Studio Saturday: Success, Completion, Vacation, and Attempt to Repeat...

...at least somewhat. Maybe not vacation, not anytime soon. However, to explain: last month, I found for the second year in a row, a Katatonia inspired piece of mine was accepted into the annual El Corazón exhibit at the Bathhouse Cultural Center. The theme was loosely hearts and music, and this fit perfectly. The piece was inspired by the song Decima. I finished the piece in the late summer, so I was ready, waiting for the submission to be open months later. I could have cried. I have yet to go see and missed the reception due to being on 70,000 Tons of Metal, which, funny enough - inspired me to become more of Katatonia fan and fall in love with their music. Needless to say, it's truly helped my work. 

Before heading to 70K, I also was working on a piece that I was hoping to submit to another upcoming show. I'll update the completed piece soon, but after I got back from vacation, I titled and submitted Blind Scopophobia. Yes - try to pronounce it, I can only hope I can say it right. It's a very personal piece for me. I hoped to finish it before vacation so after I could make sure it's good and ready, and after some research, came up with a title. Thus, Success, Completion, and Repeat. Maybe not another vacation any time soon. However, I do have another show I'd like to submit to as well. I'm hoping for the best. In the mean time, here's some progress shots and final photo of Blind Scopophobia. Now, back to a large painting that's maybe 60% complete. 

Currently Listening: Depressed Mode
Currently Watching: Orange is the New Black latest season and Altered Carbon

Studio Saturday: A Link Between Years

Hello 2018! I hope everyone is having a good new year so far. The last weeks and first days of the new year were miserable for me as allergies impacting me pretty bad. However, I'm mostly clear, getting back on track of taking care of myself, and a new year's resolution to be more productive with my ideas and not hold back on my art! That all to say, I wanted to mention a few pieces in upcoming blogs I finished at the end of 2017. 

The first is a painting based on Midna from Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. I had an image of her in a Virgin Mary-esque way, holding the Triforce. This is the first in a very, very long time I've done any type of video game character as a drawing/painting, not since maybe...high school. This is her in 'real' form - spoiler alert, sorry guys. 

I debated how detailed I wanted to get, especially with the jewelry. As always, I fought with the hands, but I think I'm getting there. I'm happy with how rough and imperfect she is. I'm proud of myself for going outside my comfort zone and hope to continue to improve.

I hope you enjoy, thanks for looking :) 

Currently Playing: Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Currently Reading: Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
Currently Listening: Swallow the Sun's Songs from the North I,II, & III

Studio Saturday: This Is The Sound

This weekend has been very productive due to mostly one reason: music. I sat my bottom down the last two nights and put on an album, no shuffle, just listened all the way through while painting. I forced myself to not get interrupted, other than for the necessary sip of coffee and/or a message on my phone. Music is very important and inspires my work and I believe after all this time, I have found a new way to focus. I always usually listen to music when painting, or watch a TV show, it just depends on what I'm doing and how focused I need to be. Either way, I have a snippet of some works in progress - I have not worked on one of these this weekend, but you'll see the finished product soon enough. 

Left side is one evolution, right side is another. Oh and yes I used Photo Grid for this.......

As a reference, here is the music I've listened to to help me paint the past 48 hours. 

Friday: Hallatar - No Stars Upon the Bridge (painted all the way through)

Saturday: Edge of Sanity - Crimson (to get me in the mood to paint and tidy up)
                Trees of Eternity - Hour of the Nightingale (painted all the way through)
                The Birthday Massacre - Walking With Strangers (painted halfway through)
                Cellar Darling - This is the Sound (painted and wrote this blog through)

May the music inspire you. 

Currently Reading: Stephen King - The Dark Half

Studio Sunday: Decima

This is going to be a heavy picture post. I've completed yet another music inspired painting. The song is "Decima" by Katatonia. I started this piece in the late spring and made decent progress before summer vacation. Thankfully, that progress meant I was able to come home and finish it, since Texas summer heat can drain my energy and make me unproductive. This time, I left at a good stopping point, and came back refreshed to finish it. The first pic is the full piece followed by close ups of the different sections. I'm very happy how it turned out and hope I can submit it to a show. Maybe I should start working with more sizes like this and see what kind of world I can create. Anywho, thanks for looking.

Here she is in all her fallen glory.

Currently playing: Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Currently listening: Chelsea Wolfe's new album Hiss Spun.