Purple on Purpose

Before the New Year  celebration I just finished a Jimi Hendrix inspired piece:))  " With the Power of Soul"
The lyrics are on the right-side of the painting..

Almost ready for clear hopefully before I leave for the Philippines next week.. Hmmm talk about cutting it close:)

Seduction @ Minsky's in Blue

Almooooooooooost done:) I will be picking it up probably later today from the shop where it was clearcoated ( Thank's Ryno!!!) .. took a peek at it last night and it was coming along very well. and hopefully get a chance to cut and buff it later today:)
but here it is without clearcoat, it's a little washed out because of the reflection as I had to turn down the lighting..



Ready for my Closeup ( or Clear)


And NOW for the step by step- Cue the Old Western Style Piano music please!!!!:)












Once I grind down the metal with the shape and texture I wanted, I proceed and paint the negative spaces, this allows for the shadows to pop out then further push them back by layering down your Kandy colours ( in this piece I used Hok kk013-Burple)



Then I make sure to STAY WITH IN THE LINES!!! ( believe it or not :)-) and layer Hok kk015-Teal for the swatch of colour in the foreground again keeping in mind the light source of the painting.





NOW comes the fun part * NOTE- not for the faint of heart
I use laquer thinner to wash out most of the painting, In this step I have got to let go BUT be in control at the same time ( Be the Paint AND laquer thinner at the same time- Zen it out Lol)

-I Lift up a corner then allow the Laquer thinner to run a certain direction then anothe direction-
adding more or less thinner in some parts.. This will give it the FLOW I am looking for





Once I am satisfied with the FLOW of the piece I go back and push back the shadows further by mixing some Hok kk013- Burple and Hok kk007- Rootbeer, this mixture will give me a natural graduated value from light to a darker shade mostly on the right side of the painting.





After layering some Hok kk002- Lime Gold I didn't really like how the green turned out
(Yellow+ Blue= Green) Coming back with the Laquer thinner I run the paints again toning down the green while still leaving the yellow I wanted



I let the paint dry ( which took a while 'coz it was ccccccccold in my studio), I use a grinder and a couple grits of sandpaper to achieve the desired highlights.. THEN it's READY for CLEAR:))

Here it is FINALLY Cleared and ready to be signed and framed:)

New Painting finished:)

yeayea!!!!! FINALLY finished another painting..Took some pics but my camera ran out of battery DoH!!!!!! hope to post some pics tomorrow in time for the California Open Juried Competition deadline:)

"Seduction @ Minsky's in Blue"
Peace out!!!

Show Announcement:)

Dia Delos Muertos Show @ the 2nd City Council in Long Beach.
It's my first group show in almost two years. WoW!!! has it been that long?

Now if I could only find something to wear:))

In Store Appearance Oct. 25

I will be having an InStore Appearance at Art Supply Warehouse
Oct. 25th Sat. 1-5:30pm.. I will be there along with my Munny Buddies ( Munny creations)
AND probably showing off my new burlesque pieces. Come by and say HI:))

Dia Diyosa

This is my entry for the Dia Delos Muertos Show at the 2nd City Council in Long Beach.
it's ready for another coat of clear then cut, buffed and polished.
I showed it to a good friend and got a really good response, as she eloquently put it

"Dia de los muertos is graceful and serene. A testament to accepting death gracefully. A time of dignity if one chooses. ..."

UPDATE: This piece has just been accepted for the Dia Delos Muertos Show:)

Mardi Gras in Red

Finished and frame my new and latest piece.. I am really excited about the new direction my art is going. Just picked it up thursday from the shop cleared and ready to be sanded ( thanks Tom for spraying on the clearcoat). Bought a couple of frames today and I think I found the right ones..

so here it is

New Hula Piece

Starting on a new piece I am very excited to start on this concept.. An evolution to being more fluid - although it does comes with some rigid very specific steps I HAVE to do- hmmm might be a great paradox:) ok I'm making up words.. TIME TO PAINT!!!!









Ok.. here's the situation... I TRIED to spray some clearcoat tonight and it came out DUST:(( i need a slower hardener and/ Portable heater .. hmmmm

Digital Creativity 101- Wolverine Vs Hulk Poster

Needed to SHARPEN up my photoshop skills since a project fell through and left me with nothing to do.. Sooooooo I decided to mess around with a new Wolverine Poster I found, and used this cover as inspiration



Being a closet comic geek I decided to let the geek cut loose and with a little Photoshop
magic ( rrrrrrrrrrrring) oh yeah that's the sound of my magic spell:))

From THIS..... ........................To this.. Changed the dates you can make out the reflection of the hulk on Wolvie's claws.. Sublte but I guess that's is why it's a "teaser" Poster.

Digital Creativity 101-CD Cover

DDDDDDDone!!!! My computer keeps crashing when I run some of my Photoshop brushes- with all that happening I managed to complete a cover for this amazing musician
www.myspace.com/jushearose - It's such an amazing experience working with talented people,
I would like to think that I surround myself with people of interest to keep ME interesting- haha

What the hell ART!!!!

I was watching the Colbert report online last night and he interviewed Sheppard Fairey. I thought to myself hmmmm now that name sounds familiar. Then it came to me "OBEY" and along with that thought came " OH NO noNONONONONNONONONO NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!
The interview was about the Unofficial "Official" Poster. And how he says that he is a "criminal" but would like to extend his support by acting on his own and "creating" the now "in"famous poster
( this is the most "..." I have used in a whole)
then I started thinking.. Hey isn't this the same guy who PLAGIARIZED anti-establishment posters? It seems that his artistic philosophy is somewhat ironic. Whole idea behind his "creations" is about how we get comfortable with the establishment and that we must "OBEY" -
I have been to one of his shows and it makes me wonder, with all the anti-establishment and anti-consumerism works on the wall most of the people there seemed like drones wearing "OBEY" jackets, shirts and trucker hats- it seems that Mr. Fairey frees people from an an establishment only to be locked in by HIS version of establishment where he he tells people to dress themselves- very similar to North Korea doesn't it? Not convinced with my own opinion of his art I came upon a very interesting article;
Obey Plagiarist Shepard Fairey
A critique by artist Mark Vallen
http://www.art-for-a-change.com/Obey/index.htm

A very interesting insight to the artist's works and also a validation of what I have expressed.

Digital Creatvity 101- Making the New Old

Making the new old..
I knew there was a reason for downloading PS brushes, Mainly to get inspiration and searching through websites for tutorials. found some of the best ones through www.pshero.com
and decided to give it a try. Didn't follow it step by step but kinda got the jissed of it then moved on from there, create my own image- that way you get a good handle of your work flow and limits.

Creative 101

hmm.. where to start, Been lollygagging in Art Purgatory for a while soooooo
Decided to pretty much indulge in a downloading frenzy of photoshop brushes, vector images and pictures of ballerina, and flamenco dancers as well as random pictures of the female figurative.
yeah , I guess you can say I'm in an ART BLOCK. geez is that even possible?