Mixed Media Piece

I just want to share this mixed media piece that I was commissioned to do, it was gifted to my cousin by her husband for their 1st year wedding anniversary :) I wish I were that loved! Hehe...

The piece is created on 24" x 36" (2 x 3 feet) gallery wrapped archival canvas. 

Some close-up shots:

Work-in-Progress

Here is a piece I've been working on...I still haven't quite decided how I want to do her face and the design of the dress and so it remains unfinished.  I was reminded of this piece today while talking to my co-supplier and her sister who are new clients and hopefully, new friends :) at the Wedding Connections store.

This piece is being done with vibrant colors, in the Mexican folk-art style.  And lots of flower doodles. 

Can you guess who she is?

Long Day

Hi! This one will be real quick, its been a long day and an even longer night (slept at 4:30 A.M., only to wake at 5:30 to get the kids up and headed out the door for school by 6:00 AM...then back to sleep for another hour and a half before I needed to get up again to prepare to leave to attend to my space at the Wedding Connections booth inside "Kasalan 2010, Ikalimang Yugto" at SM Megamall.  Hailing a cab was crazy (an hour wait), then traffic was even crazier (3-day sale at SM Megamall equates to total madness!!) Would you believe there was a long line snaking out by the side of the Forever 21 store, complete with bouncers and that yellow tape they use to cordon off the scene of a crime.  Crazy, I tell you.  Even crazier were the people lining up to get in, prices must have been dropped so low.

The good though was that, I bumped into a high school classmate while searching for something to eat for lunch and ended having coffee with her.  Lots of fun eating "merienda" buffet for lunch at 3PM, thanks Pam! And despite the low turn out of event goers this day (I guess they'd rather shop the sales downstairs), I got 2 soon-to-be weds very, very, very interested and excited over my album art (Yay for 2011!)

I'd best get some sleep first and continue everything I need to do tomorrow.

Hugs to you all!

More Doodles

Just some stuff I'm working on...all works in progress...

Penciled drawing... isn't she beautiful? I love her eyes.  Sometimes, I'm afraid to ink in my penciled work because I think I'll ruin it.  Do you sometimes feel that way?

Here she is partially inked in....I still haven't touched the face..quite unsure of how to go about rendering the rest, I'll just play along and let it be a surprise :)

Here's the story behind this.  One day, I was on my way out to deliver a book to a client.  I had a cab called and while waiting for the cab to arrive just sat on my couch and started doing blind contour drawings of anything I could set my eyes on in the room.  Little Miss Potts was the first (she is actually a jug of sorts, but she does sort of look like Mrs Potts in Beauty & the Beast, unintentional of course).  The Worried TV was next, hehe..  my cab arrived.  I wanted to continue drawing in the cab and so I pulled an image out of my mind (maybe the cab driver looked liked that? I dunno?),  but little hairy creature was born.  Ok, like 5 minutes of drawing or doing anything in a moving vehicle is all I could handle (I get dizzy).  I continue the drawing when I get home, the bird is a small figurine I have, the lamp is on my desk and I've got this little blue housing for a hanging lamp sitting on my floor at the moment.  Just adding, and adding...I love pennants and so drew some.  My son was reading beside me and so I decided to sketch him in too.  And yeah, I really wanted a margarita that night but didn't have one (LOL!).  I plan to add some color to this, what do you think?

You Are Enough

Some serious doodling here, and enjoyed every minute of it.  Just the break I needed to fulfill my thirst for some "me-time" doodling which I have not done for what seems like ages. Being that most of the stuff I do is work/client related - it's just not the same.

Inspired by Tracy Clark's "I Am Enough", a self-kindness collaborative.  I started this a month ago, just painting the bird and the words, "You are Enough" and finally finishing it the other day on some much needed self-imposed "me-time".

Drawn on 9" x 11" Acid Free Canson Watercolor pad using watercolors, pigma micron pens, color markers and color pencils.

YES, YOU are Enough.

This is the scanned copy, wouldn't it

look lovely on your wall?

Whirlwind of a Week

It was a whirlwind of a week last week...deadlines and an event over the weekend = No sleep, incommunicado, fatigue and crying spells (yes, I cry when I am so tired I want to rest but cannot, wouldn't you?).  It's far from over mind you, this week is just as filled although not as frantic.  I like to think it is well worth it and my efforts at planting the seeds will bear fruit down the road (and it better be soon, haha).

All this work, but where is the money?? It seems like I am constantly and endlessly being chased by bills to pay, unending home expenses, confronted by new things to invest into marketing and improving my work.  "I will get over that bump soon!" I like to tell myself.  And I believe it.  It is why I cannot stop and constantly push myself to work, work and get things crossed off that long list.  And I know that long list will get even longer the more people I connect with, it's a good problem I'd like to have.   That's my goal, isn't it? Now if only the day could last like 48 hours instead of 24 and I did not have to be plagued by insistent upper back and neck aches.

The highlight of the week was a wedding fair I had the chance to be part of through partnership with Thunderbird Resorts for their booth at the Themes and Motifs Wedding Expo at SMX in Mall of Asia.  I was tasked to create a piece of artwork that would be sent to a silkscreener and that would be used as a backdrop for the booths of their two resorts (Binangonan, Rizal & Poro Point, La Union).

Too bad though, the silkscreen makers here in the Philippines kinda "suck" at silk screening (or maybe there is a good one but we haven't found them yet, suggestions anyone?)  and they could not accommodate the large scale design (to cover the back wall).  So my artwork was not used as backdrop, but it wasn't put to waste though because I had used it to create the table place cards, menu, table seat numbers and label cards.

These are the mood boards I put together (just click to enlarge):

The artwork was all hand-drawn, imported into Illustrator and then colored digitally in Photoshop.

And here are the wonderful photos from the actual event itself (photo credits: Jocelyn Alberto-Henares)

This is the set-up for the Poro Point booth:

 

Beautiful, elegant set-up by Royal Flower Shoppe

 Of course, here are the menu, place cards, table 

cards I designed.  Love seeing them in print!  

 Cake design by Cake Concepts

That's an actual soon-to-be wed talking to 

me about my album artwork, so exciting!

Here is the set up for the Rizal booth:

Menu card, place cards and table cards designed by me :)

Gorgeous flowers by the Royal Flower Shoppe

Cake provided by Cake Concepts, see how they adapted my doodles 

and used it all around the cake, I was pleasantly surprised!

Sample cakes from Cake Concepts, I just love the 

flour-less chocolate cake!!! Super yummy!

All-in-all, it was a good event for me, no on-the-spot bookings but definitely a lot of interest generated + quite a good number of we will definitely get in touch with you to do our wedding album because we love your work! Yay! Of course, these are for weddings happening next year or the year after.  It's a good start for 2011 and 2012, definitely something to look forward to.

How was your week?

A Kiddie Wall Mural

Here is a wall mural I'm currently making...it's a FJ Cruiser and a Mini Cooper...it's for a child's room, and he is just crazy about cars..so cute :)

Do you see how big the cars are? Practically the whole wall for the FJ Cruiser.  Not quite done yet, but almost there, I'm quite excited to see the look on his face.