Today we’d like to introduce you to Andrea Prado.
Andrea, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
Art has always been a part of my life! Since I was a young girl, I began waking up early during the weekends to paint. At nine, I won her first painting contest, which ignited a creative spark that included winning several painting & international photography contests during my young life.
Studying Telecommunications and Art allowed me to venture into the commercial and graphic side of design for several years but always came back to her first love, which has always been painting.
After being a successful entrepreneur, I decided to put my creativity to work for the good of others and I now donate all the proceeds of my paintings and sculptures to different charities in Central America.
Drawing inspiration from my travels, my art is young and colorful but with deep messages, inviting the viewer to reflect on the greater aspects of our existence.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Art for me has always been a smooth road since it has helped cope with several difficult times in my life. I remember one time, I was going through a very hard time and I started paining a huge painting and ended up slapping the canvas with a piece of material full of paint and the results were great! When I finished the painting, I felt so light and happy like if I had been to a very long session with a therapist. The healing properties of art are amazing!
Please tell us more about your artwork, what you are currently focused on and most proud of.
My art has always been evolving. I can’t say that I stick to a specific technique or design. My art has been evolving with me and with the different stages of my life.
When I am processing something difficult, I paint very intense themes and pour all my emotions in the canvas. This could take several hours and many tears. These paintings are never sold. They belong to my personal collection and are hung in the family areas of my house.
When I am in a happy place in life, I paint with a lot of colors, different techniques and usually include positive messages in the paintings. I just paint to enjoy myself and express my happiness. I use bright and fun colors and a lot of metallic ones as well.
Lately, I have been experimenting with resin sculpture and I love it. I appreciate the fact that you can include special objects in my sculptures that will be saved for years to come in a beautiful art piece for everyone to observe and enjoy.
What are you striving for, what criteria or markers have you set as indicators of success?
Success to me is being able to use my gifts and with them bless others. And that is what I do with my art! and for that, I consider myself very successful!
Several years ago, I found in a book an Irish proverb that read:
‘Your talent is God’s gift to you. What you do with it is your gift back to God’
That is the only thing I remember about the whole book but it changed my life! That day I decided to donate all the proceeds from my art and creativity to different organizations and people in need around me and it has been a beautiful journey. Very rewarding.
Aside from my paintings and sculptures that I sell and donate the money, I have created several art projects specifically for fundraising:
ESFERAS de CARE was a collection of huge fiberglass spheres painted by local and international artists in order to raise awareness and money for the different projects of CARE INTERNATIONAL in El Salvador.
NAKAR is a brand that employs abused women and teaches them how to process discarded oysters and transform them into beautiful decorative objects sold in several countries.
HOJAS ETERNAS
Art inspired in God’s creation using the leaves of the Guarumo tree and make them into beautiful sculptures.
I also enjoy teaching painting workshops at several homes for homeless and orphanages.
Contact Info:
- Email: andreadeprado@me.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/andreapradoart?igshid=6ufwb3b6oix4
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AndreaPradoArt/
- Other: https://www.facebook.com/nakarostras/
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