Hi! I’m Isabella Riboni. I’m a 24 year-old artist in Southern California.
Growing up I was always surrounded by art and creative energy. My mom filled every wall in our home with murals and paintings and would often stay up late into the night working on her creative endeavors, a trait she definitely passed onto me. Art has always surrounded me, so it’s no surprise that my dream now is to create it for a living.
When I was eleven, I decided I was going to learn how to draw. I spent countless hours watching YouTube tutorials and practicing portraiture with graphite pencils. Drawing was the perfect getaway from those awkward preteen years, my escape from the anxieties that came with growing up. I continued drawing with graphite and colored pencils for years, it was truly my favorite way to spend my time and express myself.
In March of 2020 I moved to New York City, unknowingly just prior to a world pandemic. When the world shut down, I barely knew anyone, and it wasn’t exactly an opportune time to go meeting new people. So, I did all I knew to do, art. I walked nearly 3 hours from Brooklyn to an art store in Manhattan and bought my first set of oil paints. Then I spent all night every night for months painting portraits and familiarizing myself with this new medium. The vibrant colors and smooth brush strokes were captivating. Playing with my paints erupted this giddy happy feeling in me that I hadn’t felt since I was a little kid.
Four years later and I still get that happy feeling every time I paint, which is every day. After a stressful shift at my day job as a waitress, my fingers are itching to pick up a brush. I draw inspiration from beautiful moments in my life. I paint the things that are special to me. I paint memories. Every painting I create has so much depth and meaning to me, every stroke is a symbol of a moment in my life. I hope that my works can ignite in you the same feelings of warmth, wonder, and passion for life that they do in me.