artist friend Hugo Orezzoli (I will be uploading the artist interview by next month on my YouTube channel). Wynwood has tons of huge art murals filled with bright colors that bring life to the streets.
One of my favorite things we did in Miami was visit Vizcaya Museum & Gardens. It is a must visit if you are in Miami. Vizcaya is so peaceful and it brings beautiful nature and old architecture together. When visiting, you feel as though time stood still and very at peace. This is where I drew inspiration for my YouTube tutorial with the pink flowers...I've never seen flowers like the ones in this garden, many say they are a type of thistle but I'm not so sure.
-Feliks
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