Speaker 1 (00:00):
So, lose the fear. That's it. Lose the fear of color. Uh, just start using color.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
This is the Bold Artist podcast.
Speaker 3 (00:12):
You have answers, and you're expressing them in your art. Your art is important, and it needs to be seen.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Welcome. And let's get started with today's episode. We're here at episode four of the Bold Artist podcast, and Charla and I are here to introduce you to bold portrait painter, Axel Martinez. Charla, would you tell us a bit about Axel?
Speaker 3 (00:42):
Yes. Axel. I met Axel virtually probably over a year ago when he joined Bold School for the first time. And I noticed his work was amazing right off the bat. And then I found out that he actually had just started painting. He was a ceramic artist, sculptural artist, you could say. And he, what really got my attention was how he was in our communities and helping people. And he was just so thoughtful and concerned over everybody's work and progress, I guess you could say. He was just such a great, a breath of fresh air in our community. And I started chatting with him and talking with him and, uh, our other mentor in our community, Corey, was like, it's kind of like Axel works for Bold School. He's in there as much as she was and just as involved. So, we had a talk, Axel and I, and he decided to come on board with Bold School. He's such an interesting guy. He's a risk taker. I didn't know anything about that before he actually came on board. And then he told me his story about how he's done business in and out of art, and how he's moved around. And even what he's doing right now is just so exciting creative. Um, it's, he's just got a great story to tell.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Yes. And not only is Axel an inspirational mentor at Bold School, but he is also a very, very accomplished artist -- not only in ceramics, but now in acrylic paint. And one of the things that I loved about interviewing Axel is how confident he is and his message of when he said you've got to lose the fear. You've got to lose the fear. That was the line that stuck with me, uh, during the interview, after the interview, it's the line that stuck with me. You've got to lose the fear. So let's, let's just take it right on over to Axel.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
Axel Martinez. It is so great to have you on the Bold Artist Podcast. We are here not only on YouTube, but in audio, on all the podcast apps. We're thrilled to have you here. You are not only a ceramicist, but you're a bold color portrait painter, and a mentor with Bold school. So, can you start off by telling us a little more about yourself?
Speaker 1 (02:54):
Okay. So like you said, I'm a ceramic artist. Um, I was deep into the ceramic arts when the pandemic hit. Uh, and like many other potters and ceramic artists, we had no place to go. So, all of a sudden, all of that creative outlet got shut down. And, uh, I was just browsing through the internet to see, look and see what I can do. And there was this Kenyan girl right here -- right there -- that I saw at an ad and decided, Hey, why not try something different while I'm locked up at home? And that's where this whole painting thing began with me.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
That's wonderful. Can you, um, before I ask more questions about how you got started painting and what you're currently painting, could you share with us a snapshot of what life in Axel's world looks like right now?
Speaker 1 (03:57):
It's a very, very great question. So, I had the added stress of trying to keep a business open. I had this excitement about learning bold color. I had the frustration of not being able to do my pottery. And I did some introspect, and I realized something is just not lining up correctly in my life, and I started to for balance. Uh, so that's when I decided, Hey, if I'm having too much stress, keeping a business open, let's get rid of that. If I'm having too much fun painting and learning something else -- something that just felt right -- let me just pursue that. So, I decided to get rid of the business. Um, I decided to relocate in Puerto Rico, and I'm currently moving everything, uh, to the sand as I'm still being a mentor with a Bold Color Bootcamp, and some of the other, uh, classes in there. And just having a great time, just having a great time doing the shift.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
That's wonderful. Thank you for giving us an inside glimpse into your life and world. Do you still currently work with ceramic?
Speaker 1 (05:17):
I'm currently not doing that because I, it takes a massive amount of equipment on set up to do that. So, I do inten on bringing all that equipment over. I do intend to set up a double studio painting and ceramics. But at this point I'm only painting because it's so much easier to set up. I can, virtually in any corner, I can set it up and start doing it.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
I completely identify because I also come from a pottery background and couldn't maintain the amount of equipment and kilns and firing and clay and needed to put that away for awhile, as well. So I, and painting gives it's more accessible. It's easier to set up and, and do for sure. So, right now you're mainly focused, in your artwork, you're mainly focused on your bold color style portraits?
Speaker 1 (06:13):
Yes, that is right.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
Perfect. So, Axel, could you give us a little bit of a picture of how you approach color in your very bold, vivid portraiture?
Speaker 1 (06:28):
Okay. Well, there is boldness, and then there is vivid color. Uh, to be bold with color means that you are employing color abstraction in a way that matches your intention, whatever you want to convey. That's boldness of color. So, if I look at a picture, and it's in color, and I match it to the exact skin tones that I'm looking at, there is no boldness there. I'm simply reproducing something that I'm looking at. But if I look at a picture that a great artist or a photographer created, and I want to, uh, convey something else to it, if I want to add to it, and I decide, I want to kick the emotion, I want to send another message something beyond what the photographer captured. That's when you get into boldness of color. Because now you're using color the way that it was not expected.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
So like, if you look for example, right behind me, these are all bold portrait, uh, both color portraits. The one directly above me is a little bit more natural until you look up close. And the reason I did that, I wanted a more, uh, more, uh, toned down, uh, capture of the relationship between mother and daughter. So, it wasn't so important for me to putting too much color abstraction. I wanted to simply capture the joy. I use the colors of yellow. I used the blue, and that was enough for me as compared to this guy here. I went all in on him. I wanted to have a really intense emotion. And I was able to do that, by matching the intensity of the color with the expression on his face. So that's, that's the difference between vivid color and bold color.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
Did you have any sort of epithany in color theory, that was your aha moment in learning how to paint with bold colors?
Speaker 1 (08:51):
Yes, I did. Um, and you know, in preparation for this interview, I didn't want to, uh, make something scripted and I'm so happy that this question came up to me because I really haven't thought of it until this very moment. And back when I was, uh, only a student about color bootcamp, before I became a mentor, we have this monthly challenges. Excuse me. And one of the challenges was to use a color that you're the most scared of, or that you do not like, or that you try to avoid the most in your paintings. And even though I really started painting more seriously, when I joined Bold Color Bootcamp, I have been dabbling with paints before. And I always noticed that green was really a color that I had trouble with. So, on that challenge, I started introducing the green in my portraits. And all of a sudden, I realize there's nothing wrong with green. Actually. I love green. And I find it hard not to paint with green nowadays. So, that's when I realized, Hey, it doesn't matter what color it is. It is the value. And like, you can see he's got a lot of green, but he doesn't look like a sick person. They have green right above me. They don't look like a sick person. He has a lot of green behind me. He doesn't look like a sick person.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
I just came to realize this all in the relationship that you put in colors, the balance that you add to your portraits.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
Could you also share with us Axel, how you approach making your palette as you prepare to get started on a portrait? How do you approach the palette, choosing your colors and also, do you rely heavily on the color wheel and color theory to do this?
Speaker 1 (11:00):
I do. I do. Um, Charla, always, um, referred to the color wheel for the trusted and proven color relationships. So, when you have a blank canvas, and you're thinking of an artwork that you want to create, it's pretty intimidating. Uh, where do I start? How do I start picking colors? So, I always go back to the color wheel, and I look at relationships. I look at sets of colors, how do they relate? There are some basic, uh, proven relationships in color that I always tap into. So, based on that, I start mixing my colors depending on what it is that I want to convey. I also started studying what, uh, colors emote. Every color, emotes, something different. So, depending on where I want to go, I start studying those relationships, and I start developing my palette. Sometimes all I have is about three to four colors. Uh, and I started, I start painting. I keep balancing, and I keep developing this palette. And then by the time I'm done that palette that used to have only maybe four or five colors ends up being a part of eight to 10 colors. Um, but that's basically how it start. I always refer to the color wheel, and I do refer back to a little bit of study that I did on color theory, just to kind of orient myself in, to match the color with the emotion that I'm trying to convey.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
I love that. Thank you for sharing that and giving us an inside picture into your paint palette. And in this season of the Bold Artist Podcast, we're talking about bold color and bold moves. So, bold moves that we make as an artist -- moves that take courage and risk. And I love to ask artists what has been their biggest, bold move. But first I want to ask you Axel, if you consider yourself bold in character, it does boldness come natural to you. And how would you describe your character?
Speaker 1 (13:21):
I wouldn't say that I'm bold in character. I am just like anybody else who falls into a routine, and you get comfortable there. However, I I'm very well known about making bold moves, like the one I just did. Sell the business disregard the income, um, and just look inside of you and find happiness. That to me is the boldest moves that I've made as an artist.
Speaker 2 (13:48):
Could you share with us a little bit about how your community, whether that be your, your direct community and your town or city or your community online, how your community has helped to make you the bold artist that you are?
Speaker 1 (14:08):
As far as the community that I shared in Florida, it was very rich in the arts and it was a very, very active., Um, because I am relatively a new artist, uh, I didn't really have that much of an interaction with that community. Uh, however, uh, just recently I started, uh, entering some of my work, and it was really, I mean, it was an amazing feedback. It was really validating to see how people responded to this artform. When it comes to the online community that I have the, the privilege to share with, uh, with the Bold School, it is an amazing, amazing group of, of, uh, of people from all over the world. We have people that are such extensive experiencing in, in painting. And you also have people just like me that started painting recently. And the feedback really is what helps you grow just to hear what everybody has to say, how everybody interprets and see your work. It's really my, what makes you grow. Um, it goes both ways. You also look at the art work that is being created and posted. You study their pieces. You give the feedback to them. And it's something that goes, it's really a collaboration. It goes both ways. Um, and I think that is a very important tool. Uh, that's really helped me, in particular, to grow in this art form.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
Thank you. Yes. I know that community is so important and something that here on the Bold Artist Podcast, we're always encouraging artists, whether they're advanced or beginners to get involved in the community. And, um, whether it's Bold School or your own community, and to also be sharing your work, sharing your work and talking with other artists about growing in your art form. So, thanks for sharing that about how your community has impacted you. And can I ask you, Axel, if there's something in particular you've noticed as a mentor through Bold School, something that you've noticed that students really need right now. Whether that be a tip in the aspect of skill-building or some kind of encouragement that they need. Um, is there something that you want to share with those who are just beginning.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
The most important thing that I, that I see with this particularly, the new, the new students, or the, uh, more experienced, uh, painters that are actually trying to learn this style is to lose the fear. That's it. Lose the fear of color. Uh, just start using color. And, uh, I find time and time and time again, that whenever they get to the point to where they're realize what would happen if I use color and I don't like, I can always cover color with something else. Once I lose that fear, amazing things happen. It's like it opens the gates of creativity for them. That is the, that is the main thing I can tell somebody.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
I love that lose the fear and amazing things happen. That's Axel's quote of the day lose the fear and amazing things happen. So, Axel, Axel, thank you so much for joining us on today's episode of the Bold Artist podcast. In closing, is there anything else that's burning on your heart that you would want to share with other artists or something you're excited about that you'd want to talk about today?
Speaker 1 (18:12):
I could not live this podcast interview without mentioning something that I've really learned recently, actually, Charla posted a video on this, and I truly learned from that, and that is to fight resistance. We can come up, in any aspect of our lives, we can come up with so many excuses and hurdles to just get done what we want done. We need to lose that. Lose the resistance. You want to start painting? Don't think, oh, well, I'll get the supplies tomorrow. No, get them today. Oh, well, I'm not gonna start painting now because I'm hungry. No, eat later. If it's burning inside of you, you want to start creating, just do it. Just go into it. Fight that resistance.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
Thank you so much for being on today's show, Axel. And for going through all of this technical difficulty. We had microphone issues, and the Internet has dropped out on us a couple of times. You are indeed a very patient man, and also a very bold painter and artist. And, you are leading by example, and the Bolld School community is so privileged to have you as a mentor here. So, thank you so much for all that you put into everyone in Bold School and into this podcast today.
Speaker 2 (19:38):
Bold school is who creates the Bold Artist Podcast. And so, there is Bold School Inc, on Instagram, but we got thinking about having a portal where people can comment, send an even voice messages into our message inbox, our DMS. And so we created the Bold Artist Podcast at Bold Artist Podcast Instagram, specifically for communication with the listeners. And so, that is one thing we would love to hear from you and hear your thoughts and even topic ideas, questions. Part of, part of everything we do here at the Bold Atist Podcast is to create conversation.
Speaker 3 (20:24):
Yeah. So, don't be afraid to go on there and leave your comments around. We'll be there joining in, especially if you got some deep thoughts about what we're talking about. We'll for sure be in there, joining in, and it would be really great.
