Art show, workshop and portfolio facelift

So I have been working on my "Sirene de la Mer" (above) for a local art show, that I can never say no to because I like to remember my roots. No matter how in demand my work ever becomes, I'll still enter this community art show and price things accordingly. She is also part of my portfolio facelift and I think she'll make a cute summer mailer for next year.

I have also been asked to lead my first workshop on October 15th, it which I will demo how I make this collages and 30 participants will get to hunt through my found object loot to create their own reclaimed/ found object collage. I super excited and have a reason to visit my favorite, "found object loot" finding spots to bring all sorts of sweet stuff to the workshop. Hopefully someone will come take pictures for me so I can post it.

Anniversary and Update of Sorts

Monday, August 15th was my 2nd Anniversary with Chino. Having been busy this summer with lots of things i can't show yet, I created this drawing for him and printed it on canvas to give to him as an anniversary gift. Last year I also presented him with a drawing and hopefully I can make it become a tradition, we will just need more wall space one day.

Aside from enjoying a much needed day off at the lake with my love, I have been teaching art this summer to children age 5 though 14 and working on a huge interactive graphic novel that addresses bullying in middle school and high school. The bullying graphic novel is a departure from my regular style and work, but I have been enjoying it. I have been also working with a group of middle schoolers to make sure it is visually appealing to their picky age group. It has been a rewarding and eye opening experience, and I would love to do some more work geared towards tweens and teens in the future.

I have new mailers coming out this month too. I veered away from my normal back to school mailer and used my cute little swimmer. August - October are actually the best months to take swim lessons in California, so I always equate swimming with back to school since this is when the East Bay and San Francisco has the best weather of the year.

Next I'll be working on my fall "Don't forget my name promotion" I'll be sending out postcards that are themed for Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas/ Hanukkah.

Asleep- Illustration Friday 5/27/11

There are 2 champion sleepers I can think of when I think of sleeping ( something I myself do not do nearly enough). Those sleepers are Rip Van Winkle-who sleeps for 20 years and Sleeping Beauty ( aka Briar Rose, Talia, Aurora)-who took a short

nap of 100 years

For this week's Illustration Friday I present Briar Rose, Talia, Aurora whatever name you give to Sleeping Beauty, doing what she does best... sleeping.

So this is of course not done, it's my color comp for the piece since I once again ran out of time this week to produce a finished version. The final will be coming soon as part of my portfolio facelift series. She's based on how I sleep, so that may not be that princess like.

I love all the versions of Sleeping Beauty. One of the darkest is Basile's "Sole, Luna, e Talia" Basile's version, the sleep did not stem from a curse, but was prophesied. The prince did not wake Talia from the sleep with a kiss, but raped her, and when she gave birth to two children, one sucked on her finger, drawing out the piece of flax that had put her to sleep, which woke her.

In Perrault's version The Prince wakes up Beauty, they get secretly married, have 2 children, the Prince ascends to the throne and her now mother-in-law is found to be of ogre lineage and wants to eat the children and her. Luckily the cook substitutes the meat with lamb, goat and hind. The ogress finds out the trick and preps the tub in the courtyard and fills it with vipers. Of the course the King returns in the nick of time and the Ogress throws herself into the tub of vipers. What an ending, What a Happily ever after!

Man! Disney, you forgot all the awesome parts that would have scared me into submission of being the best child on the planet, FOREVER. I digress... but fairytale origins are AWESOME!

Time for a nap...

Soaked- Illustration Friday 5/20/11

Idioms are so fun and so hard to understand as a child. I remember being really little and seeing my mother look out the window when it was raining hard and say " It's raining cats and dogs out there," it took me a year to understand that she didn't literally mean cats and dogs where falling out of the sky. So here's what happens when it literally rains cats and dogs.

I ended up liking this sketch so much, that I'll be refining it some and using as a piece in my 2011 portfolio face lift series. So stay tuned, a final is coming soon. :)

Lesson- Illustration Friday 4/29/11

"The Swim Lesson" - Acyclic and Enamel on vintage textbook paper.

Well I managed to get this one in the proper category. Anyway... I use to work in an office beside a city pool. While pool rules did not allow floaties inside, kids would always come to the gate with all sorts of the goggles and floating devices on, and a parent would have to return all that stuff to the car. I always imagined what would happen if the kids got past the gate and waited poolside in their silly garb for a swim lesson, so here is one all dressed up and ready for her 3pm lesson.

Bicycle- Illustration Friday 4/22/11

My first illustration friday, coming a little late, but better than never.

Immediately when I think of bicycles, I think of Bicycling Bears. Bears seem like party animals to me, so this guy is on his way to a mysterious party or on his way home from one, you decide.

Painted in acrylic and enamel, on a vintage chemistry page.

Update: Oops, sorry folks, didn't realize I couldn't link for last weeks topic after this weeks was released on IF, so my bicycling bear, is in the lesson category. I guess I just learned a lesson, ahh irony.

Dr. Sketchy's- March 12

Talia (the model) is adorable. These images are from the long pose session of Dr.Sketchy's Sf on March 12. The first is about 30 minutes and the following 2 are 20 minute poses. Hopefully I can use these as final art, as the model is so inspiring.

Dr. Sketchy's- Feb 22

20 Minute Sketch from Dr. Sketchy's SF on Feb. 22nd 2011. This was a 20 minute pose and one of the only one's I liked and could see well (feet were always blocked) from the night. Of the derby girls she was the best at posing and staying as still as possible. Completed in Brown Prismacolor Art Stix.

2010 Review

I did not blog as I said I would in 2010. I was busy getting use to the schedule of the freelance Illustrator.

My sleep schedule is that of a vampires and there are friends I haven't seen in a year, but I still love what I do. I feel like after a year of freelance work I have this life/work scheduling balance more in control .

In 2010 I worked on 3 full length pictures books. That's about all I could have tackled in that first year. These books are, "No more Bullies", "Eat Your Breakfast or Else", and "A Daddy's Dream". All completed in different mediums and styles that seemed to best fit the books. I am versatile, which helps get me jobs for now, but I've been refining my own voice as a illustrator to have a more distinguishable/sell able style.

I'm still working with very small publishing houses. Theses houses release 1-3 children's books per year, so they are tiny. The good thing about being the reliable person at a tiny publishing house, is sometimes you illustrate all of their books for the year. That produces solid work for me.

2010 also found me applying my illustration style to larger format canvas's for galleries. I ended up with one show and one painting sale. I hope 2011 will find me in more gallery group shows, leading to an eventual solo show.

In 2010 I made about $15,000 from my art. Granted this is a $50,000 per year pay cut for now, but I loved the past year. It really tested if I could do this, and I really think I can. My goal this year is to surpass my earnings from last year and have a little more of a liveable wage so I can rebuild my savings again. Remember Slow and Steady wins the race!