Member Spotlight: Ella Soroori

Lives in: Silver Spring, MD                                    

Website: https://ellabellaarts.com/

Social Media: Ella is on Facebook and Instagram.

Media and subjects: My preferred medium is acrylic paint but, recently I’ve started using polychromes pencils and have been enjoying mixing the dry and wet mediums. I create abstract art using different fluid art techniques such as dutch pour and dirty pour.

Why you joined MAA: I joined MAA for the opportunity to meet other artists and also to find ways to be more active in the community.

Something fun about you: English is my second language and I learned it by watching “Friends”!

Artist Biography: Friends and family know me as Ella Bella. I am originally from Afghanistan but was raised in Iran and lived most of my life in India, the Philippines, and the US (since 2012). During the first few months of the Great Coronavirus Pandemic of 2020, I started playing around with fluid acrylic paints and was genuinely mesmerized by the endless creative possibilities that would come alive with pigments running amok across the canvas. 

In all my life, I’ve picked up a brush and a canvas or a pencil and a drawing book a few times but never really fully invested in it. Now in my 30s, I find there is nothing more therapeutic than mixing some paint and laying it on a canvas, guiding the ebb and flow of colors and shapes while allowing it to take its own journey. The surprising direction the paint takes when it flows across the canvas sometimes in harmony and other times like a beautiful disaster is genuinely addicting. 

I create contemporary abstract art using my mixing recipes. My inspiration comes from the sheer joy of painting. I am in love with abstraction and the incredible artistic freedom I find in acrylic pouring techniques. 

In April of this year, I had the opportunity to showcase my art as an Afghan American artist in the “We are All One - Arts Transcending Borders” art exhibit in the celebration of cultures in Johnstown, PA.