I love you more…

José María García Urbano, Mayor of Estepona standing with Anissa Mendez and her husband, Jorge Martinez, smiling at a gathering outside her restaurant named 'The Boab Tree.'
Anissa Mendez is painting an abstract artwork featuring various circles in warm colors on a large white canvas. She is painting live at her restaurant called the Boab Tree in Estepona, Spain.

Artist, Educator, Author, Restaurant Owner

Anissa Mendez is a lifelong arts professional an artist, educator, and author devoted to exploring creativity and the energy that connects us all. Her artistic journey began in New York City, where she exhibited her work throughout the city’s vibrant art scene from West Broadway to Chelsea and the Hamptons. Her career reached corporate heights with commissions for Johnnie Walker Black, marking a defining moment in her creative evolution.

For over 27 years, Anissa served as an arts educator in New York City, teaching students from early childhood through university level. She guided children as young as five in their first creative expressions and later mentored aspiring art teachers, helping shape the next generation of artists. Her teaching philosophy emphasizes not only technique and imagination, but also the emotional and energetic dimensions of creative expression.

She also contributed to the arts community in Las Vegas, where she worked as an educator and participated in large-scale public art initiatives, including the Cow Parade Las Vegas and collaborative wooden art exhibits through Clark County. These experiences further expanded her commitment to making art accessible, interactive, and community-driven.

Over the years, her paintings have found homes around the world, establishing her as an international artist with collectors across continents. Beyond the canvas, she is the author and illustrator of the Masters of Energy chakra book series for children, which introduces young readers to the language of energy, mindfulness, and self-awareness.

Anissa is the owner and creative force behind The Boab Tree Restaurant, Art Gallery, and Studio in Estepona, Spain, a unique space that brings together her passions for art, community, and meaningful connection.

The Boab Tree was a passion project more than thirty years in the making. For decades, Anissa dreamed of creating a space that united her love for art, community, and creativity, a studio, gallery, and restaurant all in one.

After a profound dream with her late mother revealed the name The Boab Tree, she knew it was time to bring that vision to life. Jorge, her husband, agreed to join her on one condition that they make the dream real in his homeland of Spain.

…and so they did.

The Boab Tree Restaurant & Art Gallery/Studio

Anissa Mendez is standing barefoot on a sandy beach holding a pair of sandals and sunglasses, with a cloudy sky, ocean waves, and distant hills in the background.

A lifelong student of metaphysical spirituality, Anissa has dedicated much of her personal journey to exploring consciousness, energy, human connection, and the ways our thoughts, emotions, words, and creative expression shape our experience of the world.

This exploration inspired the creation of i.MindHeart™, a growing space where spirituality, creativity, curiosity, and self-discovery come together—and where complex ideas are transformed into experiences that can be explored by both children and adults.

At the heart of Anissa's work today is the "I Love You Because..." initiative, a growing art and community project centered around one of the simplest and most powerful human experiences: expressing love.

Energy is all there is…

Through the "I Love You Because..." art collection and traveling exhibition, Anissa creates artwork intended to inspire connection, reflection, and positive emotional energy. Alongside the exhibition, the "I Love You Because..." Chalkboard Initiative invites people to complete the words "I love you because..." and leave their message for others to discover. What begins as one person's expression of love becomes something shared—read, felt, and carried forward by countless others.

Her work with children continues through Masters of Energy™, an imaginative universe of characters, books, art, videos, and interactive experiences created to encourage children to explore creativity, emotional awareness, mindfulness, curiosity, and their own inner potential.

Underlying all of these projects is one belief that continues to guide Anissa's work: what we create and share affects more than ourselves. A painting, a story, a child's drawing, or a few loving words can ripple outward, contributing a little more beauty, kindness, and positive energy to our shared world.

Follow the journey on YouTube:

🌈 Masters of Energy YouTube Channel
❤️ I Love You Because... / i.MindHeart YouTube Channel

Young Artists at the Boab Tree Restaurant!

  • Artist Anissa Mendez with glasses on her head, smiling, and a young boy are playing a card game at a table in a classroom or activity center, with colorful artwork on the wall behind them.

  • A smiling young boy wearing glasses and an older woman smiling, both holding a Marvel comic book, in a restaurant setting with other diners and artwork on the walls in the background with Anissa Mendez.

  • Artist, Anissa Mendez and a young girl with blonde hair sitting at a table in a restaurant, woman holding a drawing of a glass with what appears to be a bottle pouring into it.

  • International artist, Anissa Mendez holding a piece of paper with a sketch of a wine glass. A girl with long brown hair is sitting next to her with a sketchbook and a pencil. They are in the Boab Tree Art Gallery

  • Anissa Mendez and two boys holding handwritten thank you notes inside a cafe with hanging lights and green plants.

  • Anissa Mendez and a young boy sitting at a table inside a restaurant or cafe, with the woman smiling at the camera and the boy holding an open sketchbook with drawings of a glass, a flower, and geometric shapes.

  • A young girl and Anissa Mendez smiling and holding a coloring page of a stylized cat surrounded by colorful leaves inside a cozy, decorated indoor space.

  • Anissa Mendez and a young girl smiling at a birthday celebration at an outdoor restaurant, with a colorful pixelated rainbow-themed birthday cake on the table.

  • Anissa Mendez and girl smiling at a restaurant, holding a colorful drawing of a rainbow and city skyline with a yellow letter C and rainbow above. The girl is wearing a white dress and a watch, the woman has sunglasses on her head.

  • A girl holding a colorful drawing of a cartoon dinosaur in a restaurant outdoor patio at sunset, smiling with Anissa Mendez