Gigi Ramos, aka Gij Ramos, aka Luz Ramos Brake, was born in the Philippines on Sept.14, 1958. She went to preparatory school to grade 11 in an all-girl Catholic school run by Immaculati Cordis Mariae, or ICM nuns. She then went to the state university for a course in the arts and majored in visual communication, but in between she had two children at an early age which disrupted her school. In an effort to make something of herself she started painting for her mother who commissioned her to adorn their family home with her works. She has continued to do this on and off until she had a job from the family business while also freelancing as an illustrator and cartoonist for a couple of broadsheet papers. In 2006 she met an Australian-born man to whom she was eventually married in 2013. She has retired from her job as manager in the Philippines and now lives as a housewife who occasionally paints and attends art workshops in Queensland, Australia.
I made this piece of acrylic, titled "Organic Love" (35.75 in by 24 in), to showcase a little of what I can do at an art expo held in Mackay, Queensland, Australia a few months ago. Most of what I had done were pieces of representational art (which my husband likes more), but my heart is really into abstract art.
I wanted to put some restraint in the number of colors to use here because I have been inclined to use colors with wild abandon in a lot of my works in the past; so I was pleased with the result of this one. My main aim in creating this work is to provide the same beauty to a space that a bouquet of flowers would in a home. As one who has been recently married and as one who is a little bit of a believer in feng shui, I also painted this work to increase the luck in the marriage with images of the little hearts and red as the bold color of love. Given a choice, I would have preferred that this painting be much larger and hanging on a massive mall in a massive building somewhere.
Organic Love
Are you 50 or older? Want to submit your own art or photography for consideration? Send us your work at 50arts@huffingtonpost.com. See here for more details.