Art All Night Sneak Peek

Progression of my piece for this year's Art All Night in Trenton this Saturday-Sunday 3pm-3pm.

I always love seeing other people's processes so i thought i'd share mine.

Added a few finishing touches and a frame.  Will post soon :) 

art without borders preview

here's a little preview of my piece for the Art Without Borders show at Art Whino! 

Carnigator (with real alligator teeth!)

live painting at the taj mahal

as i briefly mentioned, i recently completed my first live painting at the casbah nightclub in the taj mahal in atlantic city, nj. not only was it the largest painting i've done in years, but it was also timed while i competed against other artists. only an hour and a half for a 3ft by 5ft painting. it was nerve wrecking considering i've never done anything live before or a painting of that size in such a short time.  the pressure made it more exciting and it was an absolute blast. seeing as the canvas was about as tall as me, i was worried about being able to physically paint it.  i was grateful to have my handy dandy helpers pick it up onto the easel so i could paint the bottom, and drop it to the ground so i could paint the top, and back and forth and back and forth. i couldn't have done it without them! thank you team lavarubber and sister dearest nicole!

competing against 2 other artists in the "art battle," we each had 45 minutes with a 15 minute break, followed by the final 45 minutes. crowds of people surrounded us, but luckily i had my back facing so i had no idea just how many people watching me there actually were.  i surprisingly ended up finishing with a good amount of time to spare.  i painted a one-eyed girl genie, i felt it would be best considering the size and time limit. plus, i have been wanting to make a larger scaled painting of a 1EG for some time. people loved it. the crowd voted for the winner by giving their favorite painting a card, whoever received the most cards wins. i was thrilled when at the end, people were just tossing them at me and showering me with compliments. i did end up winning, which was awesome. the best part about this was for the remainder of the night and the following day, at the club, the casinos, the hotel, tons of people came up to me to talk about my painting. i was thrilled to have my artwork, especially my 1EG (my favorite to paint), get so much positive attention. it was pretty amazing. i am looking forward to my next live painting (thanksgiving eve...? details soon!)

the finished piece:

the following day, the 3 paintings were set up at the expo for a silent auction.  i was psyched to have my piece quickly bid on and sold :)

tar zombie

i made a super quick last minute piece for the RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD charity show this weekend. i decided to practice some more woodburning, with stains and touch of acrylic, illustrating the hilarious TAR ZOMBIE!

1.                                     2.

3.                                 4.

1. sketch  2. woodburning.  3. acrylic  4. stains

Mini art show based on the cult-classic 80s movie "RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD" (http://youtu.be/wylpeAXYcBQ). The show is being set up as a charity fundraiser for actress, Jewel Shepard (who played Casey in the movie), who has been recently diagnosed with breast cancer. This show will take place on October 22nd @ Dark Delicacies (Burbank, CA).  Clu Gulager (Burt) and Jewel will be at the show, and rockstar Illustrator William Stout (www.williamstout.com) will be donating an original illustration as well.

golden pig preview

sneak peek of the GODLEN PIG TROPHY for the winner of the flame-off glass blowing competition at the C.K 2011 wholesale expo. i'll post the full trophy later on (complete with a glass blown base and photos of my first wonderfully awkward experience blowing glass). i was super excited to have the opportunity to create the trophy (thanks to jason harris and mike at lava rubber!)

i'll be doing some live painting at the event afterparty, also battling against 2 other painters. my first

live painting..

liberation skate

a while back i met kelsey arcoleo at a show i participated in. kelsey is the wonderful head of liberation skateboards. we chatted about his company and my art, and i'm psyched to get to collaborate with him. as part of their first "collaborative artist series, 2011" i made a design for one of their new boards. i can tell kelsey's always got his brain going with great ideas and constantly has things going on. i'm honored to be a part of something so genuine and passionate!

"liberation skateboards is an east coast bred label in skateboarding that is branded to represent freedom of expression through individualism and originality. we strive to provide a sense of release from the falsities that are given to skateboarding and a look at the creative and fruitful nature of it. we believe skateboarding is the soul of innovation, determination, and construction. skateboarder run and owned, we've come to the scene to deliver satisfactory freedom through honest and merit. out ethics are focused on keeping the true essence of skateboarding alive and nothing less."

browse around liberation skateboard's wesbite. there's info, news, products, etc and don't forget to check out the "TEAM" page, where you'll find the "ART" page, where you'll find a beautifully written (by kelsey) bio about me. i was touched by it and it makes me happy to read a bio about myself that i don't get embarrassed by. 

i'm not going to lie. i was a little nervous designing this since i've never done anything like this before. but i just kept to what and how i'd normally paint. hopefully i can continue to do this type of thing in the future, where i'll become a little more loose and get a little more frisky risky.

Pro Skateboard Shop now has Liberation Skateboards's "Collaborative Artist Series, 2011" boards at 1108 Main Street, Belmar, NJ and 702 Arnold Avenue, Point Pleasant, NJ. Swing by and get the one of a kind collection designed by the talents of Doug Z, Kasey Tararuj, and Mike Sledziona!

 Now at Standard Skate Shop, 76 Main St., Woodbridge, NJ is the Liberation Skateboards "Collaborative Artist Series, 2011" collection! North Jersey skateboarders, you should be visiting this finer skate shop to get these new rides while you can!

 more info on the boards and liberation skateboards soon !

munny crazed

happy memorial day!  things haven't calmed down quite yet, but they should be soon and i'll get back on track with more art to show. this friday is the autumn society's awesome shell-shock (a ninja turtles art show & tribute) at brave new worlds. here's to hoping i finish my piece in time!

just for fun and so i don't get too comfortable with not updating:

i love the way all my customs look together. not the greatest photo or set up, but it still makes me giddy. i always enjoy seeing other artist's process shots, so below is a photo i took on one of my long customizing nights of working on 8 different figures at once. i'm aching to make more!

munnyworld graveyard

it's a munnyworld graveyard!

busy, busy.....

http://sites.kidrobot.com/munnyworld-megacontest/

piknik's booboo

this is piknik, and he was stung in his fat little nose for screwing around in mr. pokey's flower garden. how can you not love that goofy big bear face? i feel so bad for his doofy self. bearter luck next time, piknik! (...no good?) i have finally started to use the layered acrylic idea for paintings other than movie scenes. i'm starting off small and slow, but here is the first kaotic kritter 3D painting, "piknik's booboo"! here are the layers separated below, to better understand how the painting looks in person (click for larger images):

piknik the bear is the background painting, with the flowers and mr. pokey the bee on glass raised about an inch above the background. i swear these 3D pieces are impossible for me to take decent photos of. in the below photos, you can get an even better feel for the depth since you can see the actual shadows casted. 

originally when i started the layered acrylic paintings, i was painting directly onto the glass. it was a little more difficult to paint on than other surfaces, but still easily done. i started to fear the possibility that the glass could break and all my hard work would be lost and i'd have to start from scratch to repair and restore back to it's final (amazing) state. instead, i've started to paint on canvas paper. not only has it decreased my frustration and time, but in the event that the glass somehow breaks, i'll be able to take the pieces and replace them on new sheets of glass instead of re-painting the whole thing. i'm a genius. (or an idiot for not thinking of that in the first place.) the only issue is that i need to make sure to cut patiently and carefully. on this particular one, the edges aren't completely perfect thanks to my stressing out late one night to finish in time. (this is another piece for the upcoming auction with vsa arts of new jersey.)

enough of the boring explanation talk. onto my personal thoughts: piknik's booboo was a special kaotic kritter to create. for the first time in a very long time, i collaborated with tim in designing the piece. we hadn't planned on designing together, but when i was bothering him for suggestions, it just kind of happened. i think that we work well together in designing them. someone needs to tell him to get his act together and to join forces with me on a more regular basis on the kaotic kritter phenomenon!

i know they're just little cartoons, but i genuinely love creating and painting every character you see and will ever see from me.

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

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