through the owl eye lens

 1. Painting 'til the birds begin to sing top left
2. my favorite type of flora (kangaroo paw) top right
3. Easter pinwheels left center
4. Samy's old cameras right center
5. José found the soulmate for Bryan's hat bottom left
6. my favorite sculpture at Las Fuentés bottom right

Death day

Two years ago today,

I lost my grandmother.

My Nana. Like in Peter Pan.

Last year I made this drawing of her 

for my grandfather, Bo.

♥♥♥

In honor of her memory,

I leave you with some old photographs I found 

This is one of my favorite pictures of her.

I'm not quite sure of her age,

But it was taken some time in the late 30's.

This is her (left) and her friend Bernie (right).

My grandparents on Halloween

 Me and my Nana.

April Giveaway

The painting is nearly finished!

I just need to paint in some tiny details.

If I had an tons of time to spare,

I would paint one last layer,

but I must finish my monstrous landscape by June.

This giveaway will be open until the last day of April

and you will win a signed print of this painting.

to enter, answer the question below

in the form of a comment. 

question:

flora or fauna?

through the owl eye lens

 1. handing out pieces of killsonic at art walk top left

2. feeling like I'm on the set of Amarcord (Fellini 1973) top right

 3. Paul. waiting for the other half of the band to cross the street left center

4. a peek of my frame collection right center

5. Hanna turns 2 bottom left

6. Shaun's pretty blue autism speaks bow bottom right

oops...

I forgot to post the wrapping job I did on the painting 

before my secondhand haunts post.

I think It's my favorite one yet!

It will most definitely be the only gift in a black box

my 2 year old niece will receive.

I take a lot of pride in my gift wrapping skills.

It costs me almost nothing to wrap gifts, because I use materials 

I already have on hand. They mostly consist of

inside out Trader Joe's bags and colored tape.

I decided to go quite simple with this one.

Fastest. wrap. ever.

Secondhand Haunts

I found this little gem at rummage rat for $10.00

a tad steep, but I have wanted a birdcage

for a very long time. I just couldn't pass it up.

The white paint was chipping off in some areas

So I decided to paint it aqua.

I might change it to gold in the future, 

or red. But for now, the birdcage is aqua.

birthday watercolor

Tomorrow is my niece Hanna's 2nd birthday.

I finished this painting for her in less than an hour.

I'm in love with the frame, and the colors.

Originally, I was going to paint her sitting on the head 

of her dog Sarge ( a great dane!!!)

because she says "doggie" at least 10 times 

every time I see her. 

But I think a giant fox is a bit more magical.

Killsonic. art walk. April 2011.

Sneak Peek

This painting is extremely rough still, the first layer of paint

is really just to put in some color.

there are some colors I like (the sky, lanterns and drum)

and some colors I need to tone down and change

(the shoes and elephant).
here is my progress

through the owl eye lens

1. horn sectional top left

2. the hobby shop mic placement rehearsal top right

3. an array of sodas. we went a bit crazy. 

the japanese ones were the tastiest left center

4. a chat about recording right center

5. I've been wanting to see this book FOR.EV.ER.

I found an one that wasn't suffocated with plastic

and spent an hour devouring it at the book store bottom left

6. Target. $1.00. enough said.

Secondhand Haunts

I found this child's accordion at goodwill for $2.99
and I found the vintage lace at council thrift for $1.00

I got the accordion back in July. 
We had a gig at timewarp music in Venice
and the day after I got it
 we decided to integrate it into one of our songs.
The video below was my second time ever playing it!

April sketch peek

I've been working on some concepts for this month's giveaway.

I've finally thrown together a composition,

but because the sketch is very rough, 

most of the magic will happen 

once the painting process begins. 

 Usually when I paint a piece, I'll leave the sketch as a sketch,

use it solely as inspiration for the final painting,

and freehand with paint directly onto the board.

With these monthly pieces I have been transferring the composition 

directly onto the gessoed board straight from my sketchbook.

It saves loads of time, but as a result the painting stays pretty close 

to the original sketch. which can be good and bad.

anyway, the photo below is my tracing paper ready for transfer.

I hope to finish at least the first layer by sunday.

I'll post progress shots soon.

through the owl eye lens

1. a birthday boy, a bean, and a boo top left

2. new record player thrifted at rummage rat (ours broke) top right

3. & 4. painting faces before the gig at the Tribal Cafe 2nd row

5. & 6. Jim Ramirez (left) and Smithfield Bargain (right)

two phenomenal bands we shared the stage with  3rd row

7. balloons floating their way to a surprise party 4th row left

8. tres leches cupcakes (made by me) and bear masks 4th row right

9. bryan reciting Longfellow by the soft glow of a lantern bottom left

10. Bryan's signature pose and sad party guy Luis? bottom right

and the winner is...

Well, I can't believe it. Jill, congratulations yet again. 

It's the second time this year.

In other news, our Dulce gig was super fun.

We played along side a triad of great bands 

and made some new friends.

landscape peek (part 2)

I finally finished the first layer!!!

I've been slowly working on this painting for over a year.

Originally, I was going to have it go from

morning(right) to night(left)

but it's not as effective as I imagined.

In the next layer, the sky will be much different

and the trees on the upper right will be more visible.

I also might turn the candles into some kind of foliage.