December Giveaway!!!

This giveaway will be open until the last day of December

and you will win a signed print of this painting.

to enter, answer the question below

in the form of a comment.

What is your all time favorite Christmas song?

Bryan's farewell dinner party

On Sunday, my friend Vanessa and I threw a going away dinner for Bryan 

because he's going to India and Thailand for six months in January

(Dulce de Leche will continue on without him (for the time being).

Vanessa and I slaved away all day and made really yummy avocado enchiladas 

and a creamy New York cheesecake with an Oreo cookie crust.

We also made those awesome elephant hats you see everyone wearing. 

When my grandmother died, she had this really awesome hand-stiched sequin

elephant hat. I thought it would be perfect for Bryan, so he inherited the hat.

December WIP

Sketches of December

Sunday Night Drawing Challenge

Last sunday I started feeling pretty icky, this is the last thing I did

before I crawled into bed, drank 100 cups of tea, and ate 15 kiwis.

The words I chose for this challenge were Tiger, Gnome, and Night.

If you want to check out what some other people created, click here.

Freak Rooted

Last Wednesday was Dulce de Leche's last show with Bryan, as well as our 

last show for the year. José and I will be back to playing shows just 

two of us in early 2012. It was a short but sweet all instrumental set.

Esau only managed to capture a single shot of each of us, so I spliced 

them together and made this...

and the winner is...

through the owl eye lens

1. Tim Burton. LACMA. Killsonic top left

2. Halloween. I think I'm going to a Masquerade Ball top right

3. Dia de Los Muertos headdresses 2nd row left

4. Thrifting on Sherman Way. Ornate mirror $7.00 2nd row right

5. Neon rainbow colored Gaff tape 3rd row left

6. Posing for the new Canon Cinema Camera 3rd row right

7. José hanging my art show 4th row left

8. Labeling my works 4th row right

9. The Athletic Club 5th row left

10. Bryan Spencer Diaz Diaz 5th row right

11. Exploring Pasadena bottom row left

12. Dulce de Leche bottom row right

Wrapped

Have I told you what a creative gift wrapper I am?

I usually spend little to no money on wrapping gifts!

On Saturday, I went to my friends (we've been best friends since we were 5, 

but have only seen each other once within the past 7 years) Bridal Shower. 

I've never been to a Bridal Shower before and had no idea what to get her. 

For her engagement party I drew her a little family portrait, and for her 
wedding I'm making her something super awesome (at least I think it is)

I wanted to get her something she could use for her new life, something 
that wasn't handmade by me (I almost never buy "real" gifts). I settled 

on a gift card to one of the places she was registered. The salesman gave me 

a boring blank white card with the information about how much was on 
the card, and who it was from. I ended up coving the gift card with 
watercolor paper and drawing a flower on it with India Ink. I also got her 
a little tin of "wedding tea" (how cool is that?) which I wrapped in a 
brown paper Trader Joe's bag and placed on top of the glass bowl. 
This is my absolute favorite wrapping job yet! 

Sunday Night Drawing Challenge

I found this fun little drawing game through Danny Brito, 
which he found through Ambrid.The premise behind the challenge 
is to incorporate two or more item from a list of twelve subjects.
 I really love the idea and will try and keep up each week. This is my sketch.
I chose the words Crown, Sisters, and Hide.

I really like how this one turned out. I'm especially fascinated with the 

weird creepy demon creature I came up with. Quite unusual for me. 

Tapir Deer

Remember this sketch? This is the painting it became.
I can't seem to find all of my progress shots, But this is the final result.
It was the last painting I completed for my show. My plan is to post all the pieces 
I made (the ones I haven't shared here) and then update my store 
with all the artwork that wasn't sold. 
This will happen sometime within the next two weeks.
 I will also have a small selection of new prints available :) 

November Giveaway

This giveaway will be open until the last day of November

and you will win a signed print of this painting.

to enter, answer the question below

in the form of a comment. 

What is your favorite Thanksgiving treat?

My favorite Thanksgiving treat has always been my aunt Jill's pumpkin bread.

But after she described the Halloween bark she'll be making on thursday

 I might change it. I'll let you know ;)

The Swamp Monster hosts...

a Variety Show?

Next wednesday, We (Dulce de Leche)

will be playing a show with our friends Sunrise Owl.

This will be our last gig with Bryan because in January

He's going to India for however long his heart allows :(

Aside from us, there will be comedians, other bands,

and artwork! The event invitation says that it costs $10.00

But if you RSVP with them it will only cost you $5.00.

you can do that if you email this guy, swampcontact@gmail.com 

p.s. I made this flyer real quick on my ipad because the one on the 

event page was kind of lame :/ plus, I liked the idea of a fuzzy mossy

swamp monster. He's nice. But might bite you if you make him angry.

So don't make him angry. You'll get poisoned and die.

Opening night

Here are some photographs Esau Rosales

captured of my art show opening.

José shot some video and hopefully

he'll put it together soon, so I can show you.

 Cucumber spiced water

 last minute stoke of genius added an hour to our set up time.

But I think the handmade cupcake toppers of my art work was worth it.

 Treats and Sweets

 my mom (left) couldn't have done it without her or José.

 Shadows of my dad and me.

 Art patron.

 I just liked the way this one looked.

Me (left) talking with Bo (my grandpa) and PK 

I think I had to take Jose's nephew and his cousin

for a tour up the stairway and read them 

all the names of my paintings. Like three times.

The sixth time they asked, I finally had to turn them down.

I also promise to post pictures

of some of the artwork I

haven't shown on 

my blog yet.