BLUE WINS!

In honor of the inauguration I decided to post this image, which I had started at the beginning of the race but never got around to finishing (it's now as closed to finished as I think it'll be for me)...Obama is very motivating! Gobama!

Earth's Hiss

While reading an article in Discover magazine about the Earth's hiss - one of the top science stories of 2008, this image kept popping into my head. This is the resulting doodle.

The Earth's hiss is a "mysterious electromagnetic wave surrounding the earth that, when played through a loudspeaker, sounds like hissing and swishing between tracks on a scratchy vinyl record." It was formerly known as "the chorus." Fascinating! (It's really just a giant alien snake monitoring the earth, hence the hissing)

Victim

I don't plan on posting non-art stuff a habit, but sometimes I think it's good to get a little perspective on things. I recently found out that my good friend from high school, who was always so loyal, was gunned down in front of her home New Year's Eve, being an innocent victim of a senseless crime. She leaves behind her young son.

I regret not keeping better in touch with her, and I had just messaged Merry Christmas to her a few days earlier, which makes it more surreal. She had supported me with her attendance at my dad's funeral just last year. I would never think I'd be attending hers so soon. Please keep her family in your thoughts and prayers. You never think these things would happen so close to home and when they do, they remind you of how precious life is and how fortunate we are. Thanks.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone! I wish you all the best for the upcoming year! I posted a piece I just did of our dog, Tanuki, as a gift for my mom's b-day tomorrow because 1)"It's not how much you earn, it's how much you spend" 2)"Inspiration unused is merely entertainment," (both quoted from my Automatic Millionaire book) 3) It's so much more personal...plus saving money, esp. right after Christmas and graduation is definitely a good thing.

This covered all the bases, esp. as I've been inspired to do a dog portrait with a different technique. I scanned in different colored tissue papers and tried a more irregular approach than my vector stuff. Any comments or suggestions are appreciated as I'd always like to improve upon this technique. Thanks!

The Meaning of Life

I've come across this recently and thought I'd share it:
What is the purpose of life? To live.
What is the meaning of life? To help others.
What is the fact of life? To suffer.

LEO

Some pics of some spreads of my pop-up book LEO about my red-eared slider.

Greedy Greg

Some pics of some spreads of my 32 page interactive pop-up book about Greg, a selfish pig whose bad manners upset the whole class.

Graduating.....

I'll be graduating soon.....December 13! But I'll be in the requisite Art Center Grad Show the night before on Friday, December 12 from 7 - 10 pm. All are welcome and this image above, hand-etched and printed with six linocut blocks on the letterpress will be handed out (no two are alike!), as well as some other leave-behinds. This image, a fox sparrow, is part of my ongoing series on Southern California birds and I'll post more as soon as I can. Thanks!

WOO!

Yay! It's out....I was fortunate enough to get into American Illustration. Congrats to everyone who got in.

Open Market

I was able to participate in One Colorado's Open Market this year, on October 12, which is part of Pasadena Art weekend. It was great to see all the different work of fellow artists and designers and it was a really great turnout this year! I had participated in the past with only a handful of tables but there were well over 100 artists participating this year. This event comes only twice a year and I believe the next one is in March so mark your calendars and I'll try to post the date when I find out. It's generally always held on a Sunday from 10 am to dusk. Thanks to all those who came to support us! I was selling framed prints of my Death in Nature series (bottom two above are examples from the series) as well as framed prints of some of my children's book illustrations, and The Birds series. I did much better than expected and actually sold out of my ducks (above), sparrows, and my children's book stuff! Thanks to all those who supported me with a purchase! It was very encouraging. I got lots of helpful suggestions, like requests to do rabbits and lions, and to print the images on t-shirts. I highly recommend fellow Art Center students/alumni to participate as it's a really fun event and I invite everyone to attend as it's FREE, fun, and you get to see and score never-before-seen artwork from some really cool young artists. I definitely plan to participate again next time.