Beauty and the Brush: Arielle Leach

It's old news that Chrissy and I have recently taken over a salon and we are working to make it our space. It was our intention to build a salon from the ground floor but fate had other plans and this little gem we found in Wyoming, Ohio was too perfect to pass up. Our brand was already created but this place had a breath of its own that we can't bring ourselves to tarnish so we are merging them into one, slowly...

One of the best features of the space is a giant recessed opening in the main room that had to be creatively utilized and around the same time we were brainstorming on how to do it I bumped into an amazing artist on Facebook; the ultimate platform for networking. She was ready to showcase her artwork and I was ready to spill my cup over to help other women. Thus this little feature was born. It's my first time, be patient, this will be beautiful!

Arielle Leach is a 31 year old Mother, US Army Veteran and multi-media artist whose been creating art since she was old enough to pick up a crayon. If you ask her what her favorite medium is, she will answer clay with no hesitation. A graduate from Creative and Performing Arts, she has been working on getting that college degree between raising her child and holding down the house. And we all know, it takes a village!

Since it's inception, I have relied on Arielle to spearhead this project, and she created amazing pieces to fit our space. I damn near cried when she pulled the paper back to reveal her work. It perfectly captures the femininity of what it feels like to be a Woman and matched our branding perfectly. Whether she did this on purpose, I'll never know but it gave me chills. Couple that with the fact that her marbled discs are set on vinyl records and you have a recipe for rock and roll grunge that goes straight to this Bombshell's heart!

To make the showcase even more personal, I asked her to explain what the #beabombshell movement meant to her and she blew it out of the water:

A lot of my work explores the emotional aspects of what it's like being a woman. It's important to me to be a good inspiration for my daughter. I was raised that it was important to support and empower other woman. Being beautiful is so much more than how a person looks. We often look at things at face value but I find the details of what it is to feel beautiful include many other aspects.

It's our plan to spotlight Women artists in Cincinnati through this project to both get their name out there and sell their work. Arielle's pieces are for sale, they are one of a kinds, so once they are gone, you'll have to choose from her amazing work still available or work with her for those custom designs that are perfect for gifts or to personally display. Her work can be found here.

Keep checking back for more artist spotlights and if you love this idea, spread the word and #beabombshell.