number fifty-four million six hundred one

"if i knew then what i know now, i wouldn't have had my little accident."

number fifty-four million six hundred one: my beetlejuice piece for the autumn society's 3B show at gallery 1988 venice !  my third and last 3-dimensional piece for the show. with the waiting room background, and in 3D: the gal in half, table, and desk window. since photos do don't the layered paintings any justice, here are images of the different layers, to get a better idea of how the piece looks in person:

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(below, you may notice the 3D effect of the window on the glass raised 1/4" over miss argentina on the background)

this has my absolute FAVORITE pop-art piece to paint, seeing as beetlejuice is one of my favorite movies of all time. it has just always been such a special movie, close to my heart, so much nostalgia, bringing me back to my childhood every time i see it. i desperately wanted to do 3 different scenes for this piece (the singing possession scene, the bring back to life scene, and the afterlife waiting room.) it pained me to choose one, but i had such a distinct vision for the afterlife waiting room in my head, that i just knew i had to do it.

i also had a really hard time with this scene because there was just too much i wanted to include. so many unique and amazing characters that deserve to be highlighted. due to size restrictions, i had to limit the characters illustrated, so unfortunately i was sad to cut out some of the greatest characters ever (the smoker, the employee who got ran over, the camper in the sleeping back with the rattlesnake.) i considered adding them all resulting in cluttered, chaotic scene, but i feel like the afterlife waiting room atmosphere is so calm, quiet, and awkward, that i tried to keep that same vibe in my piece.  so! here we have miss argentina (the wrist slitter), shrunken head dude, chicken bone choker, shark attack victim, and girl in half.

i made up for the exclusion of the other waiting room characters, by adding little subtle details here and there.  mr. chicken bone man above is holding the handbook for the recently deceased! i would have loved to do a piece based on that handbook, but i was excited to have it as a minor detail in my piece. also, i would have loved to do a 3D piece of the sandworm in its environment, so instead i did a mini tribute to the sandworm as a random magazine cover on the table in the waiting room.

i had one more little tribute in my piece. instead of painting the actual paintings that were on the waiting room's walls in the movie, i decided to turn the sculptures made by lydia's stepmother into little paintings (below.) i used some extra texture to make them "pop." i've always loved her sculptures, despite how little i'm normally attracted to abstract art. it may be because they came to life in the end, who knows, but i love them and thought it would be a fun extra touch. i also wanted to note that i gave the walls a ton of texture to give it that same look as in the movie. i was (am) pretty proud of that...

so i hope beetlejuice fans out there love it and appreciate the little things as much as i do! it was one of my favorite pieces ever to make.

hill valley, 2015

"shark still looks fake..."

hill valley, 2015: my back to the future piece for the autumn society's 3B show at gallery 1988 ! sticking with the 3-dimensional painting theme, with marty and the shark painted on glass 1/4" above the town background.  i added a bit more of the 3D touch to the flat background by raising the cafe and jaws signs. here are the individual layers to give a better idea of the piece's look:

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when i found out one of the movies for the 3B show was back to the future, i wouldn't say i was disappointed, but i would have liked to illustrate a new movie, considering i had just done two BTTF commissions. the two commissions i did were from the first and third of the series, so naturally, i took this as an opportunity (and challenge) to complete the set by illustrating a scene from back to the future part 2. my BTTF buff of a boyfriend suggested the 3D jaws scene, so i took it and ran with it.  i watched this specific part dozens of times for reference, and when marty says the "shark still looks fake," i laughed like an idiot every time. fantastic. i wanted to do a little more than just a painting of a cartoony shark, so i pieced together some different elements from that specific scene.  i had no choice but to include cafe 80's since there is nothing i love more than the 80's.

i also added in the antique shop that marty takes a peek in.  it is a teeny tiny piece of the painting, so it was hard to get too detailed, but i made sure to (attempted..) to include the infamous sports almanac. i also noticed a roger rabbit stuffed animal in the window, when i realized robert zemeckis, director of BTTF, also directed roger rabbit, one of my all time favorite movies, so i had to include roger in my piece as well.

i'm pretty excited about marty's color changing cap. while painting his pretty, shimmery, metallicy multi-colored hat from the movie, i realized i had some iridescent paints lying around and they were perfect for a little extra detail. i was a little overexcited about it, but in the end, you could only see the iridescence in the right light, from the right angles.  but it's there!

also, i have posted some photos below to (hopefully) give a better idea of how the 3-dimensional part comes in. you may notice (probably based on the shadows casted) that both the cafe and jaws signs are raised a bit above the painting. just trying to give some more dimension in addition to the paintings on glass.

next up, beetlejuice!

hell gets personal

"theeadoooore! you made your little brother cry!"

 

hell gets personal. my bill and ted piece for the autumn society's 3B show at gallery 1988. it makes me so giddy. another 3-dimensional piece: the pink room background with some raised lamps/dressers.  the fun 3D part: ted and the easter basket painted on glass 1/4 inch above the background.  check out each individual layer below for a better feel of the piece

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i've of course seen "bill and ted's excellent adventure" (and "bogus journey") when i was younger, but it wasn't one of the many movies i lived for that cause tinglies in my tummy when i see it today. to be honest, i couldn't even remember anything about the movies, that's how long it has been since i've seen either. i only remembered a single thing from the movies, not knowing which movie it was from or if it was even in either movie at all. the easter bunny! that creepy, horrifying, monster of an easter bunny. it is literally the only part of either movie i remembered, aside from the repetitive dudes, whoa's, and excellent's. i'm pretty sure i was terrified of this evil bunny when i was younger, at least that's my memory of it. i got hold of both movies to watch for ideas, but i already had the bunny set in my mind (i just had to make sure i wasn't remembering a different movie..) 

in "bill and ted's bogus journey," they're sent to their own personal hell, ted opens a door to find a clean, empty, all-pink room. my heart lit up at the sight of this pretty pink paradise. i was already set on painting this amazing, distorted room when the easter bunny, angry that ted was stealing his brother's basket, comes out and a flood of memories bombarded my brain. it was meant to be, the easter bunny in the pink room. but seriously. that bunny is the spawn of satan. pure evil. i feel so uncomfortable just looking at his face. actually, i feel uncomfortable during both bill and ted's personal hells. blegh.

this time around, i added a little more dimension than just the paintings on glass. you can see the lamp and dresser-thing are both raised slightly above the board. i think you can get a pretty good idea from these pictures and the shadows on how they really look. below is my attempt to show a better idea of how they look in person, but you'll still just have to check them out in person for the full effect!



for those of you have never seen, don't remember, or want to see again.... happy nightmares!

bleghh... he makes my skin crawl