Art Plunge

"The Path of Diligence" 48" x 36" acrylic/krylon on canvas It's finished!  I only worked a zillion hours on it. It's funny to think back on all the hours in the studio and how many hundreds of songs I listened to while this was being produced. I can't wait to get it shot by a professional so you can really see the lichen which was a breakthrough for me in this work. This one was appropriately named "The Path of Diligence" because that is what it takes to make it in this world. Diligence. Like a busy bee always on task to make the honey. Like a crane patiently fishing to feed itself. And all the fruits hung like little gifts if your eyes are open and you are diligent about getting them. There is an abundance of good in the world if you are diligent. As for the lichen, I've always loved the stuff. On researching it for the painting I discovered that it's a way to tell if a place is polluted or not. Lots of lichen means HEALTHY ...

"The Path of Fruitfulness" 24" x 24" acrylic/krylon on gallery wrapped canvas I finally finished this piece I've been slaving away on! It is based on a Gankyil (Wheel of Joy:The Base, The Path, The Fruit) and I took a few detail photos :

firecracker firecracker boom boom boom First I want to say that for the first time in about a year I slept through the WHOLE night without waking up at 3:30am then 4:30 am and not being to sleep and getting up at 5:30 am. I'm going to thank the tiny melatonin pill I took last night for letting me get some much needed restorative sleep. I feel energized today. Supercharged and Best Quality. Like a flashlight cracker! Which brings me to the second thing I wanted to say...I love firecracker art. I've always been a fan. I had ideas to paint firecracker art on my wooden boxes, wouldn't that be cool? Maybe even the records. But where is the time? I think they would look awesome.Maybe after I plow through all the work I have to do I can play around with that....but I digress....the graphic design I'm working on for the next issue of Mercado Bilingue is going to be firecracker themed in honor of 4th of July. To give it a spin we're looking at MEXICAN FIREWORKS...whic...

when it rains it pours....true dat Morton salt girl, true dat! Apparently your kitchen is full of little wisdoms like that! This morning I'm looking at a heck of a week! I'm going to have time manage myself unbelievably to accomplish everything but I can do it....the trick is to remember to have fun while I'm doing it. "SMILE, BREATHE, GO SLOWLY" is going to be my mantra...but my SLOWLY just needs to be focused and not derailed. It was something we laughed about in the freelance world, when you knew your project was about to be up and you were putting your feelers out for new work...anywhere... and not getting any bites. Because the flipside to that was when you were securely working in the thick of a project you'd have ten people tugging on your shirt wanting you to do some work for them. That is how it is and that's where my week is....which is AWESOME. It means rent money, bills, food and keeping my air conditioner on! Lots of graphic design work...

"Agua Fresca" at El Fenix I woke up this morning to a titillating little piece of cheese in the ol' mousetrap. Yes I said titillating....7 year old! There's a competition of sorts to get your work printed in a National Magazine called Origins. I have been fortunate enough to have a small feature in there once upon a time for the BARTERING ARTISTS group but having my art printed is a whole other ballgame. That would be nice and make my Mom proud. So I started facebooking trying to get some votes. Kinda disastrous. Perhaps I need another cup of coffee? I could not for the life of me explain to my friends how to CLICK a LINK and LIKE A COMMENT in a THREAD. I started laughing. It's my own fault. But if you happen to be reading this and would like to help me out...the piece I would like to see printed is this one: So if you like this piece and would like to see it printed let's try to get a vote in. Bear with me as I try to explain this again. :) Maybe...

Welcome June! Welcome Summer! I see you tearing through my curtains with your fiery orange beams, trying to get me into my bikini and to the pool. This seemed a fairly innocent way to get people to read my blog....posting a sexy Brigitte Bardot in a bikini and entitling it " swimsuit edition" . Got you here didn't it? Tsk Tsk you naughty readers! :) photo by Alan Blanquicet (Robert Taylor and Dan Pritchett) Just wrapped up an art opening at RISING GALLERY on Friday and was so pleased to meet some new people and reconnect with some friends I hadn't seen in awhile. All the art was fantastic and it was nice to see the work in person. Every one of the Project 7 x 7 collaborations were auctioned off and went to new homes while raising money for Alley's House. I got excellent feedback on my work and newest pieces. photo by Alan Blanquicet (me with my work) I also learned that if the Flaming Lips are in town almost 90% of your friends will probably be the...

Comp Pass to AKON! It's that time again! Silly fun at the convention dedicated to Anime, Japanese live action, Monsters, etc, etc....GEEKERY! Last year I had a blast shooting photos of all the wild costumes, stuff I couldn't afford and "interesting" personalities. My friends from Monster Attack Team will be doing another panel this year- TODAY in fact! Yamahama- I thought it was gonna be tomorrow! So my day now includes getting dressed super early to catch part of the panel before I head over to Rising Gallery for the art opening. Of course everything fun happens all at the same time and I haven't learned to clone myself yet. At least I'll get to see part of the panel AND my pass is good all weekend long....Saturday I'll be back at it shooting photos to blog about for I Am Bilingue. Will I find the Godzilla shirt of my dreams today? I just might! Tonight I'll be at Rising Gallery showing off the labors of my love. This is the equivalent of me...

Thunderstorms have come to Texas again. There is something nice and romantic about these storms. I am fully enjoying being able to appreciate them from inside the coziness of my home as opposed to the days when I had to bus around in them to go to work. Don't get me wrong, I love a good soaking from the sky ceiling ...it's the rude cars splashing muddy water on me I do not miss. I have/had plans to go downtown to my gym today but will now need to see what the weather is going to do. The rain is reminding me of something important though....I need a nice dry environment to spray and primer records and some of my canvases. I'm also reminded I left my yoga mat outside and it's getting nice and clean by Mother Nature again. So I feel a little thwarted in the art productivity department, but I do have some graphic design work I need to get done anyway. Must remember- rain will halt production, utilize sunny days for priming in bulk!  My inbox had something funny and unu...

The iconic Peter Max After dropping off art at Rising Gallery yesterday I remembered hearing about Peter Max having a show in town somewhere nearby. It seemed like a good day to hunt it down....after lunch. I had my first Twisted Root experience. It was good and the way they call you a celebrity name at the counter was funny. Although I was not thrilled with my name. Everyone else when called to the counter had a funny little joke, quote or lyric with theirs. Mine was simply called out straight and really what else can you say with a name like PINK . PINK?!?!?!  Ha!  At the drink machine I saw the word root beer and filled her up. I took a drink, this was supposed to be amazing root beer. What filled my mouth was not the taste of root beer at all. I was dizzy for a second as pure sugar rushed through my blood. What was this taste....so familiar...almost like cream soda, kinda like root beer but...no...it was...BUBBLE GUM! Then I spied a little piece of paper taped ab...

Latest works in my studio I snapped a shot of these two together before I wrap em up today. They are going to go travelling to Rising Gallery and my studio is going to look like a boring old dining room again. Little tip for the artists, a nice roll of painters drop plastic goes a long way towards protecting your art for travelling! Wired up the pieces yesterday so they'll hang nice and decided that the latest piece would look much sharper with the sides painted black. I decided that after messing around with a photo of it in Photoshop and seeing how striking it was against black. This one would actually look cool framed in black if someone bought it and felt like doing that. :-) I've entered two juried competitions in the past week, one was the Hecho in Dallas put on by the Latino Cultural Center and the other was the Craighead Green New Talent show. Both were free to enter and I have found it's best to promptly forget about these things as soon as you sub...

"The World of Traceable Ghosts" acrylic, krylon on canvas 30" x 40" C'est fini! It's done! I put a lot of hours into this and excited to show it in public this Friday at Rising Gallery. I'm curious to see it hanging next to the mice. Today I just finish off the sides and install hanging fixtures to my pieces, wrap them up for travel and they are ready for the ball. I took some detail shots with my  humble camera detail  detail A lot of symbolism snuck it's way into this one subconsciously. I've also added secrets than can only be seen in person.  One thing I want to say about my work, I almost never have a set idea in my head of how it's going to be. No road map. No sketch. I let the canvas tell me what to do. I feel like I learn so much more when there isn't a connect the dots to follow. The forms, colors, figures, they appear like magic apparitions. Each thing sparking the next thing, like dominoes falling. I ha...

detail from work in progress "The World of Traceable Ghosts" There is a good chunk of time when you first start a painting that feels a lot like hacking through a thick forest with a cheap plastic picnic knife. Then after some time it feels like your plastic knife has turned into a well forged and sharp sword. Things start opening up and becoming easier. Paths begin to appear where there were none before. I finally hit that point on this painting last night. It's a good point. It's the point when you see clearly what all is left to do to the work and not the "what the hell am I going to do?" point anymore. I've posted a few photos on facebook of my progress and gotten a phenomenal response so far. YAY! I was very skeptical of the color scheme at first. I've been living in aqua, green and pool blue land for so long! I even had a fellow artist and blogger (Lizzie Fortuin) from the Netherlands ask about putting my piece on her website ...it...

I feel about as smiley as that photo would have you believe!  I'm about to hit the gym for the first time in awhile and more importantly I'm about to go back to PiYo class which I have missed dearly. PiYo is a Pilates-Yoga fusion class with emphasis on strength training. There are some weights involved with your downward dogs and warrior poses. PiYo was so awesome for my health and back that I was easily addicted even though it is a HARD HARD class with lots of pain. Like tomorrow....I'm going to be so sore and crying for Epsom salt baths. I know this. Hit the road yesterday for a 2.30 mile run and felt awesome. Not having pain in my day was cause to celebrate a working body. On the road to health and kicking the bad habits behind me...Spring cleaning if you will! Its nice having some time to take care of ME for a change.  Started base coating a new canvas yesterday and liked the look of the spray so I tried it again, different colors and a whole different idea o...

THE FINISHED PIECE! "Sometimes You Feel Small part 2" 36" x 48" acrylic/krylon on gallery wrapped canvas ...will be on view at RISING GALLERY on June 1! I started this thing on April 15th and finished it respectively on May 14th. Thats about a months worth of work on this thing, snagging a few hours a day or whole days sometimes to work on it. This was my first piece I fully documented publicly through it's various stages and also the first piece I used a different approach to. That being for one....the krylon spray in the background and also the very careful layering from back to front...all the elements in my pieces are usually just placed on as my brain sees fit, whether in the foreground or background.  It's been an interesting process and a few people were watching diligently and offering supportive words- thanks friends! Let's have the whole story now from start to finish: This thing is 36" x 48...