fernando valenzuela

Finally! after months of it sittin garound after i made the pencil outline, i finished the painting!

I got the idea for it after thinking of what to make for David and Ruchelle, i was originally going to paint them a Batman fanboy looking guy, since i know David is a comic book fan, but it never felt right, The Joker i made for Jaime was perfect for him, it was a character he loved, it had the color orange, i knew he would really enjoy it. But the Batman fanboy thing didn't fit David and Ruchelle (who are married to each other in case anyone is wondering) I really want them to have something that they will really enjoy, something that fits what they both like, so since they are both huge Dodger fans, i knew i didn't have to think that much about it

After deciding on a Dodgers theme, what was i going to make? At one point i was going to paint Dodger Stadium, but i wasn't feeling that one, i kept thinking of players i could paint a portrait of, and not knowing anything about sports, the only one i could think of when i thought about players for the Dodgers was Fernando Valenzuela.

Fernando was the best pitcher for the Dodgers in the 80's, or so i remember, i don't even know if they like him as a player, but the decision has been made, and Fernando V. it is

After doing a few sketches to get familiar with the shapes of the picture i was going to use as reference, i worked on the layout on the panel i was going to use, then when i sat down to paint...nothing, i wasn't feeling it, i couldn't force myself to do it, i let it rest for a few days, then sat back down, i had started painting the face, but it was not going well, i wasn't liking it, it felt wrong, and i washed it all off
It sat aorund for almost 2 months! Everytime i would sit infront of it to get to work, i would go blank and did not know where to start, it was very frustrating, i felt blocked!
i looked up information on how to help myslef snap out of it, all i could find were people describing the exact way i felt, but offered no actual help.

Finally on wednesday March 26, 2008, after taking a nap, i was going to watch a DVD but didn't feel like it, i kept telling myself over and over how much time i had been wasting, so i sat infront of the easel, set the camera up, squeezed out some paint, and started. 5 hours later i had to force myself to stop because i had to go to sleep and wake up early to go to work, but i was very pleased with what i had done, i had blocked in all the major shapes and colors, and had completed the face, i had that "fuck yeah!" feeling, like, "look at that, i made that!"
I don't know if i was really blocked, or i had made myself blocked by over thinking about what i had to do. When i wanted to work on it before, i did not like that empty feeling i kept getting, i hope not to go through it again, but i know i will, next time i'll just try to ignore it and work through it, maybe that's all i had to do the first time i sat down to paint it, just start working and move through it

I had to work the next couple of days after i had started it, and finishing it was all i could think of, i didn't want to work on it and sleep for a few hours, i knew i would pay for it the next day, so i let it sit for 2 days, and finished it on saturday night

I love this piece, i know David and Ruchelle will enjoy it.

Up next, i'm going to work on a painting for my older brother, he wants a painting of a Savannah Sunset that he would like to hang in the living room which has sort of a safari theme, it's going to be on a canvas that is 24 x 48, which is the largest canvas i will have worked on to date, but it should be easy, it's a landscape, which has more longer similar shapes, and a sunset which is primarily in orange, yellows, blues, greens and dark silhouttes, this should be fun