Thank you for visiting my art site. I am an artist from Los Angeles now living in New Orleans. I grew up in the 80s and 90s, and have moved back and forth a few times, now making New Orleans my permanent home. I miss Los Angeles dearly and both places influence my art so much.
I have followed a creative path in life because it is the only kind I have known. Losing my mother at the end of my teen years catapulted me into the real world. On the brink of womanhood, I was unrestrained by any maternal advice or concerns, so I made my way with the survival instincts I had learned from the very person I was missing. I had lots of ups and downs, I had fun, I traveled and made lots of friends. I learned a lot about myself and the world around me.
My drive and some help along the way has brought me full circle today to the person I have always wanted to be. Through many trials, some success and lots of failure (from which I quickly try to move on), I have learned how to live a happy life.
I spend a lot of time these days making resin art. I have memories of being fascinated by the resin jewelry bangles of the 70s, with their suspended gold glitter in translucent shiny hard acrylic. I used to shop at many resale boutiques in the Los Angeles and Hollywood neighborhoods during the 90s and early 2k. I would often admire vintage pieces of lucite and adore their chunky curved lines, the smooth shiny surface and the cool touch of the pieces. I started creating at home with resin supplies in about 2010 and now have a home studio with hundreds of molds, and also learned to create my own with silicone mix. I’m hooked! It has been a big part of my life for many years. I started making Glowies®, my line of glow in the dark jewelry, back then. And I still make glowies every week for my lovely glowie friends.
Painting is something I have always adored. The liquid color fascinates me. I have always been drawn to the beauty of contrast and tones. I love fluid art because it allows me to get messy with lots of paint and make non-boring art. The colors excite me!
I learned jewelry design in high school. Metal fabrication, soldering, gemstone setting and more. I was very lucky to go to school in Southern California during a vibrant time. Beads have always been a part of my life. Having been raised by Hippies and a French Fashionista (my Grandmother from France), I started creating jewelry pieces as a young girl. Adorning myself with things that sparkle was just a part of life. Being obsessed with glow in the dark definitely helped me as I eventually started my own line of glowing jewelry called Glowies®.
I lost my Mom to breast cancer just after I turned 18, and a month after I graduated from high school. It is a unique experience to lose your parent as you come of age. And she was a single parent, so all of a sudden I was on my own the summer after high school. Those days are still surreal to me, but it was when I really used the only skills I had – being creative and making art – and found a job painting and worked in set design in Hollywood. I learned so much, it was a wild journey, and brought me into textile design which is also a love of mine. I discovered how to dye yards of fabric at a time. Of course being raised by a hippie I could remember her dying curtains at the laundromat (oops sorry lol). Good memories. I can also screen print on fabric and shirts. These things have added to my tool box kit of creativity and I love blending them together. My art is my life.
Digital art is also something I love and create! I started creating blogs and websites in 1999 and have been working on these things for a long time. Altering digital photos in programs like Photoshop and now Procreate are so much fun, but also time consuming. Now with new technology I am able to create more digital images at a faster pace, and while not all of these items make it into the real world, the magic and inspiration is amazing and I love to share these images with the world. I love to blog, and make web pages and now working with AI to create videos of things that also inspire me. Fun stuff!
I am finally in a place where I can create and be more unrestrained, and this site is to share my art. I still have my glow in the dark jewelry creations at glowies.net, which enables me to venture into other areas like this art. I am so lucky. Thank you for peeking into my world.
See more of my creations on my facebook pages:
Monique Lula (Artist Page with AI content)
Glow Lockets (Artist Page/Business with art content)