Saturday, March 14th, 2009

Armen has always been a source of  encouragement to “work with my hands” and sculpt from my experiences the art I envision in my head.

I met Armen when I was in eighth grade. She was the older sister of a guy friend. I looked up to her, and was mesmerized by her artsy-ness. She has been my friend since way back in “the days” before Disney came to Florida, and being a naturalist meant allowing nature into your every day thinking,  not thinking “green” to be politically correct. We were the original granola chicks… post-hippies, who never tired of trying to love everyone or everything unconditionally.

And Armen does… her art background is in graphic design. She started her business 28 years ago painting signs, designing business cards and logos, and eventually created her own greeting card line. She collects encouraging, positive quotes about life, and incorporates them into her hand-drawn pen and ink creations, which she then watercolors individually. Armen built her business through personal relationships, not blog updates, and Facebook pokes. Even though she owns a computer, she still has one-on-one conversations with all her clients. She listens and always come up with the end result being a great rendition of what they dreamed, with the clients personality and business attributes built into the project. She created my first business card for me over 12 years ago… and I have had a handful of clients tell me they kept that old card because they loved the photograph on the front with its artistic uniqueness.

Here are just a few of the images of our session together when I was in Florida. These images of the door are included because I love the project she created for an art installation in downtown Orlando a few years ago.  Area Central Florida artists were chosen to create a project about LIFE using the blank canvas of an eight foot paneled door. Each artist chose a word that they would give “life” to, and describe it through their medium. Armen chose the word love, and used the Chinese symbol for love with the quote and description coming down the center of the door as in a scroll. On the back of the door she used tromp loeil and painted quotes to appear as if they were pieces of paper attached with pins or tape at their corners.( It looks so real!)

Thank you Armen for this session with me…  I got a great workout carrying that door down the street to your lake, (that thing was heavy!) Armen decided to create these images with me …(not waiting until you’re not so busy, or until you lose that extra ten pounds, or until the next issue that troubles you comes along as the excuses why not to be photographed),…to celebrate her life…. the woman/artist/friend/partner/mentor/loved one to her family that she is now.  She appreciates what she has accomplished in her life, what she has learned along the way, and is joyous and thankful in her celebration of it.

There has never been anything artificial about you, and I believe the beauty here is real, inside and out. No Photoshop necessary to show a beautiful creation that God has made in you.  You have been given a gift in those hands to demonstrate your love for life !

Here’s an excerpt from one of her collected quotes that I really like:

“Nothing is ever lost. Not time; for what seems to have passed, lives on in the wisdom of future decisions. Not money; for what seems to have been spent, was only invested. And not love; for what seems to have vanished, has only moved so close you must look within your heart to see it.”    .….unknown source

“my gift is how I see life…my art is telling your story”