ACEO Cards by Maria Kitano

When I created this blog, I decided not to feature painters because there are so many talented ones out there. Choosing would be agonizing for me. I'm making an exception because I had never heard of ACEO cards before. Until I visited Maria Kitano's blog. ACEO (Art card, editions and originals) are similar to ATC cards (Artist Trading Cards) in that they can be traded with other artists like trading or business cards to promote ones craft. ACEO cards are usually 3.5 inches by 2.5 inches in size, and are also sold today as art to be displayed. Maria started making ACEOs about a year ago, after seeing a few on a website. "I had never tried painting such small formats so it was a challenge to me. After making a few it became an addiction."

Maria lives in Hamburg, Germany, and has been painting and drawing since childhood, and professionally for six years. On her blog she explains, "My work is a celebration of life, inspired from things I see every day, things that most of us do not pay much attention to. My daily experiences: watching the sky, a bird, conversations, media, photos, television, memories, are reduced to abstract shapes and colors which allow me to show what I feel is important and beautiful. Abstraction is the way I come closest to representing the world around me." You will see that birds are one of her favorite subjects, as her blog titles, Tweetart, also suggests.

"I use various techniques, going from pencil and graphite to pastels, watercolors and finally oils which I like the most. There is no complicated philosophical explanation about my paintings." Her craft gives her the opportunity to communicate emotions through her painting. Emotions that are universal. Her goal for the future is to hopefully have a "real" exhibition. But, for now, Maria is content with painting what she loves, and promoting her business. Visit her blog to see more of her works HERE. And, her Etsy site HERE.

Images used with permission from Maria Kitano.