Behind every painting, there is a story whether it be comprised of two or two thousand words. Here’s the story of Personal Jewels.
When I first began brainstorming what to paint for this series, I jumped around to many different ideas. Some included ideas of painting classic movie scenes, another idea was family portraits, but I finally landed on the idea of painting jewelry–in particular jewelry with a personal connection.
I decided to choose a personal theme for each painting and settled on 4 themes: Culture, legacy, independence, and ambition. All the themes are decently self explanatory, but I’ll go in to each piece briefly to explain the significance of the details.
Firstly, Culture’s subjects are a pair of earrings, called Arracadas, that my grandma gave me after her 2018 trip to Jerez, Zacatecas, MX and my chain that my Nina gave me after my first communion which features the the Virgin Mary on the Chain. I did some research on color and found that the color blue is often used to signify culture, this is a theme that will continue throughout the rest of the series.
Next, Legacy features my mom’s pearl bracelet and necklace that my grandma gave to her as well as a pair of pearl and opal earrings. I painted the background a deep red to mimic a ‘bloodline’ look.
Third, Independence features seven rings that I purchased from a small jeweler over the course of the last year. I chose rings to signify independence because I liked how it challenged the traditional meaning of a ring. In addition, I chose a deep purple as the background as it stands for independence.
Lastly, Ambition features two pieces of jewelry I made myself in the process of growing my etsy shop (alexdoestuff.com). I also enjoyed the symbolism of butterflies standing for growing and being an ambitious person. Green, of course, is a color that symbolizes ambition.
Thanks for reading! Check in soon for more Story&Detail posts!
Lots of Love,
Alex
alexandria-alvarez.com 