For this blog entry i wanted to invite you all into the world of pop art and what is sometimes required to create one.
The following painting "Starseed" is broken down below for you...

#1- Have a vague idea/inspiration of what i am wanting to paint (haha often times VASTLY different of what comes out in the end)

#2- Decided on the kind of body possessions i will need to take reference photos of that will flow with what i am envisioning

#3- Get all dolled up with how I want myself to look like in the photos which will be painted. I added LOTS of makeup, black lipstick and knew that i was going to make some slight changes on Photoshop like remove my eyebrows, haha didn't want to commit that badly to the photo shoot! 

#4- Feel like a complete idiot and take my own reference photos, hahahha- take as many as possible since you WONT want to take more. Switched up poses to what i thought may work if my composition/vision changes over time

#5- Choose my favorite ones from the bunch and edited them, this helps you see your idea some to mind. I added in what you call a "lens flare' with photoshop, i didn't end up painting it in on the final painting cause it was soooo much going on already

#6- Now im ready to draw it out and paint (i actually didn't decide i wanted to remove my eyebrows until i started painting, ooo and i decided to black out my eyes as well)
#7- Draw and paint....
#8- Keep drawing and painting........ totally hating it by now! thinking what have I started!
#9- Initial portrait done. As you can see i had a third eye there added in on the forehead, scrapped that idea and painted over it. I also had the idea to add in atom rings around my head. That idea came to me while in the gym. You should see the mirrors in our gym, covered with painting ideas with dry erase marker! 

#10- Started the background- added solid black before i started the galaxy- In these pics i am adding the tiny white stars 

#11- Have it sit in your studio corner for about a week before you work up the courage to add the galaxy!! haha. Yepp it sat there like that with me staring at it for about a week, i was sooooo nervous to attempt anything galaxy like!

In the end i finally decided i would try the galaxy with this cool stain glass paint i discovered. It was an experience to paint with. Other finishing touches included the rings which i added last, and the flower of life with silver in the center of the orb.  Painted the gallery depth edges black and called it a day! 
Whewwwww now on to the next one! 

So as many of you are well aware of, i love to paint skullls! I've been having the time of my life completing a series that has always been in the back of my head. The only thing that I am requiring of myself for this series it for each painting to have at least one skull in it :D haha series after my own heart! I was lucky enough to have experience the true magic of a shop in NYC called 'Evolution' where i purchased my skull to photograph. Since every pop art that i do requires me to work from a photo i wanted one that i could take my own reference photos of. Below I will post some of the reference photos that i worked from and then the painting that was inspired by it....hope you like skulls! ps there are many more skull paintings to come!

So i was commissioned to paint this one quite a while back and i was so happy when the day came that i reached it on my waiting list! It consists of two vintage photos, one set of parents to one individual from the couple commissioning it, and the other photo is the other set of parents. Actually, the set on the left is my husbands late grandma and grandpa, makes completing this painting extra special. Both photos were wedding photos which adds a fun element, besides the fact that i LOVE vintage photos. Usually i find it really difficult to paint older photos due to their poor contrasts (usually super high) and lighting, and just the damage that they gather over time with fading, but these photos are actually not that bad. The challenge is to get them all onto one painting without them looking like they are just floating there, create one from two. I think i have come up with a good plan of attack and am fully ready to conquer this commission! ........finished it! 

Well it's all finished! Fianly! I can honestly say that i have been looking forward to this day for a long time. There are just those times, you know the moment you start a certain piece that it will be a LONG ride! It certainly was for this puppy! The background was super tricky for me to decide on. I ended up going with the bright red to pop the Perogie and the skulls. It was totally not how i was picturing it but ya know, that's just how they turn out sometimes. A few people have actually said that the texture reminds them of pomegranate seeds, which i can see as well now! haha - At the bottom i have included some photos of the medium i had to mix up, soooo many containers of it, and also an intense workout for the arm mixing it all up. It so closely resembled icing, wanted to eat some very badly! 

I had been commissioned in the past to do a massive portraits before (ya know that giant Bruce Lee one, 8ftx8ft) WELLL somehow in my fleeting moments of ambition i thought, "how much fun would it be to paint another huge 4 panel painting again?!?!". 
Result = me starting this 4 panel painting of this sweet pooch, Perogie. It's on 4 separate 3ft by 3ft canvases, so not as massive as Bruce Lee but man i tell ya, this one is way more difficult! I really don't know what i was thinking! I know i'm gong to be incredibility happy with it once i'm done it but to 'squeeze' in this painting before i attempt the next one on my waiting list was not the most ideal call (by the way, the next commission consisting of 4 people, 2 separate wedding photographs of each sets of parents from the couple who's commissioning it. Its a pretty intense one since the photos are really old and will require a lot of guesstimating) SO now you can see why i'm asking myself why on earth did i start this 'just for fun' project in the middle of some pretty serious ones! hahah o well! 

Ok, so right now i'm painting the 5th value of my Perogie one. (Side note- a 'value' is just a shade of gray, so if i start with black and add little bits of white to that black each time i tint it and it's a different 'color' its actually a different 'value', just if you're wondering why i call them values) With my style of pop arts i try to get at least 6-12 values of gray in there, the bigger the canvas the more values i can squeeze in there and they always have black and white to. So that means i'm about half way done it. I've enjoyed most of working on it, especially the section of canvas with his adorable wanna-bite-it-off face! What a cutie! 

Today was a tough and challenging day working on it. At that halfway point i almost always wish i never started them, its a beautiful curse a lot of artist are under. So i just have to get over this midway hump, keep pushing though and once i get down to those last two values i'll be looking at it in a different light....... i hope! haha 

The background..... i have given it a little thought, and this is what i'm thinking. Watercolor! I love trying new things on these ones i do for fun so i wanted to try something a little off my beaten path. Well, i lie, I've done it a few times on canvas but nothing in this scale so we will see how it turns out! :P I'm thinking mint green fading into a paynes gray! ooo lalala sexy Perogie!  OOOO man will i ever be cheesed if it ruins the whole portrait of him I've been slaving away on though! Knock on wood! 
So in the meantime here are some progress pictures.....

O and here's the reference photo that i'm using :D please ignore my gross painted up housecoat! 

So i thought this would be a fun and neat idea to keep everyone in the loop on what i am currently working on. Commissions are always on the go for me and i usually squeeze them in between paintings i do for my own interests. WELLL i should reverse that, i squeeze the ones that I want to paint between all the commissions. 

I'll be sharing progress photos (Work In Progress, WIP) a lot on this blog, answering questions that you guys may have, my thoughts on how a pieces is coming along including the struggles; yes almost every piece hits a stage that has me saying "I hate this!" haha. I'll share it all! 

My latest commission was this abstract one, hummmm now that i think of it i never named it! FACT: I totally HATE naming my paintings, haha, i think that is the hardest part of it all, coming up with a name to set it all up, and then i worry that if the name sucks the paintings true 'emotions' will get all buggered up, it causes me some serious anxiety! SOOO if you guys want to toss out names to me for paintings you see me working on i'll very gladly consider them if i think it suites the piece. If anyone has any suggestions on a name for this black, white, gray and silver piece that would be great!!! 

So back to my blurb on this last commission. It was a piece i was given full freedom on, expect for the color palatte. I think this is one of my favorite ways to paint my abstracts. Hearing those sweet sweet words, "I trust you, do whatever you want" is the BEST thing an artist can hear! Whoooo Hoooooo!!!! She had stated that she really loved the piece i did called "The American Dream", my Great Gatsby inspired abstract with the green light, so i kept that in mind throughout it's creation.

I went over to the clients house and looked at her color scheme she had happening in her room that the piece was being commissioned for. We determined the size that would best fit the space and the colors that would work in the piece. 24x48 was the size, on a gallery depth (which means that its a thicker profile canvas, a deeper canvas) and that the edges of the canvas were to be silver since the wall it was going on was painted in an amazing black paint!!!! Loved it, so dramatic! 

So this is the painting i came up with. I mulled it over for a few days and started working on it. Doing these types of 'lined' abstracts are a lot a fun and give me a much needed break from the rigid world of pop art! I think if i was to choose my favorite way of painting, abstract would be it! So much freedom and anything goes. Some people say they see a lake with trees on the horizon, which i totally see, or others say it's just a mass of painted lines. That must be why i like abstract so much to, it's so subjective and no one is right and no one is wrong. 

It was painted in acrylic paint AND i got a wicked new sculpting tool! It's so much fun to use, i'll attach a photo of it below. It's like a rubber spatula that you can use to create textures and lines of depth if you have a lot of medium on the canvas. You can also use it in the kitchen too for stuff haha! I might have to buttercream a cake with it one day!  

Hope you guys like it! It was a success with the client and she loves it!