© 2021 Chelsea Ayna Art
A designer, explorer, and creator with a passion for everything art.
I am an evolving artist based in beautiful San Diego, California. While I am continuously exploring and developing my skill-set in different mediums, my deepest passion is in working on scratchboard with subject focus namely on pets, wildlife, and pretty faces. Although I have fully transitioned to scratchboard, I am continuing to offer prints of my wildlife watercolor series. My commissions for custom pet paintings are currently closed and I hope to reopen for scratchboard commissions in 2020. I hope my work inspires you in any way you may perceive it.
Chelsea Paulus
Although everybody sees a reflection of art differently, if I can inspire someone to love, feel saddened, or get a rush of happiness from my work, I will have accomplished my aspiration.
Scratchboard Fine Art
I was introduced to scratchboard in an animal illustration class at UCSD and fell head over heels in love within the first few marks. It is a dramatic and unique medium that is still not very well known and these are partly what draws me so much into it. With the ability to utilize the dark background and make subjects seem as though they are appearing through light is what provokes so much emotion and inspires me to create.
Click to view my full portfolio!
Watercolor Wildlife Series
Using my favorite water-based inks and watercolor paints to create these wildlife pieces allows me to have so much creativity. Through paint splatter, water drips, bright & vibrant colors, I can’t describe how much fun I truly have creating these. I also love studying the fine details of all the animals. It let’s me learn more about them and almost see them in a new way.
I do timelapses for a lot of my wildlife pieces so follow me on Instagram if you want to see them come to life!
Instagram: @chelsea_ayna_art
For Print Orders – Please visit my Etsy Shop!
Custom Pet Paintings
I LOVE incorporating personalities into the animals and bringing my portraits to life! My favorite part is adding the fine details at the end and packaging it all with a personal touch.
Click here to learn about the commission process!
Ayna means “mirror” in Turkish. Given that a portion of my family is Turkish and Turkey holds a special place in my heart, I found this to be a unique way of branding my art. I feel that my purpose as an artist is to not only mirror the pictures I am painting from, but to also reflect emotions.
About the Artist
Chelsea Paulus was born and raised in Chandler, Arizona and moved to San Diego in 2015 after backpacking around the world and living overseas. From a young age, Chelsea loved illustration and found passion in many art forms which has since, helped fuel her inspiration to create. With the desire to further her skillsets from illustration to realism and other styles, Chelsea has studied independently at the Art Academy of San Diego and the University of California San Diego Extension.
As an emerging artist, Chelsea has been more recently known for her work creating dramatic and powerful imagery on scratchboard. Through scratchboard, she plans to further her series to reflect her passion of using lighting techniques and tools to create these powerful works of subjects emerging from and fading into dark. Her main subjects are animals which stems from her upmost love for the earth and the beauty animals bring to it, along with a profound passion for creating works of women with elements that further provoke their beauty and emotion.
Chelsea has shown her work through Hanalei Artworks, Gallery 21, The Studio Door, and will expand to other local galleries and exhibitions in the near future to showcase the unique medium and continue to pursue to her ambition as an artist – to ignite emotion in those who view her art.
Contact Me
If you have an idea of what you want for a custom pet painting and would like to commission me, please fill out the initial, “Custom Portrait Inquiry Form”. Otherwise, for all other questions please contact me here!