about

I often feel like bios are too formal, so as I'm writing this, I'm kinda just pretending that I am having a conversation with whoever is taking the time to read this. Anywho, my name is Ella Louise Fortini, hence the "ELF" signature that seems to appear in all my work. My late grandmother was convinced that I was actually a time traveling elf and that my initials were just the concrete evidence of that all. Anyways, that is completely besides the point and maybe I will write about that some day, but for now here is a brief, short and sweet about me. If I sat and wrote out an entire biography of my 22 years on this earth, I would be writing literally forever. I think I've lived many lives, have many stories to tell and I want to be able to do just that. Whether it is through my art or my writing or the janky little videos I like to make, there's always one creative way to get it all out there. 

That being said, I am a 22 year old artist from the Central Coast of California. I am currently studying illustration at Laguna College of Art and Design. My art is pretty much what the inside of my brain looks like at all hours, and I wouldn't want it any other way. Maybe I blame my zodiac sign for feeling too much or maybe it's because I was raised by such passionate parents. Art is my outlet, my church, my fuel, my truest love, my way of grounding, my communication to the world and so much more I will never be able to find the words for. My work is a blend of an overactive imagination, some guttural nostalgia and a twist of the heavier things that may lay in one's subconscious. I want people to look at what I have created and really feeling something on a personal level, or at the very least just stop a think for a moment. 

The concept of always creating more than you're consuming, is something I really try and live by. My version of creative acts often takes place as drawing a million different lines in a dazed state, but also as painting or sewing or making jewelry or filming little videos or writing a nonsense, totally unstructured poem. I draw inspiration from everything. the people I know, the people I don't know. The great parts of life, the darkest moments I never thought I'd live through and the mundane in between. The fluid motions of nature and the structured life of society. There's so much beauty in the duality of our world and being able to share that in my own way is incredibly special. We all have our own individual creative voices and this is a little look into mine.  

Thank you for being here <3

Tutto il mio amore,

ELF