When you pass through the giant medieval-esque doors of Fionn MacCool’s you enter another world.  Dark ambiance, a finely crafted wooden bar (from Ireland), and the smell of comfort foods like shepherd's pie and fish and chips defines the Fionn MacCool experience. It is the quintessential Irish pub and restaurant with delicious food made from scratch and a warm welcoming atmosphere where Guinness flows freely.  The good news is Fionn MacCool’s will open a new 150-seat Nocatee Location in December at the Shoppes of St. Johns Oaks (145 Hilden Road). 

St. Johns magazine wanted to learn more about the people behind Fionn MacCool’s so we spoke with Amy McNulty, who owns and runs the business with co-owners Joe Moye (her brother) and General Manager Paul Glaser.

Amy had always wanted to open an authentic Irish pub. A place that would reflect her love for Irish culture and her Irish ancestry. “Our great grandparents were from County Cork. As natives of Jacksonville we wanted a genuine and authentic Irish experience at home”.  They chose to expand in St. Johns county because of the tremendous growth in the area.
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After visiting Ireland numerous times, even running in the Dublin Marathon, she had experienced a variety of pubs and done her research. She  was ready to make the dream a reality and opened Fionn MacCool’s in 2005. She says, “Fionn’s is a genuine Irish Pub. The word pub is derived from “Public House”, originally a place for everyone to meet and relax after a long day’s work. We have great food, great service, live music, and plenty of pints and whiskey! We want everyone to feel welcome and comfortable, as if you were coming into our home” Another part of what gives Fionn MacCool’s is authenticity may be the fact that furnishings, bar and cabinetry are built in Ireland. 
“We want people in St. Johns to know that Fionn MacCool’s is great for Everybody.  “Its a family place, a pub and a restaurant where any age is welcome from little kids to retirees and everyone in between," Joe added.

General Manager Paul Glaser has been in the restaurant business his entire adult life, joining Fionn MacCool’s twelve years ago.  “I treat each day like I am throwing a party at my house and I want every guest to be happy they came and had an exceptional time”.  A feeling of hospitality definitely permeates the atmosphere.  They strive to make people feel special and happy.  Paul recalled once when a young navy guy asked them to help him with his marriage proposal.  “He came to me the week before and wanted to propose on our river patio and wanted to film it but the camera had to be hidden so she wouldn't get tipped off.  So we had a decoy table set up with people hiding behind menus with the camera a few tables away.  He wanted a special song to be played so we had a portable radio for the ready too.  He got up went inside like he was going to the restroom and we set everything in motion.  He  knocked on the window from inside.  When he walked back out on the patio we started the song and camera he got down on one knee and proposed it was very romantic for a young guy. His girl said yes and we had it all on film.  We popped open a bottle of champagne for them.  As far as we know they are happily married to this day.”

What would an Irish pub be without a good ancient tale behind it? The restaurant is named for Fionn mac Cumhaill or “Finn McCool” who is known for being a great warrior in Irish myths. He was the greatest leader of the Fianna, an elite military clan responsible for the protection of the High King of Ireland. Fionn implemented a code of honor into the Fianna; which had a reputation for being somewhat unruly. Another legend includes Fionn as a giant, creating the Giant’s Causeway, a peculiar series of volcanic rock formations along the coast of Ireland. He did this to challenge a Scottish giant to a fight and allow passage from Scotland to Ireland.

Please look forward to next month’s issue when our Foodie Blogger Lori Allen will give you the scoop on the food at Fionn MacCool’s! www.fionnmacs.com/www.fionnmacs.com/

​Janine Lafiteau is an artist and former art teacher who, with her husband Ted, opened Creative Me Art Studio in St. Johns last year.  St. Johns Magazine wanted to learn a little more about this interesting and creative business where artists of every age and skill level may learn and grow.

Why did you start Creative Me Art Studio?
I wanted an opportunity to share my artistic talent and teaching the skills needed to allow both children and adults to discover their inner artist.
 
Who is involved in running the business?
Myself – Janine Lafiteau and my husband, Ted.  I am responsible for creating and teaching the classes and workshop that we run here at the studio as well as running our Summer Art Camp and hosting a variety of birthday parties and events. Ted is responsible for administrative aspects of the business – such as: Marketing, Managing the books, Scheduling the monthly calendar, Managing the web-site and Coordinating visits made by outside groups.
 
What are some of the services you offer?
Art classes for children and adults including:  Instructional Adult only classes on Tuesdays, Art education classes for home schooled children each Wednesday, Mommy & Me classes on Thursdays, Visiting group classes and Family Fun Nights on Fridays and Advanced art classes for tweens and teens on Saturdays.  We also offer canvas painting events for adults (Wine & Canvas, Business Team Builders and Fund Raisers) and children (Cookies & Canvas) as well as Custom art themed birthday parties.  We also just launched an after-school program held on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 3:30 to 5:00 p.m. called, “Crafternoon Activities”. This gives kids an opportunity to do a different craft/art lesson every day.
 
What is your favorite part about owning your business?
Through the creation and building of Creative Me Art Studio, I have been able to bring a lifelong dream of having my own studio to fruition.  Having an opportunity to share my passion for art with others and showing people that with a little instruction they can create amazing pieces of art. In addition, I really enjoy working with my husband as we make a really great team and have lots of fun each day.
 
Do you have a background in art?
I have been an artist from an early age.  In college majored in Education with a minor in Art.  Upon receiving my Bachelor’s Degree, I embarked upon a 19 year career as an elementary school teacher – 12 of those years were spent in the classroom teaching all grades between Kindergarten and 5th. The other 7 years were as the art teacher.
 
Who is your favorite artist and why?
Although there are many I like, Brazilian artist Romeo Britto is my very favorite.  I love his use of thick black lines and vivid colors and patterns as well as a very unique style that always makes me happy.
 
What makes your business unique?
We offer a wide variety of classes, workshops and art related events for all ages from 3 to 93.  We also offer customized birthday parties and we host an extremely flexible “Mom friendly” Summer Camp Program, wherein you can come day by day on a pay as you go basis, in comparison to other camps wherein you have to book for a minimum of a week and if you miss a day, you have to pay anyway. In addition, we integrate technology into our lessons.  We employ the use of a document camera that basically digitally captures my lesson and broadcasts the images onto large flat panel T.V. sets mounted to the walls of the studio.  Therefore, no matter where you’re seated in the studio, you have a close up view of the instructions…making it much easier to follow along.
 
What kinds of projects do people most like and why?
Our most popular step by step instructional classes are our acrylic painting on canvas.  Kids love it because the can make instant wall art and adults love it because even though most of our customers are amateur artists, they’re very proud that they were able to create a masterpiece of their very own via step-by-step instructions.
 
What is a memorable experience related to your business? 
One day we had a special needs child visit the studio for the first time.  The lesson that day, was step-by-step canvas painting.  Canvas painting, as you know, involves many steps to complete…which is difficult for any amateur artist.  After an hour and a half of teaching this child, he and his parents were so proud of how he remained focused and completed a gorgeous piece of artwork.  We were so happy to be part of this special moment.
 
What are some of your challenges?
Many of our customers have gotten to know us through their friends or family – which is wonderful – as word of mouth is our best endorsement.  However, getting word out there of our existence to the community at large has been difficult as advertising takes up a large portion our limited budget.
 
What are your goals for the future?
To provide a wide variety of classes, workshops and art related events that would cater to every type of artist, at any age, within our surrounding community.  We would love to be the go to place to allow your inner artist to bloom.

​SJM: Who are you and What do you do?
MEGAN: I’m Megan Welch. I’m a painter, educator, wife and mom. 

SJM:Why do you do what you do?
MEGAN: I think that my “why” has a lot to do with my family. I spent a lot of my childhood in community theatre with my entire family. My grandmother sewed costumes, my parents directed and acted in shows, my brother’s a great writer and has worked in a variety of technical positions. A creative life equates to normalcy to me. Growing up I was never discouraged from a life in the arts so that’s probably how I got to this point.

SJM: How do you work (explain your process)?
MEGAN: Typically I work in series. Once I find something that inspires me, I try to exhaust the topic from a variety of differing imagery in sketchbooks, through quick studies, until I have the basis for paintings. I use my daughter quite often as a reference, sometimes she’s a stand in for me, a symbol of something I want to say, or simply herself. She’s pretty young and probably wouldn’t sit for me for the length of time I’d need for her to in order to paint from life, so I generally take reference pictures of her to paint from. I also paint my friends, I try to not take up too much of their time so I take reference photos of them as well. I usually don’t end up with one perfect reference for each so my paintings are usually composited of a variety of reference photos I’ve taken. Once I have my reference photos I generally create a charcoal and chalk drawing that will serve as my roadmap for a painting. Once I’ve done that I create my substrate, which is usually canvas. I do a good amount of underpainting with red, burnt sienna, or pink. I’m not sure why I gravitate to those colors, but one of my grad school professors tells me Titian began his work similarly so I guess I’m in good company. Once I get the underpainting done, I start in with the parts I’m most afraid to paint first, I like to get the nerves over with early on. Stare down the beast. I keep a pretty disciplined studio practice. Each night around 8:00, I go into my studio and I work until I reach a stopping point, usually around 11:00. Weekends I work in the morning until someone in my house wants to go do something and I typically come and go frequently, not really sticking with a time period. Toward the end of a painting, I like to leave it for a day or two between passes because I tend to become blind to the faults in the work toward the end. I have a few artists I’m friends with who I show my work to for feedback. I also show my work to my mom and one of my close friends who don’t mince words with me. If something’s wrong, they’re going to tell me. At this point I will usually begin the process over again with another work or go on to a commission if I have one.

SJM: What is your background?
MEGAN: In retrospect, I think I was a pretty weird kid. My theatre family didn’t always get me cool points with the kids in my small southern town and being raised a vegetarian didn’t help either. What I think was so valuable looking back, is that my parents instilled in my brother and I, a great reverence for the arts and the importance of living a creative life. Fitting in wasn’t something that was important to our parents, so we learned early on that we should be fulfilled in more substantive ways. As a result, I went into my BFA Painting program at the University of North Florida without an ounce of worry my parents would cut me off like so many of my classmates did. In my undergrad, I realized how special my family was, and that not all kids grow up with parents who love the arts so I wanted to be the person in the lives of art students who told them that they could. That they could carve out a life for themselves in the arts. That they could be fulfilled and successful in the arts. So four days after I graduated, I walked into my first teaching job. Twelve years later, I’m still loving it. 

SJM: What has been a seminal experience?
MEGAN: It’s weird to me how someone’s birth can remind us of our mortality. When my daughter was born I wasn’t doing much creatively. Yes, I was teaching art, technically I spent everyday creating, but I wasn’t making work that was my own. I realized that I didn’t even have a space to create in my house. The thought of my daughter not realizing I was an artist felt deeply upsetting. It was so strange to me, that feeling of wanting to impress this tiny human, but it worked. I started out strangely enough drawing these goldfish I saw on Instagram. I wasn’t really doing anything profound with these fat little fish, they were just something to draw, but they helped me get back into the habit of creating. So I guess the birth of my daughter has been the most formative experience of my life so far, and weirdly enough, some goldfish.

SJM: How has your practice changed over time?
MEGAN: I’m getting my MFA right now at Savannah College of Art & Design and early in my first studio class I realized that many of my creative “choices” were really just fears in disguise. I was avoiding working with subjects I was afraid I wouldn’t be good enough to paint. I decided then and there that I would go after what I was afraid of. I wouldn’t let my fears stop me from where I wanted to be as an artist. That was the first class I painted a portrait for. I haven’t stopped since.

SJM: What aspect of your work do you enjoy most?
MEGAN: The best moments are the heady, giddy feelings when I step back from a work and I can’t believe I made it.

SJM: What food or drink inspires you?
MEGAN: Anything that is made by someone passionate about their work. Whether its local produce, my mom’s peach salsa, or wine from Tuscany. The love is palpable.

SJM: What is your strongest memory of childhood?
MEGAN: Painting with my grandma. We used to sit in her “Florida Room”, which I guess most people would call a back porch, I’m not sure why we called it the Florida Room, is that a thing? I digress… We would paint Bob Ross copies out there for hours and the smell of the oil paint would hang over us and stick to our skin like the swampy humidity outside. I loved every minute of it. 

SJM: What is your scariest memory of childhood?
MEGAN: My friends and I used to do some pretty stupid things growing up. By far our most dangerous involved us rollerblading down the steepest hill we knew of. We would fly down the hill and if a car came while we were flying around the curve at the end of the hill we would throw ourselves into a retention ditch before presumably getting hit by the car. As an adult, I cannot think of much in my everyday life scarier than almost hitting an eight year old, only to watch that child fling herself off a cliff into a ditch. Who even knows how we didn’t break every bone in our bodies. 

SJM: Have you had any other jobs besides being an artist?
MEGAN: Being an art teacher. I’ve taught all grades K-12. Now, I teach at Nease High School here in St. John’s County. I also worked in restaurants waiting tables and bartending while in college. Nothing teaches more about humanity than waiting tables.

SJM: What has been your most memorable response to your work?
MEGAN: I recently painted my daughter as a hot pink Creature from the Black Lagoon-esque monster. She didn’t see it until I was pretty much done with painting the portion that included her and she wandered into my studio one morning without me noticing. I was in our kitchen and I heard, “MOMMA. I am NOT a MONSTER… but I do like being pink!”

​SJM: Who are you and what do you do?
MELISSA: I am a wife, a mother of 3, I am strong, an independent thinker, a fly by the seat of my pants girl, I am full of joy and Jesus, I have a very competitive spirit, I wear my heart on my sleeve, I am a pretty butterfly and free spirit. I am a self-taught, mixed media artist. I mostly use acrylic paints, watercolors, and handmade papers in my art. I sometimes use metals, found objects, and fabrics also.

SJM: Why do you do what you do?
MELISSA: In 2005, I was involved in a car accident that left my Suburban wrapped around a concrete light pole. Amazingly, I walked away from it, but was left with a head injury and excruciating neck and upper back pain. I am an interior designer by trade, and my accident left me unable to really work. My days were filled with doctor’s appointments, trying to take care of my 3 young children while my husband was on deployment in the Navy, and unable to work because of the pain in my head, neck, and upper back.  It also left me with a deep, undeniable, depression.  After about a year of struggling through everything, I realized that part of the problem was that my creativity was so bottled up with nowhere to go.  I started  searching for something to channel my thoughts and energy into.  I was searching Etsy one day for inspiration, and came across some mosaic belt buckles, and thought to myself, I can do better than that, I decided my medium would be gemstones, glass beads, metal beads, and vintage jewelry components. Instead of using grout to secure them, I used glue.  Eventually, looking for another challenge, I started painting.

SJM: What is your background?
MELISSA: My background is in Interior Design. I have been a designer in Jacksonville for almost 30 years. I studied Interior Design at Iowa State University and FCCJ in Jacksonville. I managed the decorating department at Brinton’s Paint Company for 7 years before opening my own store, Oak Street Designs, in Riverside in 1996.  My partner, Denise Moore, and I had our retail shop and design company until making the decision to close in 2001. I’ve worked out of my home studio ever since.  It’s been a very rewarding career that has given me much joy and allowed me to meet some amazing people in the city of Jacksonville. I feel incredibly blessed to do what I do.

SJM: How do you work (explain your process)?
MELISSA: I really like using words or phrases in my work.  I’m very deliberate in the papers or books I use to create a mood or inspiration in whatever the subject matter is that I’m creating. My ultimate goal is always to bring a smile or joy to the person who purchases my piece. I am a lover of color, and my pieces are always full of intense, bright, colors. Although I appreciate pastel and neutral paintings, every time I have tried to create a piece like that, the color has a way of creeping in and taking over! I think because of my interior design background, balance, proportion, and texture (visual or tactile) are the most important elements that go into my work. 

SJM: How has your practice changed over time & what aspect of your work do you enjoy most?
MELISSA: When I first starting creating my belt buckles and jewelry, I didn’t really consider myself an artist. It was more of an outlet of expression for my mental health and sanity. But when people wanted what I had created, and asked for more, I started to value what I was doing, and it made me want to do more. I don’t think I’m any different from a lot of other artists that look for other avenues to be creative in.  When I started painting, I think my work was more 1 dimensional and flat. I tended to not experiment with blending and layering colors. Over the last few years, I’ve become bolder with my color combinations, and layering techniques. I‘ve started using molding pastes and pouring mediums in my work to create even more texture. I’m enjoying the collage effect my work sometimes takes on. I love experimenting with blending and overlapping colors to see how they relate to each other and the papers that are used in the piece. I also love creating paintings with all paper. I use cutting and tearing techniques to create the subject matter and different pattern combinations. I’ve also started creating some Monet like abstracts.  I think I get a little lost in the creative process, because I’m always surprised in how the patterns and layers relate to each other in the finished piece and not really knowing necessarily how I got there.  I love walking away for a while, then coming back to it and seeing a new combination that I didn’t notice before.

SJM: Did you have a mentor?
MELISSA: My mentor is absolutely my best friend, Jennifer McCully, who is an incredibly talented artist in Orlando, FL. I’ve watched her career from the very beginning, being one of her biggest fans.  She was the one who encouraged me to pick up a paint brush beside her and helped me create my first piece.  She’s always been very quick to inspire me to follow my heart and pull the creativity from within myself. She’s taught me to look for inspiration everywhere around me.

SJM: What is your strongest memory of childhood?
MELISSA: The two people who I feel have shaped the person I have become would have be my mother and my step mother. My mother always allowed experimentation and encouraged creativity. She taught me how to sew, how to cross stitch, and took my sister and I, to pottery

​making and painting classes as children. She taught us to think for ourselves and embrace our own paths. She loved to garden and always filled our yard with tons of different colored plants and flowers. I remember sometimes feeling like a square peg in a round hole when I looked at the people around me, but as I’ve gotten older, it’s given me a confidence in knowing who I am as a person and what I stand for. One of my favorite memories, was “wallpapering” my room with the pages of animals out of my Ranger Rick magazines. I remember always walking into my room and just feeling like I was getting a big hug from all the animals and colors that surrounded me.

SJM: What is your scariest memory of childhood?
MELISSA: My stepmother on the other hand, showed me how to be resilient, strong, and taught me never to give up. She taught me my competitive nature. We had horses, and she got me into barrel racing and western pleasure showing. There were lots of times that I fell off my horse but no matter the dirt or tears involved, I was always made to get back on, even if just to sit on his back for a minute. I was never allowed to give up or throw a pity party for myself. The scariest memory I have of my childhood was  the summer between 5th and 6th grade, I happen to be standing on the running board of our small tractor, riding with her while she mowed our pasture. When we were returning the mower attachment to our neighbors that she borrowed it from, she thought she would be kind and mow an area of long grass for them.  She hit a large piece of equipment hidden in the grass, and it threw me off the tractor and under the back wheels of our tractor.  My right leg got hung up as I fell and it badly got dislocated. I had a broken left collar bone, and crushed the bones in my left hand. I was in the hospital for 3 weeks.

SJM: Have you had any other jobs besides being an artist?
MELISSA: In addition to my work as an interior designer, I worked in my family’s paint and wallcovering store through high school, and I’ve worked in retail clothing stores, and waitressed through college. I also got my real estate license 2 years ago.

SJM: What has been your most memorable response to you work?
MELISSA: I have 2 most memorable responses to my work. The first was at the Riverside Arts Market. I had a booth of my artwork, and a women approached and was looking at my paintings and all of a sudden got so excited at seeing my mixed media work of sunflowers, because I had used the At Home in Mitford book pages to create some of the petals on the sunflowers.  It was her favorite book, and sunflowers were her favorite flower. My second memory is of a sweet older man who came into a shop where I was delivering some furniture pieces that I had decoupaged with very brightly patterned papers, and he saw one of my tables and immediately purchased it, telling me that he had just lost his wife, and that the table reminded him of her, and it made him happy.

​www.myartstudiotoday.com 
www.sinisagallery.com
www.sinisaart.com

​SJM: Who are you and what do you do?
SINISA: My name is Sinisa Saratlic. I am an architect and fine artist.  I was born in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, former Yugoslavia,  in 1954.     I graduated from University of Sarajevo, Department of Architectural studies, with B.S. in Architecture.

SJM: Why do you do what you do?
SINISA: My art is celebration of the concept of inspiration. Everything I see is a manifestation of divine energy and I believe in a divine power that controls all life. When I look at beauty, I’m inspired.  Some of my ideas come from my feelings and experiences .  I’m inspired by art of all kinds, including sculpture, painting, architecture, music  - just everything.
Art is my life!

SJM: How do you work?
SINISA: As time disappears, I try to stop everything what is an expression of beauty, emotion, or simply an interesting moment or a magic image of our life. So, I’m placing those elements into “windows” of feelings, to depict romantic women beauty or the charm of nature.  Seeing things through a window gives us sense of discovering something new, dreaming, waiting or remembering something that we used to have.
Acrylic is my favorite medium. It allows me to create depth and texture within the many transparent layers. My strokes are visible channels of energy and that is what excites me. Mostly I use acrylic, oils, pastel and watercolors. Sometimes I mix all of these techniques in the same piece of art. I like to experiment. My studio and  my worktable is just full of all these materials, and I use whatever I think will help me in getting the kind of effect that I want for pictures  I like to listen to music while I am working. I like to listen  all  kind of music from classical to roc and roll. Sometimes I work all night.
I have created a variety of works in different mediums, styles and subjects like figures, portraits, landscapes, still life, automotive art, abstractions and illustrations. Also I do architectural study models and artistic architectural renderings.

 SJM: What is your background?
SINISA:  My travel through the world of art begins at an  early age. A sketch book filled with ideas and intricate drawings was my best friend throughout childhood. My talent was recognized, and rewarded ever since elementary school. My art work became an important component of my  school’s exhibitions and competitions. When I was fifteen I sold my first painting
Paintings from period of 1979 -1992 combine ideas taken from my national heritage, European history, romantic landscapes and architecture. In that period my original paintings were inevitable part of galleries from Sarajevo, Belgrade, Dubrovnik, Korcula and other cites.
With the beginning of war in Bosnia I escaped with my family from Sarajevo, saving our lives and leaving everything else behind, including all my artwork. Everything disappears in disasters of war.   From 1992 to1997, I lived with my family in Belgrade where we began our new life. That was a very quiet period of my art life. I was busy working different jobs and providing for my family, and I was minimally focused on my artwork. That was very tough period in my life.  December of 1997 once again becomes a new starting point in my life and my family. We moved to United States, a new country, new culture, a new life.    I  came to United States in pursuit of new and better life for  me and my family.  I wasn’t afraid of starting life once again from the scratch. It was extremely hard in the beginning. But soon enough I started a new period of professional work as an artist and architect.  My first work in America doesn’t go by unnoticed and I brought home awards form exhibitions in St. Augustine, Florida. That inspired me further, and every free moment that I had, I used it to create artworks. Soon enough 24 hours in a day became insufficient for my inspiration and ideas.  New ideas, horizons, and new temptations brought to me a whole new level of inspiration, and I formed unique style of my artistic expression. 
My quest for “Ideal Beauty” and studying human emotions takes me into a contemporary portrayal of a woman.   As a freelance architect and artist I was included in lot of projects and art events throughout the Florida. Also I have been a judge at the State fair art show in South Carolina several times. Many of my artworks are in private and corporate collections around the world.
               
SJM:  What is integral to the work of an artist?
SINISA: Main idea, details, color palette and execution are integrals to “making up a whole “to the artwork.

SJM: What role does the artist have in society?
SINISA: The Artist must be everywhere, not only in galleries and museums. There are many problems in society and we need to solve the problems together. The artist must participate in every possible activity. Art can be a powerful way to bring communities together.  The same as artist in any era: to interpret societies to themselves, reflect ideas and representations of people and culture, help is understand ourselves. Art also has the capacity to heal, as therapeutic art is now commonly used to alleviate psychological trauma. So artist can help in finding the solution through his work to create harmony, positive energy peace, love, etc 

SJM: What has been a seminal experience?
SINISA: My work is influenced by my national heritage, European history, romantic landscapes and architecture.

SJM: Explain what you do in 100 words
SINISA: My art is essence of my being. My work conveys a sense of nostalgia and helps those viewing to be reminded of their own happiness. This is a mirror or window into which they can look to see their own happiness. Seeing things through a window gives us sense of discovering something new, dreaming, waiting or remembering something that we used to have.

​My art studio offers original acrylic and oil paintings, portraits, automotive art reproduction of artwork and freelance artist services. I am available for private and corporate commissions. My artwork is on display at the Art Center Gallery downtown Jacksonville at the Landing, suite 139.

SJM: How has your practice changed over time?
SINISA: My practice has changed over time depending on situation, inspiration, feelings, mediums, mood and atmosphere.

SJM: What art do you most identify with?
SINISA: I am most identifying with Old Masters like Leonardo Da Vinci, Rembrandt, Michelangelo and Raphael.

SJM: What work do you most enjoying doing?
SINISA: Surrealism work is one of my favorites because it’s kind of bridge between what we call modern art and classical art. Also the variety I also enjoying doing is distinctive Automotive Classic Car Fine Art.  

SJM: What’s your strongest memory of your childhood?
SINISA: My travel through world of art has begun at my early age. Sketch book filled with ideas and intricate drawings was my best friend throughout my childhood. In school I was constantly getting in trouble for the doodling and scribbled during math, music and social studies. I also constantly drew pictures at home after school.  My talent was recognized, and rewarded ever since elementary school.  My art work was important component of my elementary   middle and high schools exhibitions and competitions. When I was fifteen my first painting was sold, then I was the happiest child in the world. So at that early age I had a sense that it was possible to make a living doing art. I’ve won a lot of awards for my art and it feels wonderful to know that my work is appreciated.

SJM: What themes do you pursue?
SINISA: Currently I am looking for ways to depict romantic beauty of classic cars in composition with beauty of the women body.

SJM: What’s your scariest experience?
SINISA: It was a moment when I put a coat of varnish on the finished  artwork, canvas size 32” x 40 “ to protect it. At that moment my work  suddenly disappeared from the surface of the canvas. I was scared when I saw it.   I was screaming: : “ OMG!!! My two-month  hard work was gone!”. I ran to find the camera to take a photo of it.  When I returned, I saw how my painting began to appear slowly on the surface of the canvas. After 25 minutes, my work finally came up. It was clear to me that there was a chemical reaction between color and varnish. I have never ever experienced anything like this in my life.
 
SJM: Who is your favorite artist?
SINISA: My favorite artist of the Renaissance is Leonardo Da Vinci. He was an Italian painter, a sculptor, an architect, engineer, musician and scientist He produced great works that captured the history and climate of the times that he created in. Many people of his time did not believe in the ability that he poses. I admire how he continued further, even if people are discouraging. Instead of thinking about what others think about him, he continued doing work they benefited humans from his time and even our time.