We recently connected with Nina Luna and have shared our conversation below.
Nina, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s jump back to the first dollar you earned as a creative? What can you share with us about how it happened?
I started painting(October 2013) while I was going through breast cancer. Since I had a long time to sit during a chemo session I would draw to pass the time. As I was drawing out a sketch for a piece that I was going to attempt to paint, one of the doctors walked by and saw it. She asked to see what I was drawing and when I showed her. Without hesitation, she said I,want to buy it when you’re finished. I looked at her and I remember my mind went blank.and I had no answer. Think about it, she said and please dont sell it to anyone else. I want that for my office and walked out. I was stunned 3 weeks later I sold it to her.. That is when my career started.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
“What inspires you to paint, and where did you get the idea for this piece?” someone asked. I really had to think because I am not in charge when it comes to creation. My answer is, a canvas, no matter what material is used, is the birthplace of creation. I may walk around for several days before I even apply a dot. Once the dot is there, I turn on my music and let it guide me through the process of creating whatever is in my head. As I paint, my only thought is “what if,” and the rest is magic.
My Journey
This Story is how breast cancer changed my life.
I am a two time breast cancer survivor. I was diagnosed in Oct of 2011.
I first started painting as an art form on October 15th 2013.
My first type of canvas was painting the upper half of the female torso as a healing process from the loss of both breasts. I’d really never looked at the female body as beautiful. Painting them helped me embrace who I am as a woman, and seeing I’m just as beautiful now, if not more as I was with breasts. Each piece I paint tells a story of where I was mentally while going through cancer , where I have gone, to where I am. My work is a continued reflection on my Journey on how I have grown as a Woman, Survivor and an Artist
Three weeks prior to painting and using the torso as a canvas,a friend of mine asked me if I would help him open up his retail shop. When I went to see his shop, the first thing I noticed was rows of female mannequins on clothes racks. All I saw was breasts and that is when realization hit me like a ton of bricks that I didn’t have any. I felt like they needed to be covered and instead of putting clothes on them, I asked him if he would let me have a couple to paint a design on and if they came out nice could I display them in the store. By the first week of November I had four completed. Just by chance, a coincidence or luck, the curator from the Oceanside Museum of Art in CA. saw my work. She asked what inspired me to paint them, I told her my story . She looked at me and at that instant asked me if I would like to be part of an exhibit that was starting a day later. All four pieces became part of the exhibit. That was the first of many to come. All of this has been a whirlwind of delight. Something that was created out of a battle while fighting for my life and into something extraordinary.
I now have five publications in different art magazines and had my first international solo show Dec 8th 2023.
2019 I started painting flat canvas which is different from 3d art work and I literally had to reprogram my brain to do so., not as easy as it looks!
I have always believed something good can be transformed out of something bad. A lesson we can learn to turn negative into positive no matter what it is.
We’d love to hear your thoughts on NFTs. (Note: this is for education/entertainment purposes only, readers should not construe this as advice)
My view on NFTs. I like them. I have seen some very creative pieces that have been produced online via a graphics program and I have seen some that have been digitally manipulated photos taken by the artist on pieces of original artwork created by them and sold on an NFT platform. . What I frown upon is someone saying a few words into an AI program that creates a picture and the person tries to pass it off as their own creation.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
The Ice Cream storyI remember as a child when I had to get my tonsils out. Even though you are scared, they tell you, you get Ice Cream, all you want right after. Knowing you get Ice Cream right after was the carrot dangling in front of the horse to get him to move. It wasn’t what I thought. I was tricked! I couldn’t eat Ice Cream because it was too painful and it was just a bribe to get me to go through with it.
My breast cancer diagnosis was Inflammatory breast cancer and the Her 2 virus both very rare at that time.. Having one was rare enough but I had two. Being scared I asked what would happen during radiation treatment as chemo was bad enough. I was told it’s like having a bad sunburn and then it goes away. OK , bad sunburn I can take. Let’s get the show on the road. I want that Ice Cream!
I remember asking again for reassurance if it was going to hurt, they assured me it was like a bad sunburn. Ok, so that is what I prepared myself for, the Ice Cream. It did start off that way for my first 4 or 5 treatments. By the 7th I was burnt so badly the area looked like a hotdog that had been left on the BBQ too long and the skin had burst to a crisp. The pain is unexplainable. One day I was out of my mind in pain so I drove myself to the oncology department and asked to speak to the head of radiology. When she came in, lifted up my shirt with tears running down my face and I said to her,. This is no bad sunburn as I was told it would be, this is a weenie roast. I said to her now if this is normal I will wipe the tears from my face and go home and take it but if it isn’t normal then I need you to help me before I go insane with pain. She looked at me right in my eyes as the tears flowed and said, I am so so sorry. Because of the type of cancers you have we have to give you more radiation than normal and there is nothing we can do about that. I looked at her, put my shirt down and said ok, I wiped the tears from my eyes, gathered my composure and drove home. That is when I knew how strong I was and this beast wasn’t going to win. I will come back from this stronger than I was before and nothing can stop me. To this day no matter what is put in front of me I know I will bounce back with a better understanding of the situation and be stronger with more learning tools to carry on this journey of life.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ninasartworld/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nina-luna-909a22269/