80's Trash / Expressionism Gone Wrong

With that said, I kind of like it. Often my drawings are so calculated. Sometimes I have fun and just GO CRAZY! I was shaking that computer mouse like you have never seen. You know - I love to go crazy on Microsoft Painter. HAHA.

The simple pleasures in my day. But seriously... I like it. It's FUNKY!

Tonight I am going to post something about an artist I like because lately I have been posting all this stuff about myself. I need to mix it up. I've been lacking "deep" art material.

My first page...

I have been wanting to illustrate a childrens' book for a long time. Here is a sketch. Double click to enlarge. It's about teaching children how to stay optimistic even when family life or life in general isn't going well. 

My Little Moleskine (Sketchbook)

The first image is a documentation of my weekend trip to Arizona. The second... Well, I have been reading a lot about freelance fashion illustrators. Basically, they are in charge of illustrating a line in their own artistic way to give the collection some depth. It seems the artist has a lot of freedom. I will post what I found in NYLON Magazine. BTW, I love NYLON Magazine.

Arizona & An Odd Conversation

mystery flower, photo by moi

Went to AZ this weekend...

I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and went to the beach on many weekends. I rode my bike through muddy puddles in the hills and dug for wet salamanders under my house (Ya... gross. I didn't care because I have always been maternal and I wanted to give them a loving home in my dry house where they would shrivel up and die.)

Arizona is the opposite of CA in many ways. It is a dry desert. Enough said. I never realized how much I relied on geographic landscapes to navigate my way through a city until there was... no landscape. But this is not my point. My point is that I am fascinated with the flowers that can survive in the Arizona heat. This flower is actually a lone flower growing out of what looks like an agave root (spiky bush) - I can't find the name of it. It was barely opaque in some part which allowed the yellow and pink to mix into a coral. I love it.

This might be my most uninteresting post yet. But sometimes... I think hard about things that people may find boring. Something interesting... My flight got delayed last night on the way home in LA and I got to over hear an interesting conversation. This one lady was manipulating a woman who had just joined her company. She was trying to get the "newbie" to say bad things about her first week at work. So - there's the "big shot" and the poor "newbie." The big shot proceeded to tell the newbie that she was trustworthy and the newbie could tell her anything she didn't like about her first week. The newbie was terrified and fell into the trap. It was like a mouse and cheese. All the sudden the big shot got mad and asked her why she was saying this and that they only just met! The big shot couldn't believe that the newbie would actually trust her and that she should keep her mouth shut. It was a really weird experience. If there is any lesson learned from this - do not trust too many people. When someone says, "You can trust me," I find that sort of weird. Trust is more of an instinctual thing. But... who the heck knows. I just graduated college and am learning how cut throat the real world can be. Hold on partner!

I bought a great book last night with foreword by the Dali Lama and written by Piero Ferrucci called the power of kindness.

Spring Ice Cream

OK - I need to go to bed immediately. This is why I am so tired in the morning. 

Jamie

I just realized that I really like the name 'Jamie.' Anyway, today my friend, Jamie, and I signed up for web design class - or should I say web html formatting class. I am really excited. Having web design/building knowledge is going to be frickin' awesome. If I can do studio and websites... then I might be able to work this whole "artist" thing out. It's a balancing act of skills... 

So, tonight I went bargain shopping and got burritos. It really doesn't get any better than that. BTW!! This is a mock-up of the logo I am going to design for Jamie's little one man photography show. We just sketched it together. It looks just like her - simple, crisp, and pretty. Hi Jamie! **The typeface will change** :)

Prince Charming Meets Flowergirl

Fashion week has inspired me. I haven't finished browsing, but I'm always a fan of Chloe. 

This is my brain in on baked potatoes.

It's Friday night. I just ate dinner... debating whether to watch a movie or... watch a movie at a friend's house. I am craving a little ALF right now. That is what I am going to do. Watch ALF until I decide. And you can feast your eyes on my inner psyche. 

indie-mart

So, I am attending the an indie art/drinks/music festival this weekend, http://www.indie-mart.com/. I know it will be a really good opportunity to meet local artists... and crafters. It will also make me envious of other sellers which is my biggest kick for motivation! It should be really interesting. I don't really consider myself "indie," but I have always appreciated the sub-culture. It's weird, experimental, independent(obviously), and creative. I appreciate the fresh and innovative sounds in indie music... especially if it's electronic.

I'm excited! Probably because I just chugged a huge cup of coffee.

Birds of South Africa

Lilac Breasted Roller (my very favorite)

King Fisher

Go Away Bird (because is make a sound like "goway! goway!")

Southern Yellow Billed Hornbill

so, i have noticed that everyone(most i have seen) with influencial blogs does not use any caps. i guess if you use caps it can signify that you are trying to hard? either way, i think i will give it a shot. at work, i am always so careful to have perfect punctuation and caps, so this will be a challenge. hahaha i know, who cares?

anyway, a great family friend recently traveled to africa. they had an amazing camera and took amazing pics... i guess you might get some of those if you go on the same safari as oprah. Ok, that's it, I can't do the no caps thing. That was seriously stressing me out and I need to capitalize things like "Africa."Anyway, I was most blown away by their pics of the birds in Africa (mostly Botswana because the land is reserved for the animals.) My work has taken a few turns lately, but I am starting to create some scientific but experimental drawings of birds. I want to enjoy the art of observation, but I would also like to stylize some things about the birds that I illustrate. I like to exaggerate the things I love in nature because, to me, they are more beautiful in my head... and they can't poop on my head. Take a look at some of these birds.