Letting Go and Holding On

"All the art of living lies in a fine mingling of
letting go and holding on".
~Havelock Ellis









Letting Go by Melanie Banayat

Available as:
- Giclee Print
- Notecard


















Holding On by Melanie Banayat

Available as:
Notecard




MiliGirl Note Cards make unique gifts for women. Find and send the perfect "Just Because" greeting card at the MiliGirl Collection online store.

Please share this post with others - Thanks! Melanie Banayat

Letting Go and Holding On

Bed of Flowers

Bed of Flowers is
now available
as a Giclee Print!


















Happy New Year Everyone!

I'm a little slow getting around to updating my blog since entering the new decade. The delay was partially due to my efforts to get this painting made available as a giclee print to start out the New Year on a good note. Many people have requested prints of "Bed of Flowers", so with some fancy negotiating skills I managed to make it happen. Thanks to my good friend, Teri!
THANKS AGAIN TERI!

I also decided to make it available in a new size on heavy duty watercolor paper.
Find out all the details here.

Don't Wait...
If you want a limited edition giclee print of Bed of Flowers I suggest you order quickly, since I also lowered the Limited Edition size to only 30 Prints! That's right...only thirty prints! What?!?!?! :0 Ahhhhh!


MiliGirl Note Cards make unique gifts for women. Find and send the perfect "Just Because" greeting card at the MiliGirl Collection online store.

Please share this post with others - Thanks! Melanie Banayat

Bed of Flowers

Uncommon Gifts

Uncommon Gift Ideas . . .
That Save Time and Keep You Within Your Tight Budget

OK, Ladies & Gentlemen, It’s that time of year when many people feel overwhelmed and stressed out about holiday shopping.

Your daily schedule is already jammed up, and your budget is tighter than ever before. Retail stores are not stocking up like they have in past years, so even finding gifts is a challenge. Do you feel like you have the Deer in the Headlights look about you? If so, I can empathize. It is not an easy task to go around shopping for presents let alone deciding what gift to get that will have meaning, be something that the recipient will appreciate and actually use, and not send you into debt.

I decided to compile a Gift Ideas list to help all of you who are in need of some creative gift giving ideas that won’t break the bank! I’ve organized the gift ideas into categories to simplify your search. Most of the gift ideas include links to the online stores where you can easily purchase the gifts online. Many of the online stores will gift wrap the items for you for free, and you can even have the gift shipped direct to the recipient if you want.

I've included gift ideas for women, men, teens, kids, babies, artists, romantic occasions, Christmas stocking stuffers, and more. These gift ideas are great for any time of the year, for any occasion. I will continue to add more gift ideas to this list throughout the year, so bookmark this page as your convenient gift giving resource.

You can find many interesting and unique gift ideas at the MiliGirl Gift Ideas page.



MiliGirl Note Cards make unique gifts for women. Find and send the perfect "Just Because" greeting card at the MiliGirl Collection online store.

Please share this post with others - Thanks! Melanie Banayat

Uncommon Gifts

Pop Rocket Article on ACE Art Group

I didn't much care for the feminist remark in the article LOL! But overall the article paints a nice picture of ACE Art Group and our mission.

To Read Article:
Click on image to enlarge.





MiliGirl Note Cards make unique gifts for women. Find and send the perfect "Just Because" greeting card at the MiliGirl Collection online store.

Please share this post with others - Thanks! Melanie Banayat

Pop Rocket Article on ACE Art Group

More Beautiful You

This is such an important video for husbands, and for fathers of young teenage girls. It's the message in the words that matter most. Enjoy.



Song by Jonny Diaz


MiliGirl Note Cards make unique gifts for women. Find and send the perfect "Just Because" greeting card at the MiliGirl Collection online store.

Please share this post with others - Thanks! Melanie Banayat

More Beautiful You

Women and Wine

This series is available on customizable party invitations at www.zazzle.com/miligirl

"See, Smell, Swirl, Sip, Savor"

On a lighter side -- I have wanted to do a women and wine series of paintings for quite a while now. However, I just want to make one thing very clear from the get go . . . I'm not a sommelier, wine snob, wine connoisseur or anything even remotely close. In fact, I don't even play one on TV, but I do enjoy having a glass of wine (or two) with friends from time to time.

The five steps of wine tasting: "See, Smell, Swirl, Sip, Savor" seemed a fitting choice for my first women and wine series. Portraying contemporary women dressed in little black dresses and letting their hair down for a carefree evening with good company.

Three of my personal favorite stories of sharing wine with friends include: Ladies night in Ajijic, Mexico (Spring of 2006) with about ten women, which included dancing 'til 4 am at el-Bar-Co, then hitting Jessica's tacos after hours. Then there was the sidewalk cafe' in mid-afternoon with my friend Bill in Patzcuaro, Mexico when we were hunting for a pair of Blue Boots to escape bigger worries in life for a day -- things like recovering from divorce and dying from cancer. And last, there was the "Choosing of a Name" for my newly formed art group in the course of one evening and six dirty-minded creative artists.

This women and wine series is on exhibit (as of today) at the Raven Cafe' in downtown Prescott, AZ as part of the A.C.E. Art Group's group exhibition, which runs from September 20th, through October 31st, 2009.

The Opening Night Artist's Reception is this coming Thursday September 24th. 5 pm - 8 pm. Come join us for wine, appetizers, live music, a ton of new art (at great prices) and an all around good time at the Raven Cafe'.

Here's the Big Question: Guess what A.C.E. stands for.


MiliGirl Note Cards make unique gifts for women. Find and send the perfect "Just Because" greeting card at the MiliGirl Collection online store.

Please share this post with others - Thanks! Melanie Banayat

Women and Wine

Marionette & the Wishing Pot

"Marionette & the Wishing Pot" by Melanie Banayat
Original oil painting on canvas 36" x 36"
*Click on the picture to see larger image

I just finished this painting yesterday.

Who inspired this painting?

A few years ago I joined a woman's business networking group and met a soft spoken woman in her 50s (whom I will call Jane). Jane briefly shared her story of abuse with me after one of our meetings. I was on my way out to my truck when she called out my name. As we stood in the parking lot and I listened to her story, I was deeply touched by the pain that still brought tears to her eyes. She was no longer in her abusive relationship, by that point it had been a number of years since that relationship ended. With support from a transitional help center for abused women she was able to move on with her life, and is now a much happier, stronger person. But her need to share her experience wasn't about her being stuck in that painful place -- it was about reaching out to other women who need to know that they do not need to stay in abusive relationships. It was at that moment that I finally decided it was time to do a painting that addressed the issue of abuse.

It took me quite a while to come up with the idea of how I wanted to do this painting. Probably about a year went by before I even started sketching out my ideas. Maybe because I really didn't want to revisit that place in my own past.

As I was working on the painting in my art studio many thoughts came to me over and over about how many different situations there are where abuse occurs -- in marriages, in the work place, parental abuse, and the list goes on. Then on a larger scale, I thought about how a great number of people in our society feel abused by our country's leaders. Well, that's a whole topic in and of itself, so I'll just leave that one alone. Usually my first thoughts when I think of abuse I think of physical abuse, or sexual abuse, but mental, emotional, and financial abuse can be just as devastating on a persons life. Then there is also another side of abuse -- addiction; some people view drugs as their abuser. It's really all about control. The abuser's need to control the abused, and the abused needing to take back control over their own life. Recovery from abuse is not an easy road, but it's worth every effort it takes to get there. And it all starts with one decision.

The fact that I like to focus on the positive side of life's difficulties, and offer a sense of hope and inspiration in my work -- the topic of abuse posed as a real challenge for me.



Detail of wishing pot

Here's how the story in the painting plays out in my mind:

She felt trapped like a marionette with her life dictated by a puppet master. "Maybe if I try harder, maybe if I learn to do things better, maybe, maybe, maybe . . ." One day she shared her dreams with the puppet master who then turned and wrote them down for her on a piece of parchment and placed it in a wishing pot upon her request. The puppet master closed the wishing pot and adorned it with a pair of scissors as if to tease her, causing her desire for freedom to grow even stronger. Yet the scissors always seemed just outside of her grasp -- where her freedom continued to elude her. But one night she dreamt of a different life; the dream seemed so real. The next morning she decided she was going to do what it took to live that life -- a better life.


The message on the card will read:

Last night . . .

Marionette dreamt of dancing,
Laughing, learning, living.
At sunrise she did the one thing
She never thought she could.
She rose up and . . .

Note: I left the message unfinished so the reader can finish it off with her own story.


Detail of dancer










MiliGirl Note Cards make unique gifts for women. Find and send the perfect "Just Because" greeting card at the MiliGirl Collection online store.

Please share this post with others - Thanks! Melanie Banayat

Marionette & the Wishing Pot