mr. grubtini process

you've seen the clay process of mr grubtini, now here's part of the painting process. painted him in pieces.  the vest i painted last, and i originally painted it with an orange bowtie, pinstripes, pockets, and buttons.  i finished, snapped on the head and arms and was utterly disappointed.  i had spent a huge amount of time on the vest so i flat out refused to redo it and felt ungodly upset. that lasted about 15 minutes before i started painting again. tried pink and loved it

all painted pre-accessories

 all painted, with accessories!

i was going to post the process before the result but i got too excited and posted him first.  i entered the munny contest ("like" mine!), and to my disappointment, my entry pictures cut off his feet/tail.  trying to fix it. i'm pretty psyched to have my munny looked at by the celebrity judges panel... even more excited for my second munny (still in progress). i don't know if mine fits into any categories to win, but i'm still of course going into this hoping to win, but not even remotely expecting to. there are some pretty fabulous entries. however, in my mind, he's the best. but how could he not be to me, knowing all the time, energy, and passion put into it. to prefer someone else's is seriously like pushing out your first newborn and wanting to take home your neighbor's baby.  

mr. grubtini!

mr. grubtini is all done! i'm excited and i think he is very handsome.  i love him and i hope you do too. his monocle is a magnifying glass, i was hoping for some distortion but it ended up just looking like normal glass once against him. fine by me, i'm just happy it worked out and i was able to make it and attach it to him exactly how i had planned.  sweet delicious grub martinis.. grubtini.. mmm..

i submitted him to the contest, but i don't really fit in any categories, so we'll see how that goes. i'm way past having a chance for "most likes" but it would still be cool to have some people "like" it.. some people, such as you. please go here and "like" mr grubtini! http://sites.kidrobot.com/munnymunth/entries.php


 i have another one in progress, hopefully he'll be done in time.  come back tomorrow to see some process shots/info of mr. grubtini and more lovey dovey thoughts about how much i adore him

munny munth!

munny contest for munny munth! i've entered munny customizing contests before, but this is the biggest of the biggest.  there are tons of categories to win for, plus random other prizes. however! the grand prize is to design a dunny in 2011's dunny series. that is amazing. not to mention the celebrity judges are some amazing artists and toy designers, including my favorite amanda visell.  so whether or not winning is my intention, the whole idea of this and how big it seems to be is pretty damn awesome.  just to have these artists seeing my work is great, and i'm psyched to see who's chosen for the dunny series (MEEE...or hopefully a flat-out "nobody," a talented nobody.. because that would make it worthwhile)  i finished sculpting mr. grunbtini and now i just need to paint him and finish up his accessories.  he's pretty fantastic, but what kind of mother doesn't think her newborn is fantastic? judge as you will. but check out process/progress!

update 2:30 pm: i came up with an idea tday for another munny. i got excited and started before even really thinking about it. so we'll see how that goes and if i finish in time for the contest... 6 days

clowntastrophe!

my circus punk is all done for the clowntastrophe show! some info about the show:

"This years main event will be held at the Delicious Sideshow - a new "only for the guys" satellite store of Delicious Boutique located at the Piazza in Northern Liberties. (There will be also art and HUGE SAVINGS at the Liberties Walk Location.)

Paul Palcko, Bird Reynolds, and Monique Ligons will display paintings of "Sideshow" personalities at the "Sideshow" location.  As if that is not enough, there are about 30 additional artists, who have painted carnival "knock down" dolls, AKA "circus punks"

Special performances by Pavvel the accordion player, magic by TrickZone, Model and Mingle with ladies of Delicious Corsets, AND members of The Olde City Sideshow! This is going to be crazy. "

Thanks to Philadelphia Weekly for sponsoring the event this year! check it out! 

and just for fun here's my punk pre-fur:

Saturday, June 26th. 6-10pm

Circus punks at:

Delicious Boutique & Corseterie

1040 N. American St. #901

and paintings at:

Delicious Sideshow (on the piazza)

2nd St and Germantown Ave

Philadelphia, PA 19123

plus schedule of events:

Art events all around the Piazza are happening the same day/night (Jinxed/Toothless Cat, Amberella!) We're all friends here!!

6-8pm-Welcoming accordion music by Pavvel.

8pm-Performance by Olde City Sideshow.

9pm-Performance by the band Mischief Brew.

ART ALL NIGHT!

here is where ART ALL NIGHT took place.  huge gorgeous warehouse, full of lots of art and lots of people. this picture was taken after our first 3 hour shift between 6-7 pm on saturday, and the crowd just got bigger. i spent my first shift from 3-6 pm with tim at the door greeting guests, stamping hands, and handing out raffle tickets. loud live music, muggy air, sweaty bodies, buttloads of confusion, enthusiasm, and fun times.  the second shift at 12am-3am wasn't quite as exciting. very crowded at midnight which was awesome, but slowly emptied out. this time we spent the 3 hours "watching art", aka answering questions, keeping handsy drunk people off the artwork and reporting any problems. i basically did nothing except talk to random people and bump into some familiar faces. to my disappointment, there were very few drunk incidents for my entertainment... but i guess that's a good thing for the sake of the event.  here are more pictures from the show:

click photos to enlarge!

my pretty painting!

tim roselle's bike chair, made fully out of an old bike (with the help of richie hopkins)

tess pin up by will clark (middle picture)

check out his very funny webcomics http://www.laughingboycomics.com/

my cousin kelsey calcagni's drawing (top right)

she's just out of highschool and an awesome artist

and my momma patricia tararuj's watercolor flowers (middle bottom, purple matte)

her 3rd ever watercolor painting and it's perfect....and watercolor's tough. i get my talent from my mommy.

happy father's day!

remember for mother's day i made my momma a drawing of some elephants?  i felt it was appropriate to show my dad the same gratitude for being my pops, by drawing this for him.  those of you who know my family know my dad doesn't stop eating. ever. it's a wonder he's not 600 pounds. when i say he's constantly eating, i am not exaggerating. those of you who know us, also know my sisters and i are pigs who also don't know how to stop and breathe when there is food in front of us, especially the not-so-healthy bad junk (aka the good stuff). 

so here's daddy with his 3 little piggies. papabear who loves to stink up the house with those vile burritos, nicole the fattest (meaning oldest) piggie eating chocolate who spazzes out about how many calories are in my mom's dinner but searches endlessly for chocolate immediately afterwards, dl the middle sized piggie eating veggies since she actually tries to eat healthy, and i'm the piggie on top eating popsicles and ice cream since we can't have a box of popsicles in my house for more than 2 days as long as i'm around. 

this will be a painting one day also.

ART ALL NIGHT!

ART ALL NIGHT!  3pm Saturday, June 19 - 3 pm Sunday, June 20, 2010. 24 straight hours of art and entertainment. i think art all night is a fantastic idea/event, giving people the opportunity to show their work to a huge crowd, especially those who have never shown and never would otherwise. this is the event's 4th year, and my 3rd year participating.  regretfully i've never attended during the whole rush or peak hours, where apparently it gets super crazy, but this year i'm volunteering for 2 shifts, so maybe i'll get to experience some craziness. another reason i love the art all night concept is because literally anyone can submit work.  one piece, free, 24 hours.  that means while you're walking through the gigantic and beautiful building you'll see such a large variety of work: a 4 year olds first drawing to a still life of apples to photographs of the ocean to insane ginormous paintings of people, places, things, fantasy, cartoons, boobs, octopus, realistic, surreal, boring, exciting, crappy, phenomenal, nonsense, everything!  there's so other place to see that much variety in one spot.  http://www.artworkstrenton.org/artallnight/

my submission this year! i loved the drawing i did a while back, and i wanted to paint it.  thought this would be a good time to do so. here's the original drawing, progress shot, finished painting, and detail. i love seeing sketches/drawings turned into paintings 

 as a volunteer i'm not technically supposed to socialize too, tooooo much, but those of you planning to attend, at least come say hi while i'm in action 3pm-6pm saturday, or 12am-3am sunday!

artsy fartsy room

i got a new cell phone that's way more complicated than i like, and i think i hate it (i hate technology). but there is a camera feature where it can take panoramic photos by mending them together. so i thought it would be kind of cool to show where all the magic happens. my poor excuse for a "studio." you'll get a bigger view by clicking each photo.  come back tomorrow to find out about art all night, happening this weekend saturday 3pm- sunday 3pm !

the 90's show!

here are just a few quick photos taken at the 90's show opening on friday (6/4).  take a look back at close ups of my 90's pieces here.  the show was awesome.  my favorites were the mystery science theater pieces, you can see them best in the second picture probably.  fun times in philly, getting ready for july's 80's toy show!

muddy mudskipper!

this was supposed to be posted monday at 12 am.. but i screwed up.. but no use in wasting a perfectly good post.

happy monday! i'm not here today, but i didn't want to leave my loyal fans with no fun art, after cheaping out on last week's posts.  so this is today's futuristic post.  i'm still living in the past (saturday) writing this. i spent the night in atlantic city last night, leaving no time today for a fresh post. however, a cheap hotel room with free le grand cirque tickets?! i'm all over it, despite the fact that i have way more important things i should be doing. who wants to make bets that the hotel doesn't give us a wheelchair accessible room?  hint: they almost never do.  let the betting begin!  winner gets free drawing. unless more than one person wins.

no time for real artwork but here is a quick sketch on illustration board i did of muddy mudskipper. in celebration of the 90's show (check for pictures of the show tomorrow).  i'm not crazy about him, but hey he's just a sketch. if anyone is interested in possibly owning mr. mudskipper, please speak up and maybe, just maybe i'll have a contest to win him.  (contest or not, i'm just looking to get rid of him)

also, i get that this is an art/SCI blog, but it mostly revolves around art. i constantly have things to say about SCI...not right now.. but i'm hoping to open my mind and bombard you more frequently with crazy SCI facts and SCI experiences both art and non-art related. 

today's post was a jumble of too many weird and unrelated thoughts.  enjoy your day!

EDIT 6/17:  random drawing sometime next week to win muddy mudskipper! let me know if you want in!

the mottiella pterodactyl

i've been a little distracted by art and life....so much to your disappointment, i've had limited updates this week. however! here is a commissioned painting i finished for a friend's birthday.  portrait of the birthday boy as a pterodactyl, in his favorite sweater. oh, he's such a cute little dino.  i feel (and hope) that the overall look of my kaotic kritters have improved since i started them in 2008, and i hope they will continue to improve.  so, here are some of the first dino kritters i did a while back for your viewing pleasure.

update at 2:30 am.  i'm not exactly sure how, but i started changing the look of my blog... and before i knew it, i can't get back to my original look.  i don't fully like it as of now but will be working to get it perfect.. bear with me until i find the time please.  damn me.

clowntastrophe sneak peek

sneak peek!  these are all the blank circus punks for the clowntastrophe show.  i was thrilled to pick one up and design my own, especially since i've seen and admired plenty of other well-known artists' renderings. plus, i love to have new experiences with art, especially different shapes to paint. 

and here above is my finished sketch on paper

as well as the sketched-on punk.

as of today, my circus punk is fully painted, and i think i might be beyond in love with it.  all that's left to do is the fur around the edge.  pictures posted soon once 100% complete!

check out the clowntastrophe philadelphia weekly promo page!  http://www.philadelphiaweekly.com/events/Clowntastrophe-95341249.html

and the clowntastrophe blog of course: http://www.clowntastrophe.blogspot.com/

busy busy busy

buuuuh. june is an insane month for me.  i have way too many deadlines with way too high of ambition for all the things i want to complete by the end of the month. i've never actually missed a deadline so i don't plan to now.  i worried about having time to finish everything i want to while maintaining good quality work (and my sanity), but i'm determined, so it's happening.  i'm excited to be making my first circus punk for the clowntastrophe show.  a munny (possibly multiple..) for the awesome munny contest for munny munth.  also, researching (and reliving my childhood) to prepare for the autumn society's 80's toy art show in july! aaaand, art all night is coming up in a few weeks.  june 19-20 is 24 hours of art and entertainment! i'll be volunteering this year, where i should probably try to make some contacts, but too bad i'm too socially awkward and completely incapable of marketing myself.

 the above painting was my submission last year to art all night, where, to my excitement, it sold.  whether or not mine sells this year, i'm always excited to have my work shown and to have lots and lots of people see it.