Hello, my name is Ara Nakashian, thank you so much for visiting my site, I really appreciate your time and interest.

I was 6 years old when I first discovered that I could draw, and after that I didn't go through any type of formal art training, rather I developed my gift through practice. 

In my mid 20's I wanted to turn my passion for art into a business but always wondered if I would be able to make a living out of it, so I thought what other type of business would I be able to do where I would still be able to utilize my art gift, I was into fashion at that time so I came up with the idea of designing my own shoe line; and I thought it was a great idea so I went for it.  As I was working on getting my shoe line up and running, a friend had referred me to someone who needed 2 murals to be painted in his Brazilian restaurant, 1 American flag and 1 Brazilian flag.  I was interested in the job since I needed the pocket money, so I met with the owner and he gave me the job, this was my first time painting.  It was a 2 week job and I had a great time painting but didn't pursue other mural jobs since I figured jobs like that were rare, plus my focus was on the shoe business, so I went back to work on the business.  When I got my first shoe shipment I moved to LA to try to sell my line to the independent shoe stores, I was living in Fresno CA previously; to make a long story short I struggled for years and knew that I had to walk away from the business.  Behind on my rent I had to think really fast as to what I was going to do next, and my mind went back to the flags that I had painted in the Brazilian restaurant; I thought I would have a much better chance to do a business like that in LA since art is valued and appreciated in LA, so I immediately started cold calling interior designers asking them if they needed mural services.  I called for a week but didn't get any interests, but kept calling because I had a feeling that something was going to open up.  

And on one miraculous day I called an interior design company and a lady answered, I introduced myself as a muralist and asked if she needed mural services, she said yes, but it wasn't a normal yes, I could sense a desperation in her tone which was really odd to me.  And then she asked me, again with a desperate tone, how much I would charge for ten 10ft. x 10ft. murals, I was shocked to hear 10 walls, and asked her what the project was for; she explained to me that the VA Medical Center had hired her for an art project called "Stairway to Wellness," the goal of the project was to have exercise related paintings inside the stairwell to encourage staff members to take the stairs.  I gave her a price, which she was very pleased with and asked me if I could send her mock-ups of people exercising so that she could show the hospital, I said I would gladly do so.  We hung up the phone and I just sat there for a couple of minutes in amazement as to what had just happened, I said to myself, did this lady just hire me?  And then I thought, this is too good to be true, it can't be possible, nobody gets hired like that, and then I thought, what if she's for real, all these thoughts were going through my mind. But I was in a desperate situation, I didn't have income coming in at that point, and was behind on my rent, I didn't have any other leads, so I just got to work on the mock-ups.  As soon as I completed the mock-ups I emailed them to her and a couple of days later she emailed me back saying the hospital had approved them and that she wanted to meet me to discuss when I would be able to start working, I was amazed, it was a miracle.  

We met a couple of days later and the entire time I couldn't stop thinking about the way we met.  She explained to me that the medical center hired her to organize the stairs project, although the art was the main part of the project the hospital also had planned to re-do the floors of the stairwell and also put a fresh coat of paint.  So she had to hire 3 different contractors, an artist, flooring people, and painters. Apparently she had asked for a budget from the hospital and assumed that the money she asked for would be enough to pay all three contractors.  And she already knew the flooring company and the painters because she had worked with them before, so all she had to do was find an artist.  One day as she's calling artists she realizes that the cost of the art alone was going to be the same amount as her entire budget, and she couldn't ask the hospital for more money because she had already told them she would do it for that amount and would be unprofessional if she changed the price.

She said she was sitting at her desk and she put her head in her hands and started to panic, and began to think that it was going to be impossible to find an artist to do it for the budget she had, and where she would be able to find someone to do it for that amount; as soon as she had that thought, her phone rang, she answered her phone, and it was me on the other line asking her if she needed a muralist for her project, that's why her yes sounded desperate, because she was sitting there thinking where she was going to find an artist from, and I miraculously call right at that moment and ask her if she needs a muralist for her project.  I will never forget what she said to me, she said, "Ara that was perfect timing, you're a God-sent, this was a divine intervention," she also said that she couldn't believe that I was a real artist and thought that someone was playing a joke on her, again because of the timing of the call.  When she told me all this I was completely amazed and speechless.  And I truly believe too that this meeting of ours was a miracle; so this is how my painting career started.

And since I didn't have any prior painting experience, the VA job was one of the most challenging things I had ever done, painting is a lot more complicated than drawing, plus being on a large wall made it even more challenging.  So the first three days I couldn't paint at all, I would work all day, and at the end of the day put primer on the wall to erase my mess and then go home, this happened the first three days; but then on the fourth day I slowly started figuring things out, and then it took about ten walls for me to understand just the basics of painting, so I basically learned how to paint at the VA hospital through trial and error.

In October of 2012, upon hearing about the stairway art project the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center contracted me for project "Take the Stairs," again an employee wellness program which involved painting exercise related images inside the stairwell walls. The project was implemented in the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and the Mark Goodson building, (a Cedars-Sinai specialty building) which is located half a mile off campus from the Main Medical Center.  The duration of the project took 5 years to complete, with a total of 43, 10ft. x 10ft. paintings.​​  Since the feedback from staff members was positive, the medical center approved to have paintings in other departments as well.  Soon after completing my project at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center I started a canvas line.  

I feel blessed and am forever thankful for all the opportunities that were given to me. I feel blessed also to be able to paint on a full time basis now, it truly is a dream come true.  But more importantly it feels good to know that the paintings are inspiring, soothing and bringing joy to those who look at them; to be able to give back and improve the lives of others is truly the most fulfilling feeling.