Monika Cerna

Adventures in Art Class

My work explores the boundaries of portraiture through oil paint and other new mediums. My creativity reflects what I feel and I approach each piece with the intention of letting experimentation guide me. I draw inspiration from the visual storytelling of Alphonse Mucha and his ability to merge figure, pattern, and framing effects. I reinterpret that sense of framing into my compositions in more contemporary, intuitive ways. I love to  experiment with new ideas and materials like oil painting over acrylic, and black gesso with colored pencils. Creating art lets my imagination run wild and shows my uniqueness. Each artwork combines reality and imagination, to make the subject both familiar and dreamlike. In the future, I plan to keep painting more portraits and figures, possibly branching out to oil paints.