Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Radiating Sun Man

Hello Folksies,
I haven't updated my blog for a while and I have good reasons for it but they're all going to come off as excuses. So without further ado, here is a finished piece I did for an upcoming Kokeshi show at the Japanese American National Museum in June 2009. His name is Radiating Sun Man. He was real fun to paint on. I hope he is to your liking!




Saturday, November 29, 2008

Bear and Bird Gallery!

Hi all!
So, the lovely Amanda up at the Bear and Bird Gallery asked me to be in their upcoming show, Small Stuff 2. I have the honor of displaying artwork with other great artists such as the great Lorelay Bove, Jason Limon, Jack Long, and a myriad of any other great talents!
She's been a real sweetie from the start and has been keeping us posted and updating emails every time she can. This morning, I received another update. This one was about a nice writeup printed out in the newspaper, the Sun-Sentinel, regarding the upcoming show! The kicker was how very surprised I was to see one of my paintings in the article! What a lovely way to start a morning :) Amanda, you are too sweet to have sent this! Thank you!


Yay!


The flyer for the show!


That's me in the center..yikes!

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

WHAT?!

One of the handiest things to do around Spain was to get on the little red tour buses. Not only did we get to learn about Spain and it's history, architecture and customs but our feeties got a nice rest as well which is quite nice after walking around non-stop for 3 hours straight.

Well, it was on one of these tour buses that, on one good day, we were being shown Barcelona's beautiful bay area. From far away, I saw a man coming towards us wearing what appeared to be only swimming trunks. Or very tight underwear. Either way, it wasn't until we drove right past by him that I discovered that his entire torso was tattooed and that his "bathing suit" was tattooed on as well. I only got a glimpse of his rear as he walked away whistling a merry little tune and I could have sworn it was my imagination...but my sister in law saw him as well. So, somewhere in Spain, there is a man walking around strutting in all his tattooed splendor, causing spectators to wonder whether or not what they just saw was real or not.

Monday, November 10, 2008

Viva Michoacan!

Jorge and I were lucky enough to be invited to the prestigious Universidad Tec de Monterrey Campus Morelia in Michoacan to give a small presentation about animation and EL TIGRE. The people were all so nice and it felt even better to talk to kids from Mexico that wanted to learn about animation and everything it envelopes.

I'd like to mention that Morelia, Michoacan also happens to be my parents old stomping grounds. It's where they went to school and they came of age, per say. So it felt extra nice to be visiting and to imagine that I was stepping on the same streets that they stepped on when they were young.

Below is a "guari", a woman from Michoacan culture with the traditional dress. I told the kids at the university I'd design one and put it on my blog. Hope you like it!




Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Venga Maja Parte Dos!!!

Here are a series of postcards that I found in the gift shop of a museum called Reina Sofia. They might be a little more "kinder" to the eye than the past majas I posted (sorry Gabe).








Venga Maja!

I am in awe of Spanish Majas. Same goes for Flamenco dancers. Along with their beauty and femininity, there is a strength about them I admire so much.
Ruben Afanador is a photographer who happened to have an open air exhibit in Sevilla while we were there. Through his (raw) photos, he portayed a very different type of Spanish woman. I absolutely loved it!





Me next to one of the "photos". Awesome.

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

BACK FROM SPAIN!


Hello! We're back from Spain! So inspired and so tired! So much to show and write about but for now I just wanted to touch base! More in upcoming entries!

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Please Stand By...

I realized I haven't posted anything in a while...thank you all for the lovely comments on Doña Norma. I've been a bit busy finishing up a project before I leave on my trip to Spain (WHAT? SPAIN?)
So here to keep you company for a little bit is me next to an ice cream vendors cart in Tijuana. I thought it was pretty funny.

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Doña Norma...my cat lady neighbor.

When I lived back home, we used to live next door to Doña Norma. She usually wore a scowl on her face, curlers on her head and a muumuu. Despite her cranky exterior, she had a good heart. She was the official voluntary hotel for the neighborhood felines. She had about 30 cats living on her premises. The place REEKED. One day, Doña Norma sprayed insecticide around her garden. She completely forgot she had 2 female cats that were pregnant. Well, I don't want to go into specifics, but those were the scariest kittens I EVER saw. Some came out with only one eye, others were missing an ear. But Doña Norma, patron saint of stray cats, bless her soul, kept them anyway. And they went on reproducing, even to this day.

Monday, September 8, 2008

U is for Unicorn

The Mexican graphic design magazine known as TIYPO has been asking different designers to participate in their upcoming issue. Each designer is given a different letter of the alphabet and has to design something that starts with it. Therefore, U is for Unicorn. Again with the unicorns...I know, I know.
Jorge got the letter G and I must say, it came out R-A-D. So rad in fact that it got the cover! You can check Jorges design on his Super-Macho Blogo.

Saturday, September 6, 2008

MIAO

Other than the MUNNY, the folks down at SUBTEXT were nice enough to let me participate in a vinyl art show that will be happening towards the end of the year. The star of the show will be a cat sculpture called the MIAO. A blank copy of the cat vinyl toy and his mouse buddy was given to several artists to customize. Here's my version. His name is Simon. The mouse pal is Teeny. Together they are Simon and Teeny.

Teeny

Simon

Simon and Teeny!

Thursday, September 4, 2008

Tino Bambino

Hidee ho everybody. I've been painting away once again. I just finished painting a MUNNY for the SUBTEXT gallery. It's waaaaay overdue, so I'm happy I finished it! I hope you like it!

Front...



and for your viewing pleasure...the back.

Monday, August 25, 2008

Don Raul...or my first experience with a cigarette.

When I was little, my dad would tend to bring home guests to have lunch with us. These people varied and would sometimes be relatives, sometimes friends other times acquaintances. Don Raul was a gentleman my dad brought home around 3 times. He really stuck out in my head because he was an unusually tall, lanky man with a sadness to him.
He was a construction worker, except he wore dress pants, clean work shirts and really awesome (HUGE) shoes. He looked like he had an office job.
Well, it happened one day that my father hired Don Raul to help us build a back room to our house. I would frequently go out back and play with little pieces of wood that were left over from the construction. Don Raul rarely spoke except to tell me to be careful. On his breaks, he would have a smoke. I would watch him light up, finish smoking and then he'd continue working.
One day, Don Raul didn't come to work.
But he left his ciggies.
Being the curious little monkey, little Sandra lit up and inhaled ... DEEEEEEEEPLY.
Little Sandra almost threw up.
I had never known such excruciating pain! It felt as though someone set my lungs and throat on fire! I tried to remain calm but I must have been hacking and gagging out there for what seemed hours. I felt so dizzy.
Well, lesson learned. I didn't like cigarettes.
To this day, every time I see a little packet of Marlboro's, I remember Don Raul and my smoking incident.

Don Raul

Saturday, August 23, 2008

CAROLINA

One of the reasons I hadn't blogged recently was because Jorge and I went down to say hi to the peeps. On this particular trip, my sisters 4 year old daughter (who also happens to be my godchild) really caught my attention. She is very quirky and can't seem to sit still. She'll begin her day perfectly coiffed and 5 seconds later it looks as though she walked through a hurricane. She's going through a maternal phase in her life where she puts Kleenex on top of everything pretending to put things to sleep. The Kleenex is the blanket of course. She also has a passion for cookies, LOVES her green crocs ( I don't get it), and likes to try on grown up lady shoes.
She's a total reminder of why it's always good to stay young at heart. I love her to bits.

Carolina

Tammis Keefe

Who says a bad thing cant lead to a good thing?
So I got sick yesterday. I was happy pappy and then my body suddenly decided to cave in. It felt as though someone hit me with a huge stick. I had a sore throat, my body ached, I had a fever and I had serious chills...not the spooky kind.
So I slept...and slept. And slept some more. So much in fact that when night time hit, I just couldn't go to sleep. So I surfed the net...til 6:30 am. As I was surfing the net though, I discovered Tammis Keefe. She was a textile designer graduated from Chouinard Art Institue. She passed away when she was just 46. Anywho, she created tons of amazing little illustrations for hankies. Without further ado, I give you some samples. Enjoy ;)



Her shapes are so simple!




Her limited palette is awesome!











I love this one because the cows are wearing boots and hats.

Monday, August 4, 2008

Soledad

There is a group that Jorge and I grew up listening to called La Maldita Vecindad y los Hijos del Quinto Patio (look 'em up on ITUNES). They play a song called El Tieso y la Negra Soledad which translates into The Stiff Guy and Negra Soledad.
The song is narrated by a guy talking about his cousin who doesn't like to dance at all at parties. He's as stiff as a board (hence the name) That is, until one day he sees beautiful Soledad at a party and learns to dance everything from Mambo to Cumbias, just because of her.
The song inspired me to draw Soledad. Sooooo....here she is. Just the way I imagine her :)


Soledad dancing.


Friday, August 1, 2008

FRUITS!

Something exciting is happening over at Monkeyhouse Toys this Saturday. Its a group show! And the theme is Japanese Fruits! How fun! I'll have two pieces there along with Gabe Swarr, Katie Rice and many other happy people. See you there!

"Fruiticorn"

Snippet of "Ring Around the Fruits"