PORTRAIT OF AN ARTIST, RIVKAH SINGH

Coffee for One

A morning cup of coffee, silver spoon reflecting the soft petals of an intruding flower... a black house cat sunning himself in a window, captivated with some distant unknown curiosity... a botanical garden so vivid you feel lost in its colors... the high plains desert, burning hot yet bursting with life. To describe Rivkah Singh's artwork requires far more poetry than description and more imagination than contemplation.

Black Cat on Windowsill

Few artists can emulate the great masters as seamlessly as Rivkah Singh, an artist whose works are proudly displayed in my home. However, her art is only a small facet of the jewel that is Rivkah, let me show you more... 

The Paper Girl: How long have you been engaged in the artistic process? How did you get your start?

Rivkah: "Too long to still get away with hiding my real age. My wonderful and supportive parents enrolled me in an art academy at the ripe young age of 11 where I was taught the basics of drawing and painting."

The Paper Girl: What mediums have you worked in?

Rivkah: "Anything I could get my hands on."

The Paper Girl: What is your favorite medium presently?

Rivkah: "I would have to say – oil. I used to work primarily with acrylics at first; however, I find oils allow for more diversity."

Botanical Garden Paradise

The Paper Girl: I have noticed that your work appears influenced by a wide variety of the masters, is this a conscious effort to paint in a particular artist's style or an unconscious representation of their influence?

Rivkah: "Sometimes I will try to consciously study the style of artists that inspire me; such as Matisse and Van Gogh but most of the time it honestly just depends on the subject."

The Paper Girl: Have your travels to India changed your work or artistic process?

Pomada China

Rivkah: "Surprisingly, no. Whenever we have visited India, our days and nights were filled with friends and family. There was always somewhere to go and do. Inspiration for me comes mostly in solitude, so maybe one day we can plan a painting expedition there but for now friends and family are fun too."

The Paper Girl: Where do your day-to-day influences come from?

Rivkah: "Everything I see grabs my attention and inspires me. I see the subjects themselves as expressing a certain style. A landscape may "express" itself to me as an impressionistic scene filled with colorful brush strokes; while a quiet still life may seem more detailed and realistic with a flash of personality coming out through its bright under painting. 

Deserted

Every scene, every object, every person I see is already a painting and each have their own style and personality. You can even say "aura". That is why my style changes constantly. I really can't understand why artists choose to just paint in one style. Doing that is like ignoring the essence of what you see and experience every day. Perhaps they make a good amount of money selling a particular style, or perhaps that is the only way they see the world. But not to me. And that is why I decided never to obtain a degree in art. The last thing I want is for other's to influence my art or convince me to stick to one style. I never want to lose MY way of seeing and experiencing the world through MY eyes, MY hands, and MY soul."

The Paper Girl: Tell me about your patrons? Who is typically drawn to your work? How well have you gotten to know them?

Cuban Coffee

Rivkah: "I have a couple of noteworthy collectors who have bought much of my work and they both have the same thing in common – they are lovely people. I keep in touch with one of them through Facebook and the other has written me such lovely thank you notes, one of which I keep on my fridge. True collectors at least in my experience buy art because they become attached to what that art represents to them. It may represent a memory they had that is very dear to them or it appeals to an aspect of their own personality that reflects in the piece. Art to them is not just a picture to decorate their wall. It is not something of interior design."

The Paper Girl: I happen to know you are something of a math genius. How does math equate in your artistic endeavors?

Past the Tulips

Rivkah: "Genius is a relative term. I obtained a degree in mathematics, simply because I like math. I have varying interests just because I love being alive, and what better way to love and experience life than to study not just the aesthetic beauty that envelopes it but how that aestheticism works and functions underneath. Indeed they are both entirely different disciplines. Mathematics is learned whereas art comes from within. However, they are also both one and the same. I noticed that when I paint or do math for a long period of time, the focus required for both genres transforms them equally into a form of meditation, and the exhilaration one feels after indulging in it is nirvana."

The Paper Girl: Is there anything about you, that your fans do not already know, that would help them appreciate your work?

Rivkah: "Nothing I can say, no amount of suffering or happiness in my own personal life can convince an art lover to love my art. All an artist needs to do is make art."

The Paper Girl: Who is your single biggest personal influence?

Rivkah: "I have no single biggest influence. My inspiration is like a flowing river, it is influenced by the rocks it crashes against, the banks that guide it down stream, and the seasons; hence, everything and everyone is my influence."

Rivkah Singh

To find out more about Rivkah Singh, the inspiring artist featured here, please visit:

http://rivkahsart.blogspot.com/
http://stores.ebay.com/rivkahsartstudio

http://www.zazzle.com/rivkahsingh
http://rivkah-singh.artistwebsites.com/

Garden Paradise

FRANCISCO 'STAR' DEL TALKS FRA NEFARIOUS

I'm sitting here listening to Fra Nefarious' Leaving on a Meteor for about the fifth time in a row. This song really sticks with you. I found myself singing it in the car, the shower... you get the idea. What inspired soul could write such a heartfelt track?


When I first met Francisco Del several years ago, he introduced himself to me as 'Star.' The name made me smile. I did not realize at the time that no other name could sum up Del any better. Del is a talented musician, a creative performer, and an inspired song writer. Get to know Del and you'll see a Star.

Fra Nefarious original cover art

The Paper Girl: You have a new album titled Fra Nefarious. Where does the name Fra Nefarious come from? Is this your Ziggy Stardust?

Del:  "Fra is short for Francisco. I found out though that it actually is a REAL name. It's Greek... used as a title for an Italian monk or friar; brother. (laughs) Nefarious is just that, infamous by way of being extremely wicked. Evil, sinful. Ok well, I'm not evil but to me I tend to look for names that sound nice to the tongue. Phonetically speaking. Together Fra Nefarious almost sounds like one word. It's not an alter ego as much as it is a band name. I still use Del as a singer of Fra Nefarious."

The Paper Girl: Your sound seems to be heavily 70's and 80's influenced. I hear a little Bowie, a little Prince, and a lot of 80's UK rock. Who else influences your sound?

Del:  "As for influences, you definitely know your sound. You have a fine tuned ear. This project was an experiment that went awry. I had no intention on making an album. My first song was Paradise. I wrote it after being inspired by the movie, The Man Who Fell To Earth (Bowie). It's for a female. I then pulled from Daft Punk for the dance foundation and BeeGees for the back up vocal warmth. I tried separating myself from the music so that I can produce it as an outsider looking in on the session. The album took exactly 14 days during a rainy, crazy weather pattern that hit us in Miami early July."

The Paper Girl: The album cover is striking.  

Del: "Thank you for the album cover compliment."

The Paper Girl: What influenced its design? What meaning do you attribute to it? Is it inspired by a specific culture or is it an emotional display? 

Del: "I actually wanted to give the album a face. I went tribal because the album conveys attitudes about natural elements."

The Paper Girl: Who did your set design and make-up?

Del: "I painted my face à la 80's Adam Ant just in case it sucked... (laughs) Saving face."

The Paper Girl: Who photographed you?

Del: "I originally shot it on a 5D Canon with a tripod set up. I would click, and run back to pose. The very next day, my assistant erased all the pics, but not before I took photos from my phone and emailed them to a friend to see if they liked it.  I was furious.

I took about 35 pics on my phone and chose the one where I actually WASN'T posing. It looked very unaffected. Seemed to capture a certain essence I hadn't even sought out. It's more of a look of frustration. I tweaked it out on my iMac in iPhoto and that's what you see. I intended to give it an 80's TV tube effect as if I was coming in through the waves from some other era (80's). I was happy with it, but the label that signed me independently took new ones. I think they are ok, but I guess I got married to this original cover."

The Paper Girl: Your songs all seem to be about forces of nature. What moves you to write about things beyond man?

Del: "As for the forces that inspired the recordings, I wanted to make sure I didn't speak of anything superficial. Bling-bling, wealth, etc. I wanted to have an album that used, for instance, a storm to depict anger. Rain to depict cleansing. Fire to depict death or rebirth. A combination of all the elements, earth, wind, fire, water. It was as simple as that. 

On the remake, Here Comes The Rain Again, I actually recorded the rain fall that day and left it in the recording. On Mountain, I used an ancient Cherokee Indian prayer, but gave it a transistor effect, as if he was orbiting the earth in a capsule because he was forced from the land and his only refuge left was the space capsule."

The Paper Girl:  I remember watching Soul Train as a kid and dancing my ass off. I know it is a different show, but tell me about your Soul Train appearance.

Del: "Wow, Soul Train... (laughs) I was called by my manager back in 05' and he told me I got SoulTrain. I didn't understand... I was like, 'I Got SOUL? SoulTrain?' He said I got the show... So it didn't make any sense because my song was getting airplay, but I thought I had to be burning up the charts in order to be on that show. But come to find out, Don Cornelius chooses who he wants on the show with his wife. 

So I was chosen.

I got on a flight from Myrtle Beach to L.A. and the very next day 8 am, I was there. The wife greets me and escorted me to the dressing room with my name on the door. There are two other artists that day as well, side by side we have dressing rooms. 

So one by one, we enter this studio which is actually HALF the size it appears on tv, about 4000 square feet, and the room is full of dancers that the crew know by name. They say, 'Tina over by the rafter'... 'Jerome, get up on the speaker'. They tell them when to clap, how loud, etc. Some of them are divas. More important than the artists... (laughs) I was nervous, duh, but I got through two songs. Then at the end they cut me a $1500 check... (laughs) Next day, back in Myrtle Beach."

Francisco "Star" Del

Listen to Fra Nefarious on Sound Cloud (a four song sampler) or  buy your favorite Fra Nefarious tracks on iTunes. Don't forget to follow Fra Nefarious and Francisco Del on Facebook.

INTERVIEWS ON THE HORIZON

Something wonderful on the horizon

Check back soon, we have a number of great interview lining up right now with writers, singers, artists and performers!


While I'm at it, consider this a call to arms people. If you are fascinating and I must write about you, let me know. Contact me so we can arrange your interviews right away, you know who you are...

That's no bull, but this sure is!

YES, I GOT SUN

The path to nature

Well folks, it has been a mighty long time since I stepped out into the sun. Literally, it has been weeks. My husband was wondering if I would bite his neck in a ravenous effort to quench my thirst, scream "ah, the light" if dragged outside or spontaneously combust if exposed to direct sunlight. None of these happened. Well, at least none I will share with you.


So, we traveled to Chapel Trail Nature Preserve in the beautiful City of Pembroke Pines. We walked, we sunned and I breathed in hot, humid air. It was delicious. For those of you with difficulty believing I stepped outside, know this...I have pictures to prove it. 

Seen on our nature walk: birds, turtles, ducks, fish, calves, cows, bulls, tourists, snakes, alligators, sharks, werewolves....okay, everything but the tourists. Let's not be ridiculous. They are all on South Beach.


If you are wondering if my alabaster skin survived, it did. Back to the cat cave now...so I can blog about that big yellow ball of fire in the sky.

Boat by the shore Bovine neighbors Splash of red on a sea of green Looking down from the dock Pine against the clouds Small insect nest on twig Winter trees in water Reeds and water plants

Eastern sky as sunset approaches Purple heart Ducks on a pond Turtle under lilies Plant life under water Palmetto branches Sky reflected on still water Ripples in the sun

IT TAKES A VILLAGE, PEOPLE

I see no hamsters in here...

The birth of a blog. Like children, it takes a village to raise a blog. Conversation in my home:

Me: Honey, I am writing a blog.
Husband: M'kay.
Me: Can you get on the computer and make one for me?
Husband: Mm-hmm. Wait, what are the paper and pen for?
Me: My blog.
Husband: A blog or a grocery list?
Me: I am a paper girl, living in a blogger world! Smart-ass, do computer stuff and I'll write whatever.

I'll poke around anyways

Husband: Alright, I'll crack the whip and get the hamsters moving inside the computer...
Me: I knew there were rodents involved...
Husband: Careful, I'll get rat-traps...
Me: I'll call PETA...

A loving, supportive marriage is the cornerstone to birthing blogs.

HOW CAN I GET PAID FOR PLAYING VIDEO GAMES

Wait, which button is jump?

No one will pay me for playing video games. Seriously, I have asked around and the answer is no. So it appears that the Department of Defense will not pay me to play Battlefield 3 or Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 and give them pointers. Maybe if I was an extra twitchy 12 year old boy with hard earned callouses from years of hitting the "x" and "o" buttons, and suffering only slightly from video battle fatigue, would I serve a purpose. I been passed up by the X-Box Generation. Cry me a digital river.

Romeo's got mad skillz

What do you figure the exchange rate on Farm Dollars is to US Dollars? I think I might be a billionaire. It turns out that thousands of hours spent "farming" does not translate into actual farming experience. Nor does my produce sell for anything on the open market.


So, I guess dear readers you are stuck with my opinions a little longer. Unless any of you would like to buy my silence. There is a price-tag. Reasonably priced. Really, make me an offer.

I NEED MONEY, YEAH MONEY

Um, it used to work, I promise

Well, I am officially broke. Job dried up, unemployment benefits too, the IRA, 401K, and savings account. So I am looking around for things to sell. Does anyone want a "vintage" HP iii printer? Slightly abused. No? Okay, how about a cranky-ass cat named Simon. Slightly disturbed, deep emotional problems really. I am actually waiting for him to kill me in my sleep. Don't let that dissuade you from making an offer. No?

Simon, spawn of the underworld

Well, I have opinions...lots of those. I guess I could write a blog. How hard can that be? I have interesting things to say, even if I can't think of any at the moment. Simon just ran head first into a window. Don't call PETA. His head has hit worse.

So I will embrace my new life as blogger because, frankly, I need cash. Also, it kind of feels like everyone else went on to live a more interesting life than me. I could live vicariously. Like a peeping tom. Ever feel that way? Of course you have... I know someone who is living the life I want, and I bet he is living the life you want too. Coming soon, an interview with a local South Florida rock-n-roll god. Yeah, I'll bring the goods...