Ilene Rubin

Bio

Ilene Rubin has been involved in art in some capacity, and most of the time in many capacities, since she was a young child. She won her first drawing award at the age of 9. She has painted murals, boots, purses, a line of women's and children’s clothing, furniture and walls and even a radiator and closet doors with motifs that range from folk art designs to landscapes. She is still painting ‘stuff’ but spends most of her time now painting the landscape.

For Ms. Rubin, it’s a mesmerizing vista that captures her imagination, the dance of shadow and the bold and unabashed explosion of autumn color that makes her canvases sing. Capturing a landscape is for Ms. Rubin, a permanent record of a beauty that is quickly shrinking due to development and environmental decay. A moment in time preserved, even if the painting itself is an interpretation, will have her running for her brushes or pastels.

She graduated Philadelphia College of Textiles and Sciences; Retail Management, a Textile Design Minor, and attended UCLA Writer's Extension.

Black Cat Treasures is her Hand Painted Decorative and Folk Art business where you can find anything from boxes to tables, all hand painted. You can see her hand decorated home accessories at www.BlackCatTreasures.com.

Her artwork has been shown in exhibitions and shows in Boulder, Colorado as well as in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, Lambertville and Stockton, New Jersey and Rosemont New Jersey. You can follow her events at her website, www.IleneRubin.com or blog at www.IleneRubin.com/blog.

She has also written four novels: All are murder mysteries and/or psychological dramas:

As The River Flows, which is set in New Hope, Pa,

Reason To Kill, which is now published and available for purchase at Amazon.com or CreateSpace.com

Thicker Than Blood, and A Thousand Deaths.

Ms. Rubin has also written a screenplay and 3 stories for children. She was a guest columnist for The Thousand Oaks Star with a column titled, Neighbors Next Door. She grew up in Elkins Park, PA and lived in Thousand Oaks, California, Boulder, Colorado and now resides in Doylestown, Bucks County, PA.

When not painting Ms. Rubin likes to spend time with her family in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. She can be reached at Ilene@IleneRubin.com

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Broads With Brushes

Broads with Brushes got started because we were a group of friends who are dedicated artists and who love to paint together.

Ilene Rubin and Libby Wheeler paint together every week. We wanted a way to exhibit and sell our art in the community. It came about as a result of one location’s rules that they did not allow for individual exhibitions, only group shows. We looked at each other and said, ok, we’re a group. What shall we call ourselves? Broads With Brushes is the result.

You can see more here: www.2broadswithbrushes.com

Artist Statement

In the larger scheme of things, one can choose the path one takes. I have chosen to explore darkness and the shadows of the human heart and mind in the four novels I have written. However, by the time I'd finished my fourth novel it slowly became obvious to me that there were already so many shadows and so much darkness in the world that perhaps the more challenging endeavor is to explore and attempt to create light.

That has become my quest, and by that I mean to say that I am compelled in a deeply urgent sense to cancel out one source of ugliness with one vision of what I consider to be beauty; a peaceful scene, a bit of serenity. To contribute to the light, to create with all the tenacity and energy required to create beauty is, to me, like comparing what is necessary for nature to create one single perfect African Lily. To see it grow and open to its full potential, its insistent perfection without conceit, is to witness the ability of beauty to be borne through all of the darkness and shadows of nature and the conflicts of man.

I do not strive to satire or make statements of, or judge, our society or condition as a culture or people, although I surely could should I choose to do that. There are many who already have taken up that task. Instead, like that African lily, I strive to create something that to me speaks of the highest potential that I can attain in spite of whatever darkness surrounds us.

My statement is that, yes, darkness is there, that ugliness engulfs our lives at almost every turn, but look, see, there is also beauty. My goal is to offer balance but in the light, not in the shadows. And maybe, just maybe for one moment, if someone looks on a painting I have created and thought, ah, that's beautiful, I will have cancelled out one dark corner for a single moment. For me, I have succeeded if I have given someone who’s had a horrible day, a reason to rest their heart and smile--even for one single glance at a beautiful sight. That is my greatest aspiration and desire.

These paintings are a sampling of the various types of art that I create. I work with Acrylics, Watercolors, Pastels and Oils, as well as pencil, charcoal and graphite. I also do decorative, folk and Halloween art. They each evoke the variety of my moods as an artist and my sense of awe at the beauty of nature to create such a scene, capturing such a moment of time. In that way, every day holds something spectacular to see and ponder.

There is such beauty all around us! Even in the shadows, in the darkness, there will be light to contrast and stand out. It is the emotions of those moments and scenes that I want to convey.