About me

My name is Irela,

and like any creative and multi-passionate individual, I have several passions and interests; amongst them photography, painting, designing, textiles, and much more. Besides being an artist, I am also interested in health-conscious living, respecting Mother Earth, and inspiring by example. You’d hear me saying that I have lenses in my eyes as I have a love for photography, but I am also a colorist, I just love color as seen reflected in my work. After some inner workings, and diving within as I happened to be a very private person;  I decided to share some of my passions and interests in this space.

Nine years ago I began painting on silk and became a self-taught silk painter, and later received instruction from Master Silk Painters in Italy, USA, and Canada. The need for formal design education and an answer to prayer led me to the opportunity of a lifetime to attend and later graduated Summa Cum Laude from the Fashion Institute of Technology in NYC with a degree in Textiles and Surface Design. FIT training offered me the opportunity to expand my skills with other techniques such as using dyes, gouache, watercolors, screenprinting, weaving, digital art, mixed media, etc. which I keep exploring to enhance and beautify our surroundings, our products, our lives.

Painting and taking pictures brings me to a state of relaxation, peacefulness, and calmness — It continues to allow me to look inside, to re-create, to innovate, to be open to learning, to fail, to succeed, to live a fulfilled life.  So, in this space, I would also be sharing inspirational phrases, much of my work is based on the inspiration of all kinds, and I get inspirational ideas, phrases, and thoughts when designing, painting or while waiting to take the perfect photo.  I want to make sure that when I look back from my deathbed; on those few seconds before my eyes close forever, that I go with a smile on my face, knowing that I conquered fears, that I accomplished what I came to do in this world, and that I contributed to leaving this amazing blue planet better than how I found it.

So, here I am, an artist born in Nicaragua where she used to design her own shoes, and dresses as a child, left her war-torn native country, immigrated to USA, a vast welcoming nation,  have had amazing and also dramatic life experiences, and is on a continuous curious search of discovery for ideas, products, and inner gifts that can be offered to others. I am evolving, yes, it is no longer a revolution, but an evolution.

Thank you for stopping by,

Irela * Onella

About Onella:

It is my artistic name that came about as a mistake when people read my signature. Years ago, I adopted the name since it resonated with my soul. Few years later, someone asked me what Onella meant, and I realized I hadn’t looked it up, so I did, and to my surprise, I discover that is a Greek name that means “LIGHT”.

If you would like to contact me, please do so to my email address below:

info@simplyonella.com