ANJALE IN THIS MOMENT

How would you describe this moment in your life right now? 

Transitional. I owned an art school for 16 years in Redondo Beach and chose to close at the beginning of COVID to pursue painting full time. It’s been rad and terrifying and liberating and mystifying and I don’t know that I’ll ever feel I have it fully figured out. If I do, it will be time for another overhaul, because for me change is what keeps my creativity firing.

What phase of life are you in, & how do you think your age affects your thoughts, your feelings, your decisions?

When I closed my business I was nearing forty and decided I was ready to paint for MYSELF instead of pushing my focus outward through teaching, painting commissions, and consistently responding to the requests of others. Yet even when I embarked on my independent painting career I found myself creating pretty pictures for people to hang on their walls. I had a moment where I was like, “WTF Anjalé! Enough with the damned flowers!!!” So now that I’m a few years into my solo journey I’ve decided that I have some s#!t to say and I’ve dedicated the next year to just that. I’m currently creating a body of work for a solo show, “Temptation”. It’s going to be weird. Edgy. Thought provoking. A self portrait in a lot of ways (figuratively, not literally). And I think because of this it will be my best work yet. Because I’m finally saying what I REALLY want, not what I think the world wants to hear from me.

What’s the last thing you thought of before you went to bed last night?

Why do I always have to pee right when I lay down, lol.

The first thing you thought of upon waking this morning?

It’s almost my birthday!

What have you been working on / playing with / scheming this last week?

Small scale paintings that I’m going to resin over (eeeep, first time with resin and sooooo stoked!)

If you were to use only three words to describe your current creations, what would they be? 

Monochrome, edgy, serpentine

What early experience or influence on you is still very much alive for you today in your way of living or in your work?

I was trained in a very traditional style of realistic fine art. For a lot of years I tried to buck up against that - I tried to abstract my work, loosen up my brushstrokes, and felt like realism was just not the direction I desired to go. With this new body of work I am embracing my skill set, deciding to spend hours and hours on a single painting, using extreme detail and realism on each snake scale and perfume bottle reflection. Instead of denying my background I'm finally embracing my strengths and working with them. It’s liberating. I finally feel that I’m allowing myself to shine.

What is something you’re trying to let go of right now, & how is that going?

Gahhhh this one is easy, CONTROL. It’s always control. I am a perfectionist - always was as a kid, and I struggle with it to this day. Winston Churchill said, “Perfection is the enemy of progress” and I relate so much with this. The number of times I’ve stared at a white canvas totally transfixed because I couldn’t decide where to start … would the painting be better this way or that way??? I’ve wasted countless hours like this. For me, it’s always starting that’s the hardest. So, like Dory, I tell myself to “just keep swimming” ( I knowwwww so cheesy but it works, for real, try it, you’re welcome.)

What is something people would be surprised to learn about you?

I was an actress in elementary through high school and almost majored in theater instead of art.