8 bit calavera show

the autumn society's 8 bit calavera show at groundkontrol in porland, or!  everyone's NES cartridge skulls together to make one giant skull. as much as i would have loved to visit portland, i didn't, but here are some photos from the show.  i'm in love with some of them, excluding mine.. but if you forget what mine looks like, see it again here !

chloe

happy birthday mama! her birthday was technically a week and a half ago... but as many of you know, my mom's love for our dog is far larger than one's love for a dog should be. not really, but she is obsessed. i've made her several chloe drawings/paintings, and since i feel it is a safe assumption that she can't get enough of chloe artwork, i made her her very own chloe kaotic kritter customized vinyl toy! after winning the munny munth contest for two categories (yay! that's excitement, not bragging) i've had lots of kidrobot mini DIY toys lying around and used this as an opportunity to start (and actually finish) one.

i took the body of a raffy and the head of a rooz and made a puppy (you can see the original figure shapes here) by adding clay for her fur, face, sweater, collar, ears, and tail. very simple stuff that i spent two long nights on each night after my mom went to bed before her birthday. 

pre-paint photos:

i felt bad that we weren't celebrating her birthday until the day after so i made her a cake and used the chloe figure as a cake topper to surprise her on her actual birthday. it was amusing

chloe does love the turkey

happy thanksgiving!

happy thanksgiving! for today's special holiday this year, my sister made some pumpkin cupcakes and cream cheese icing and i spent last night decorating them like little turkeys. i'll try to update later with better photos of my little gobblers. the first few i decorated were wretched, but by the end (meaning the last 2 or 3..) i started to figure out a good pattern.  i made the back feathers first, and added the faces last. my original plan was to use brown (or chocolate) icing for the turkey faces (which i predict would have gone horribly wrong), but my brilliant aunt sharon was over last night, who suggested to use hershey kisses. 

luckily my mom had some chocolate chips stored away, which was the next best thing, so i made little faces with icing and stuck them on the feathers. i copy most of my cake ideas from what i find on the internet, one of these days i want to take a cake decorating class so i could maybe learn some real techniques. that way i could come up with my own decorating ideas instead of winging it every time.  enjoy and cherish this delicious day and let the face stuffing begin.

paddles the penguin

paddles! one of many i made for my show at red horse gallery.  i've been posting some recently, but i've been saving my favorites to show as the show opening gets closer. so the next bunch to come just get better and better.  in my opinion at least. so i'm building up the anticipation... for myself, i guess. get excited! opens november 29, reception december 16. get ready for the amazingness of the KAOTIC KRITTERS!

screwball the skunk

screwball the skunk for my show at redhorse gallery. when i sketched him out, i drew him holding a flower, but tim suggested to draw metal nuts instead. i did screws because they are more aesthetically pleasing to my eyes, but kept to the same basic idea. thanks to crappy picture texts, he thought the kritter was a squirrel, hence the nut idea.. and thus the birth of screwball the skunk.  i wish it was a better story.

murder mystery!

recently i was asked by a fellow nottingham high school graduate, mike steele, to borrow some of my artwork for his murder mystery play at our good ol' high school. the play was called "a murderous night at the museum" so of course they needed artwork for their museum. the best part was that it was supposed to be a "bad" museum from what i was told.  joke's on you cause my "bad" artwork all sold. take that!

i was pretty psyched they asked to show my work in their play. i didn't get the chance to see the play, but it seemed to have gone well. the students bought all the prints of my kritters that were borrowed, some fought over the giraffe print, and there's even some interest in commissioning me for work.  which was fully unexpected. so thanks to mike and matt steele, and everyone else who worked hard on this year's nottingham murder mystery! happy to be a part of it. 

a sailor's grave

i stopped by the jerry sailor show to see "a sailor's grave" show.  i really loved the work, and the layout was awesome. i was super happy to have mine displayed on the fishing net, i don't know why that excites me. the store itself and the folks there were very cool. i didn't stay for the opening (or the free rum..) since i was starving and feeling a little under the weather, since i woke up that morning feeling like i got hit by a truck for no reason. very proud to have gotten the chance to be in this show. i think it's one of my favorites, so huge thanks to jeff desantis for the invite!

clunker the horsie

clunker the adorable harmonica-playing horsie! another kaotic kritter i made in preparation for my kaotic kritter show at red horse gallery, opening november 29 (reception dec 16)

i was in love with my inital sketch of clunker, but in my attempt not to use the same colors over and over again for kritter paintings, my mind wandered and he ended up being peach-ish. i love the pink and lime green, but i fear the peach makes him look like a hairless horse. tim, who's not afraid to tell me when i suck, reassured me that he doesn't. i don't believe him..

back to the future

as mentioned yesterday, i'm doing some 3-dimensional back to the future art. two commissioned pieces, which i've already begun, but are now my entire focus until completed. then onto the next project. here are some (crappy) sketches, but a taste of  what's on the way

bonkers the duck

i have recently spent lots and lots of hours painting new kaotic kritters for my show at the red horse gallery, including an owl, penguin, lion, bonkers the duck as seen above, and bunches more... plus by far the greatest kritter of all time, my new favorite painting of all time: sugartooth the panda! boy oh boy do i love sugartooth. get excited. i'll be posting the newbies throughout the next few weeks. kritters can be seen at the red horse gallery at freehold mall starting november 29, with a reception december 16.

also, check back soon for some 3-dimensional back to the future art in very near future!

the sailor's lady

my piece for "a sailor's grave" art show, tribute to normal "sailor jerry" collins.  i'm really excited to be part of this show, especially as a huge tattoo lover, and all of the sailor-jerry-inspired artwork will look awesome together. my piece was actually really challenging for me, and it felt great to have struggled the way i did with this.  i'm not even sure if it looks all that different than my normal work, but it was tough for me to stay with the tattoo style and keep it simple. i think (hope) that it ended up a nice combination of my style and norman collin's style. 

opens friday, november 12 at 8-10pm
sailor jerry store at 116-118 s. 13th street
philadelphia, pa
21+ only, come for the fun art and free rum!

upcoming!

yesterday i had the most productive day in a long time. finally.  my motivation is finally at it's highest which is a wonderful thing considering how much i have to get done.  today i fully finished 3 kaotic kritters and started 2 more for my KAOTIC KRITTER show at the red horse gallery starting at the end of this month (with a reception on december 16, mark your calendar! i'll be posting about that as it gets closer).  i also have been working on other projects/commissions, a piece for the "a sailor's grave" art show (a tribute to norman "sailor jerry" collins) in philly next week, "playtime" art show with the autumn society (a toy drive and fundraiser) in december, aaand, i was invited to participate in an art auction in may with vsa arts of nj. so that's what you have to look forward to seeing from me.

for now i have nothing finished to show (except my kritters, but you have to wait on those), so here is a figure i started customizing for the kaotic kritter series a few months ago.  i got a free toy in the mail, so i'm customizing him. one day i'll finish him. he's a balloon-holding cute-hat-wearing little mini platypus.

8-bit calavera

i'm participating in an art show with the autumn society opening this week for dia de los muertos, where each artist paints/customizes a nintendo cartridge like a skull.  each of the 40 skull NES cartridges will be arranged together to create a bigger calavera design (as shown in the flyer below). i rushed through mine since i had very limited time, and i'm not completely thrilled with it..  but i still like it despite how chubby and goofy it looks.. while attempting to be pretty. then again i don't think i know how to dislike anything i do, whether i know it's bad or not. it's like having an ugly baby that you have no choice but to love.