Memory Full

After several years of picture taking, the 2 GB memory card on my camera is full, forcing me to dump everything on my computer and erase the memory card to start again with full memory

this is every single image (well almost all of them) on the card
i used a picture every 2 frames, which comes out to 15 pictures a second

I imagine that this must be what having your life flash before your eyes must be like...if it was set to "Is There Anybody Out There" by Pink Floyd

Savannah Sunset

just as i thought, i hit another blank spot, i do it to myself for some reason, the fear of not knowing where to start stops me from working, i was ready to start on April 1st, and i finally got to work and finished it on the 20th of this month (April)
It took me 19 days to finally get off my lazy ass and do it, 19!!
well i did attempt to paint it 2 previous times so maybe it wasn't 19, maybe it was 15, but still, i did it in 10 hours, why did it take me so long to finally do it? oh well

like i had mentioned i had tried to paint it on 2 previous occasions, making this last successful one, the third
the first time i had started out with the dark foreground at the bottom first, followed by the large shape of the clouds and then the light colors of the sky, but i wasn't liking the result, i kept going over the same areas, and the dark color kept smearing into the light colors and making a mess

the second attempt started out with the large shapes of the clouds, but i kept getting the proportions wrong, and i could mix the colors the way i wanted, and when i'm not enjoying the result, i immediately grab a rag soak it with varnish and wash off the color i have on the canvas

before the third attempt, i made a small study of a section of the picture, i needed to get familiar with the colors i was mixing and what were the overall colors i was going to need, this really helped me out

I also noticed that recording myself painting it, was both a major distraction, but also helps me out
while i'm working keep checking to see if i'm blocking the camera, or if the lighting is right, and i don't put my full attention to the piece, but it does help me out, i get to see the process it takes, and study it and learn from what i've done, or what i need to avoid, and i get to show people the video!

I really enjoyed working on this one, there was so much area to work with!
i might do more large pieces in the future, but for now i'm going back to the smaller panels, i have so many!

One thing i'm planning on doing is to work on a small landscape everyday, or every few days, on small 6x8 panels, this will help me to simplify the shapes and colors, and learn to paint faster, we shall see

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

The Stare

due to the popular demand of my Make Art video, and because i've been lazy with the current painting i've been working on, i decided to make another stopmotion drawing using my favorite Koh-I-Noor sketch pen..enjoy!

Make Art

This drawing was made as a response video on YouTube
I had been wondering for a while why YouTube had no "Art" category on their site
there's a category for Pets, Cars, Animation, Film, How-to, Etc.
but no art, why not!

A user by the name of "cheeckychen" had been bothered by it as well, as many users probably were too, and did something about it, he made a video asking for all the artists on YouTube to join in a collaboration to make videos displaying artwork with the words "Make Art" incorporated in it, he's probably planning on putting all these videos together in a massive video and show it to YouTube.

At the moment there is still no "Art" category on the site, but hopefully this collaboration will change their mind

is it wrong for us to ask for an art section?
it would make it much easier for people to find art and artists on YouTube
we shall see

Pancho Villa

Doroteo Arango Arámbula better known as Francisco or "Pancho" Villa, was a Mexican Revolutionary general.
His charisma and effectiveness gave him great popularity, he was provisional Governor of Chihuahua in 1913 and 1914.
Villa and his supporters, known as Villistas, employed tactics such as propaganda and firing squads against his enemies, and expropriated hacienda land for distribution to peasants and soldiers. He robbed and commandeered trains, and, like the other Revolutionary generals, printed fiat money to pay for his cause.
While his violence and ambition prevented him from being accepted into the "pantheon" of national heroes until some twenty years after his death, today his memory is honored by many Mexicans.

This painting is for my brother, he loves Pancho Villa, he collects old photographs and memorabilia of his favorite historical figure. So even though it's not authentic memorabilia, i hope he enjoys it...he better!!!

I really love this piece, it was my third attempt at Pancho Villa, i just wasn't getting his likeness right at all, it was bothering me so much, i did sketch after sketch, and those cam out great, but when i put brush to canvas, it got lost, i would go on painting, and get to a certain point, hate it, and get some turpentine and completely erase it!
Finally i figured the third time's a charm, i did a light form and shape sketch, nothing detailed, and began sketching it with my brush instead, the result was this beautiful piece that has become one of my most favorite pieces, i did it n 2 days (work got in the way)

I did use a refernce picture, and i wanted to give it an old fashioned, antique look, it came out great!

the joker

I started this painting at the very end of last year, and finished it within the first week, it took me a while to finish mainly due to my lazyness, i still can't et over being lazy, it's so much easier to just not do anyhting!
I chose the Joker as a subject for two reasons
1. It's a gift for a friend, i was thinkng what i could do for them, i didn't get them a gift for christmas, and wanted to do something, before that i had been strugling a bit to figure out what i could do, and thinking of what the person would like, i remembered the Joker was one of their favorite characters, so i decided to go with it

reason 2. The Joker to me, represents the ultimate drive of human achieveness and awakeness (as i like to call it) Here is someone who is no longer connected to the great hive mentality, they figured it out, sure the Joker is a fictional character, but what it implies is brilliant! He sees that he could truly be whatever he wants to be, it manifests itself in the form of a criminally insane person, who knows that life is nothing but a joke, and a game, not to be taken so seriously, and that in order to be what you want to be in life, you must become it, otherwise it will not be..does that make sense, it does to me...moving on

When i started painting this i began shooting timelapse footage of it through my computer, after a while of painting, it was probably like 45 minutes, i checked to see how the timelapse was going, and it haad stopped on it's own due to lack of space on my computer, it took up so much space!! and i had a bunch of movies taking up hard drive time as well, so instead of going through all the movies and deleteing them and then getting back to the painting, i did nothing for a few days, then began painting but took pictures instead until i finished

Overall, i like this piece, it's my first piece where i didn't use any reference, it came completely from my imagination, and i love it!