artsy update

a little late on my weekly artsy update...been battling the flu! been sick so much this year already, it's really setting me back on working on new paintings and such.  hopefully i can stay well for the next few months at least!!  here's what's been going on in my artsy world...

decided to do another self-portrait. mixed media on tea-stained paper

 "right brain left brain" 2011. this is for a challenge on Redbubble.com in which i will explain more later on...
last weekend, took a day trip up to the Sonora mountains with my boyfriend. it was such a gorgeous drive and perfect day.  Had lunch at the Celtic Fest first, then decided to head over to the Mercer Caverns...

visited the Mercer Caverns in Murphys California.

going down...16 flights of stairs i believe it was.

 After visiting the caverns, i'm super inspired to do a painting related to caves and the interesting creatures that live in them. animals have wondered into the caves and evolved to the point where they don't need eyes any longer, plus their skin is practically not existant. they don't need a thick layer of skin to protect them from the sun, because there is no sunlight! It will of course have a girl in it, and i'll be painting it for my upcoming show KINDREDS, at Colligo Studios which is located inside Broadway Studios...Opening reception ArtHop May 5th!  I need to start working on the flyer for that show. here is the flyer for my June Show...

big show coming up in June! 2 person show..myself and Rattananan Karninsee

 working more at school on my lithography print...

this is the acid etch step. 

 yep thats right i'm painting sizzling acid mixed with a gum onto my limestone. i think  i just enjoy saying to my classmates...can you pass the acid please. thanks :)

1st color...galactic green :()

 next color will be black or a dark purple...but i have to etch away soooo much stuff  before i can do the second color print. gaaaaaaah. sort of over lithography! it's fun, but very time consuming. i'm not very patient when it comes to seeing the finished product of my artwork.

finished up painting my first art toy

...check out the progress pics here

after all of the natural disasters going on around the world, it makes me really sad but also makes me appreciate everyday i have on this earth.  i wanted to do something to help, even if its a small amount. so i put this painting up for auction on Facebook. Congrats to the winner, Syd Wasson of Salinas. The donations were then made to Red Cross and Save the Children. 

"Fly by Night" 16x20inches acrylic on canvas.

so that wraps it up for the weekly art update.  hoping to get some new paintings done this weekend....happy creating ♥

Progression of a vinyl art toy



so here's some progression shots of my first painted art toy, the  Trikky by KidRobot
learned alot along the way and now i'm ready to try out the other do-it-yourself art toys :)

not sure where to begin...and trying to figure out color palette



details on the face, much easier with the arms off

it takes several layers of acrylic to make it a solid color



realized it's easier to work with everything in pieces, i'm finally getting the hang of this!



little details on the body. killed my eyes

ahhh, i'm in pieces...

the back looks boring, so decided to add something to it

details on the back

and finished with the back

working on the feet

All done!

she looks tough!

loosely inspired by this painting that i had done for a flyer

artsy update

i think i will try and post a weekly creative update on what i'm working on or have completed recently.  although i may get the urge to do that more than once a week if time allows.  for some reason posting these things keeps me motiviated to finish the new stuff and move on to the next new thing! 

first off, FINALLY and i mean finally painting my own custom art toy.  the first 2 that i had tried were majorly botched attempts because i stupidly used the green pen that comes in the box to outline what i was going to paint. well acrylic paint does NOT cover that pen AT ALL, so after layers and layers of paint i gave up and threw them away in a fit of anger. hehe. i re-purchased the trikky because of the cat ears which i'm going to try to make look like my feather/leaf hybrid whatever you like to call it.  I don't want her to look like a cat, but we'll see how that goes.  the color palette is going to be some of my favorites, lime yellow, magenta, purple, pink, red and grey.  i like to mixed pastel colors with bright vibrant colors for some reason.  most people would probably think that's odd, but i do what i want! :o)

work in progress trikky toy (made by kidrobot)

totally got ahead of myself and there aren't any progress shots from the first photo to this last one. i'll try and remember to stop and take more while finishing it up. i really don't know what i'm doing, i didn't even have a sketch drawn up for this, i'm just going with the flow.

workin on the head details

i'll post the photos of all the progress shots when i'm done.

the next thing i'm working on is actually an assignment in my screenprinting/lithography class which i love. it's such a challenge and i'm terrible at remembering all the steps to the lithography process. anyway, this is the second print that i'm doing, the first one didn't come out as good as i hoped. but this one i have high hopes for.  this process is a little different than the last one because i'm etching away the black paint instead of drawing with the greasy crayon. this has been really fun, and i'm just hoping it comes out right.  i'm not sure what the first color will be for the print, its a toss up between lime-yellow, magenta, or red. which would be the color of the lips, hair, eyes and parts of the face. the background and the rest of it will be black.

etching away on the limestone block

the slightest error could ruin it!

i'll post some more pics of this process later on.

finished a new commision, which is a portrait of a friend of the commisioner.  it's 5x7 inches mixed medium - ink pen, watercolor, acrylic and collage on tea-stained paper.  her favorite color is yellow, which i was happy about.  also added a little purple in there of course. I hope she enjoys it.


on the left: ink pen on tea-stained paper. on the right: completed mixed media

i had the freedom to do basically whatever i wanted with this next commision.  i decided to try something a little different and not include a female.  it haven't done that in a long time!  tried to keep the color palette fairly simple with greys, black, silver, white, gold, lime-yellow and a turqoise.

starting the painting...figuring out the color palette

commision - acrylic on canvas 12x16 inches

 i'm happy with the outcome, especially after the epic fail of dropping a large canvas which tore the canvas of my first attempt at this. it was drying on the ground below my easle, stupid idea by the way! see below....

EPIC FAIL! my idle hands dropped a big canvas onto this one.

i started all over after this happened.  i have never done anything like that before, and believe me i have learned my lesson!

"Tangled in the Mangroves" acrylic on canvas 16x20 inches

this is now official...the original painting that was on the cover of the undercurrent last year sold at my last show! :) it's always bittersweet when a painting sells...this one was a real breakthrough painting for me and has been traveling with me to shows for the past 3 years! now i'll probably never see it again in person *tear* however, i'm very glad that she has found a home ♥

that should wrap it up for the works in progress and things...happy creating

arthop 3.3.11

march arthop was definately a fun one. i was able to make it to studio-74 to see ole's solo show,  her vibrant colors and designs were such an inspiration. she also had some really interesting mixed media pieces. next stop was city arts gallery, wanted to say hi to aileen imperatrice and joe osejo. Then it was onto broadway studios to meet ma ly & may lee lee at colligio studio which is where i'll be having a show for may 5th arthop. i'm really hoping that i can finish some new pieces for the show that relate to the theme "kindred"...we'll see how that goes! Oh and please take note that several of these photos were taken by my friend's daughter, maya who is 5. she has told me that she wants to be an artist when she grows up which i think is just the cutest darn thing ever...

good friend winnie stopped by the treasury with her boyfriend andy.



arthop at the treasury. photo by: maya

arthop at the treasury. photo by maya

arthop at the treasury. me in front of some of my paintings

with shawn and my last 100 girl at the treasury. photo by: maya

arthop at the treasury. photo by: maya

artist jessica sweat (on left) at the treasury. photo by: maya

artist nelina marie with her paintings at the treasury.

with nelina marie at the treasury.

arthop at the treasury. photo by: maya

my friend marie at the treasury. photo by: maya

me with artist navil rodriguez at the treasury.

jessica sweat's artwork at the treasury. i bought the top left piece :) 

artist josh freeman with winnie at the treasury. photo by me :P



arthop at the treasury. photo by: maya



me working on a new mixed media painting at the treasury. photo by: winnie

                                                   

a work in progress. will be mixed media. photo by: maya

the little artist/photographer maya with her portrait that i did of her.

artist aileen imperatrice with her work at city arts gallery.

me with artist ole scovill at her solo show @ studio-74

artist ole scovill in front of one her self portraits at studio-74

I also found out over the weekend that i sold one of my paintings at the show... "tangled in the mangroves", which was the featured image on the undercurrent last year.  *happy*