Anita's profile
My name is Anita Ahmed Ruiz Brittingham and I have been painting since August 2017. I am self-taught and discovered my love and passion for painting after challenging myself to complete an acrylic floral paint-by-numbers piece.
The process of creating a piece of visual art: taking the time to think about mood, color, connection to each other and everything within the universe ignited my soul and purpose for my life. Ultimately, I discovered that God had given me a talent that I had not begun to manifest until I completed that Floral piece. Since then, I constantly think about visual art, expression and the connections and power/energy between visual art, science, and literature/human thought and the human condition. I prefer to use acrylic, oil, and oil pastel to create paintings from my imagination, photography, and pictures of friends and family, or stock photos from FaceBook. Currently, I focus on painting portraits, landscapes, still life, animals, collage, abstract, seascapes, women-female empowerment scenes/reflections, and ethnic/cultural (in particular, Black and Black Hispanic) subject matter.
In August 2019, at the Maryland State Fair - Fine Arts Division, I won 3rd Place for my Seascape and Still Life Acrylic Paintings; and Honorable Mention for an Acrylic Portrait of my Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. sorority sister and an Acrylic painting of a Red Macaw Parrot.
As a young student in Bayside, NY, I was competitive figure-skater (1974-1984 amateur, 1988 - 2002 Professional Coach). I attended the Walnut Hill School of Performing Arts in Natick, MA (Walnut Hill) - formerly the prep high school for Wellesley College. I was one of only nine (9) Black students; and I was awarded a figure skating and academic scholarship to attend. I had the honor and privilege to work with many talented artists: Dance, Theater, Ballet, Classical & Modern Musicians, Gymnasts, and Visual Artists. Walnut Hill is known for its numerous successful alumni working in all areas of the arts: Television, Cinema, Theater- Actors & Playwrights, Symphonic Orchestras, Contemporary Music, Classical Music, etc. Walnut Hill has had extensive partnerships with Boston Ballet, Boston Symphony Orchestra, New England Conservatory of Music, Boston University Theater, Berklee School of Music, and many more high-quality Arts institutions.
My close relationship with my mother, Shirley Elaine (Ahmed) Ruiz, and my maternal grandmother, Louise L. (Prescod) Ahmed (LouLou), served as the foundation for my abilities to express myself through figure skating, literary works, and visual art. These women who raised me; protected me; held me accountable for recognizing, pursuing, and actualizing every God-given talent/potential that resides within my soul. These extraordinary and amazing women I had the privilege to be birthed from…… taught me strength, endurance, pride, humility, tenacity, steadfastness, and survival while rooting me in cultural traditions and foundational teachings/narratives of my Somali, Bajan, Africana, Latina-Black Puerto Rican (Nuyorican), Caribbean-Irish, Caribbean, and even “extended-family” Jewish ancestors.
I am the keeper of all the stories of my family and those who molded and influenced me – making me who I am – authentically. I am responsible to boldly express my cry of remembrance and survival to all whom will open their souls to listen; for those who might be inspired by shared depths of thought, emotions, and connections within the realm and soup of “life”.
My background and exposure to the Arts at a very early age, and my continued appreciation, participation and passion for the Arts have provided the foundation for my Art Works/Artistic Creations. I have an ethnically diverse cultural background (Somalian, Mali, Barbados, Trinidad & Tobago, Panama, Puerto Rico - Hispanic, Irish, and Mayan) that also provides for my inspiration and motivation to create meaningful passionate art works that touch the human spirit and relays empathy and pride in each of our own legacies and life stories.
The process of creating a piece of visual art: taking the time to think about mood, color, connection to each other and everything within the universe ignited my soul and purpose for my life. Ultimately, I discovered that God had given me a talent that I had not begun to manifest until I completed that Floral piece. Since then, I constantly think about visual art, expression and the connections and power/energy between visual art, science, and literature/human thought and the human condition. I prefer to use acrylic, oil, and oil pastel to create paintings from my imagination, photography, and pictures of friends and family, or stock photos from FaceBook. Currently, I focus on painting portraits, landscapes, still life, animals, collage, abstract, seascapes, women-female empowerment scenes/reflections, and ethnic/cultural (in particular, Black and Black Hispanic) subject matter.
In August 2019, at the Maryland State Fair - Fine Arts Division, I won 3rd Place for my Seascape and Still Life Acrylic Paintings; and Honorable Mention for an Acrylic Portrait of my Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. sorority sister and an Acrylic painting of a Red Macaw Parrot.
As a young student in Bayside, NY, I was competitive figure-skater (1974-1984 amateur, 1988 - 2002 Professional Coach). I attended the Walnut Hill School of Performing Arts in Natick, MA (Walnut Hill) - formerly the prep high school for Wellesley College. I was one of only nine (9) Black students; and I was awarded a figure skating and academic scholarship to attend. I had the honor and privilege to work with many talented artists: Dance, Theater, Ballet, Classical & Modern Musicians, Gymnasts, and Visual Artists. Walnut Hill is known for its numerous successful alumni working in all areas of the arts: Television, Cinema, Theater- Actors & Playwrights, Symphonic Orchestras, Contemporary Music, Classical Music, etc. Walnut Hill has had extensive partnerships with Boston Ballet, Boston Symphony Orchestra, New England Conservatory of Music, Boston University Theater, Berklee School of Music, and many more high-quality Arts institutions.
My close relationship with my mother, Shirley Elaine (Ahmed) Ruiz, and my maternal grandmother, Louise L. (Prescod) Ahmed (LouLou), served as the foundation for my abilities to express myself through figure skating, literary works, and visual art. These women who raised me; protected me; held me accountable for recognizing, pursuing, and actualizing every God-given talent/potential that resides within my soul. These extraordinary and amazing women I had the privilege to be birthed from…… taught me strength, endurance, pride, humility, tenacity, steadfastness, and survival while rooting me in cultural traditions and foundational teachings/narratives of my Somali, Bajan, Africana, Latina-Black Puerto Rican (Nuyorican), Caribbean-Irish, Caribbean, and even “extended-family” Jewish ancestors.
I am the keeper of all the stories of my family and those who molded and influenced me – making me who I am – authentically. I am responsible to boldly express my cry of remembrance and survival to all whom will open their souls to listen; for those who might be inspired by shared depths of thought, emotions, and connections within the realm and soup of “life”.
My background and exposure to the Arts at a very early age, and my continued appreciation, participation and passion for the Arts have provided the foundation for my Art Works/Artistic Creations. I have an ethnically diverse cultural background (Somalian, Mali, Barbados, Trinidad & Tobago, Panama, Puerto Rico - Hispanic, Irish, and Mayan) that also provides for my inspiration and motivation to create meaningful passionate art works that touch the human spirit and relays empathy and pride in each of our own legacies and life stories.
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