This piece was inspired by the Flemish mannerist style and the work of NJ artist Jay Adler. Mannerism encompasses a lot if different styles from the 15th century ranging from true realism to foreshadowed figures that look quite odd in certain positions. The flems contorted figures in an extreme way which broke away from the traditional realism of the times. They were innovators during a time when people were set in their ways especially in the arts. This is the type of of art I enjoy. Thought provoking wildness that breaks rules..

(Why am I not a graffiti artist?)

The artwork of Jay Adler is a great example of this. He is known in the art world as a surf artist. He paints images of surfers, beautiful waves, and scenery. This subject matter rarely diverts from this ideal, but a recent painting tells a different story. He continued to corrupt the Vitruvian Man's attributes by stylizing body parts like a funny caricature while entertaining the idea if love. His painting is of two figures; a man and a women. They are holding each other as their limbs stretch further and further around each other as if to get the strongest and tightest hold possible.. A bond.. Physical and chemical.

My creation is drawn in a very similar style but my subject is very different. I drew a basic outline and pushed the limits of each attribute to form an interesting fluid shape for each body part. I made the mistake of outlining my sketch with microns before I was completely satisfied with an idea which came back to bit me in the you know what. Near her nipples, you can see a harsh outline of a layer of hair I wanted to omit from the drawing but instead, I accidentally outlined. Unfortunately, color pencils could not hide this and I knew this before attempting to. I was positive that I didn't want this area accented and I just decided to leave it as is. I'm hoping to apply paint, oil markers, or an opaque medium to conceal these lines later but for now, and before I ruin it any further, I will leave it be.
A couple days later...
So I tried using a razor blade to shave off the areas with the unwanted marker and it lessened the blow a bit. I also used Sharpie poster paint markers to conceal the lines even more but the glossy texture created by the colored pencils negated much of this attempt. For what it is, I think it's hidden pretty well and it's not so much of an eye sore now, although it still bothers me.. A lot. Overall, it was a fun little project that distracted me from some mandate portion of my life so thanks Art.

After winning the nationwide munny contest for AB I received an email from the marketing department asking me if it would be okay to obtain usage rights on my design to be published on "how to demonstrations" and ads regarding these sculptures. I was ecstatic and agreed. The gentleman also asked if I would be interested in designing a 20" Munny which AB would pay me to do and of course I agreed to this also. He went on to say that there are two other "world renown artists" creating 20" munnies which will be given away as prizes near the end of November to which mine will accompany and be "raffled" as well.  That sounds awesome!

I stared at this sculpture for a long while before I could actually cut, paint, design, or even touch him for that matter.  He seemed extremely monumental compared to the small 7" munny which scared and excited me simultaneously.  I decided to start at his base by cutting away areas of his stomach.  My original 2-D design, located near the bottom of this post, called for a blunt opening with a painted surface much like wood paneling or veneer mouldings.  As I started transferring my 2-D design to this 3-D sculpture, things began to change.  I decided to make the positive space resemble a picked white fence to contradict the visual and emotional feel of an urban area.  As I cut away areas, with an utility knife, I noticed that the upper portion of the chest took the form of a human rib cage which birthed my idea to make it all about the birds.

The bird cage lead me to believe that I would eventually put bars inside the opening and fill it with candy that people cannot get in honor of Halloween.  At this point, I was going to title my work, " No Treats for Tricks!"  Unfortunately this did not happen.  I could not figure out a way to fabricate the bars strong enough to survive a UPS man's hands all the way to Texas, and I did not want to buy a bird cage just for the small elevating door.. boo.  Oh well..  moving on.

The first pictures below were taken after my first session with the munny.  I spent about seven hours completely dedicated and involved with thinking, cutting, and painting that I never documented each process.  I adapted the bricks idea from my smaller munny mentioned above and I decided to make him an entire building in honor of the ten year anniversary of 911. RIP  The bricks were painted using a one-point perspective to convey depth and the idea of a possible explosion or erosion.  This hole would eventually be the perfect place for my bird's nest's candy dish!?            




The Shrinky Dinks have arrived!!  I obtained $40 worth of crystal clear so hopefully you will see more of this product in other pieces I do in the future. First, I cut 5" x 7" rectangles.  I used a utility knife to create scratches and breaks in the plastic to resemble broken glass.  I used alcohol inks to transparently weather both sides of the windows by direct application prior to or post shrinking.  I actually recorded a video of this so I will add that soon.  They really do shrink somewhere around three times its original size.  I layered two pieces together to create two window panes, allowing me to illustrate different broken layers shown in the photo on the right.  Here is where the alcohol inks came in handy by transparently dying the 'glass' yellow to look dirty, old, and gross.  I really like the effect they achieved.

Tags. Munny took the shape of a plain and boring building uninterrupted by the rattles of skilled craftsmen.  I am no graffiti artist but I really do appreciate the art form.  It is amazing what some people can do with a spray can and a set of caps.  I never tagged illegally but I did have a very large window in my backyard that my buddy Steve and I used to hit up.  I enjoy spray painting but it's just so messy.  This was a relatively clean water-based expression.  I develpoed small tags and characters to enhance my idea of an urban building. I wrote things like, "Adult Human" to poke fun on kidrobot .  Other words: R.Senal, Sick, Tweet, Graphiti, Memo, etc.  I started running out of ideas and transplanted older drawings and art I have completed in the past such as my self portrait pumpkin carving, stick figure guy, etc. It was a cool paint down memory lane.  That's a lie.  It was a cool
'drawing' down memory lane.
I used a product that I was unfamiliar with which is always fun, frustrating, and most of all "out of the box.".  The tags and graf art were all created by chalk inks.  They are non-toxic, food safe, and most importantly acid-free felt tip marker that produce super vibrant colors to attract the eyes.  The pigment seems to jump off of any surface you put them.. and they go on anything!  This is why places like Starbucks or Trader Joe's use these markers for their signage.  They are very similar to poster markers since they are water-based and can be used on a variety of non-porous surfaces such as glass, plastic, or metal.  In the back of  my mind, I was very weary of what would happen to this medium during the varnishing process but I chugged along and pretended to forget about it.



After using the white chalk ink marker to touch up the mourter between the bricks, I varnished the entire project in matte acrylic spray; minus the bird n hay. I also taped off the body and head to gloss the blue area (cracked egg/cracked sky/cracked glass.. "lightning"<--fighting word)


Munny Goes Electric?
I totally forgot that I had incorporated a light in my original design.  Anyway, I checked Home Depot during my last trip for a motion activated, battery powered light that I could fit inside munny for the candy dish idea.  As people tried to corral the candy through the jail cell style bars, which were never added) a LED light work turn on to startle them.  I gave up until the last minute. After I finished him, took pictures, and put him in the box to ship I noticed a ceramic turtle on my girlfriend's sister's headboard that seconds as a night light.  It has been under my nose the whole time.  This version was a 7W bulb that did get hot to the touch.  I was worried about the foam in munny's head starting a fire so I went to Home Depot again to ask some questions.  I found the same wire set up but replaced the 7W bulb with a 0.25W LED that stays cool no matter how long you run it.  I tested the bulb when I got home for an hour to make sure.

This piece was proposed by my good friend Laura for a business she is building called "Handmade with Love." We talked about her idea and things tinkered in my skull..  It started out as a quick sketch for a business card but after I added some color with markers, pencils, and acrylics it really sparked my interest. She asked me to do this for her on September 1st and an hour or two later I sent her back this image. Although it was not something she expected, she was still blown away by the turn around and very interested in the idea. Before and after seeing the image I created she wanted to finish it with the words "With Love.". I figured this was unnecessary and just signed it "LOVE" instead. Kids, always follow directions!          
When you are creating anything a purpose or for someone else it can be difficult.  Our perceptions, no matter how clear and concise a discussion, will vary in some ways.  The things I see in my head are guaranteed to be different than what the other person is expecting.  Sometimes I get too involved with projects like this and forget about time.. and work and work and work until I have something, wether it be their vision or not. This was one of those times. She liked my idea a lot and now wants to to write "with Love" in the same manner.. Well, she wanted that from the beginning but now.. using art and craft supplies.

I think we should simplify this idea by writing out the word "Handmade" with a detail brush. It's clean and clear and under control..

While walking to my mailbox, this guy was just waking up under my sneaker.  I it start to chug along at the last possible second to save him.  We were good!  He was inches from the bottom of my shoe and I must say that we are both glad that did not happen.

So here is the story. My mailbox is approximitly 300 yards from where I saw him. I walked back and forth within the time it took him to create this one inch slim mark. Granted, i do walk pretty fast but being that slow really has to suck the big one.                                                    

Note to self.. 'If reincarnation does exist, opt out of snail'

A funky collaboration with Natalie. After a couple successful hand-offs of the sketchbook, this drawing started to resemble a gerbil.  Lemmi Wink's cousin was born.

I'm not sure if it is done or not. I have to ask Nat but either way I had fun and I'm glad Natalie was there to create this with me :)

I think this is the second time I have mentioned COD on my blog. I'm not a gamer anymore but something about Infinity Ward still tickles my fancy.  Most users create disturbing images of death or prejudice which is not cool.  Even less interesting individuals get a kick out of objectifing and degrading women, but some create detailed comic book characters. They turn into a repeating song after a month but kudos to the originator.  I try to create art with the assigned images.  Colorful landscapes and positivty, which is a complete contradiction to the game.  Some people message props or bluetooth (v) good words.  Thanks randoms.  This one on the other hand, is more somber and still in mourning..

Well I cannot rearrange photos on this mobile blogger app so For now I will just post and I'll worry about format another day. At least I can get some art out into the world and hopefully influence someone on the Internet machine.

This small 5" x 7" pen and ink drawing is a cubist representation of Pablo Picasso. Picasso and Georges Braque were the inventors and originators of the cubism movement. Picasso, more so than Braque, is the staple to cubism and has inspired me and millions of other artists over the past century. My favorite artist Marcel Duchamp, a cubo-futurist known for the fourth dimension of art and, in my opinion, the most important piece to art, the power of titles and the ability to explain art, is included.

Anyway, this drawing was completed in three sessions. The first two photos are micons in black only. I began adding sepia microns and a white and a black prismacolor pencil near the final phase if the drawing; adding an aged look to the portrait.. Or whatever you would call it. Although it is not cubist by definition, it is still abstract enough to be considered as such. And again, I will eventually revamp and reorganize these mobile posts to be congruent with past entries. As always, thanks for checking in.

Hello folks,
It's been a little while. I'm in the process of moving and I packed my computer almost a month too early. This is why I haven't posted anything. But good news! I just downloaded the blogger app for my iPhone so I can blog on the go. I haven't explored the app so I'm not sure about providing links to references, other images, etc. I basically just want to see how this goes before I get into all that. I hope I can move images around and use my typical blog set up to keep it uniform. Let's see..

This is a tiny portrait I did of my girlfriend. I fell in love with Natalie's FB profile picture and I wanted to paint it. I had an extra baby canvas from my AB Munny project so I went for it and was very happy with the result. I will post the original image when I get my computer up and running again. Thanks for reading!

This is an old post that was lost.. not in translation.. but in relaxation.  This image is also referred to in the post prior to this one (Natalie Meets Tom).  I couldn't post this at the time of completion because it was before Father's Day and I didn't want to ruin the surprise.  This is why I forgot about these last two posts.

This commissioned project was for my friend's wife.  She wanted a Father's Day gift that meant something special for my old friend Hanks.  She told me how she felt about him in a short paragraph and I took it from there.  Being sneakerheads, I figured nothing could be better than sealing their love in a drawing of some kicks.  I knew that they both loved Jordans so I found out which ones exactly and took it from there.  At this point, I made each person represented by a sneaker.  I made a few minor tweaks to the design.  I changed the hologram from a circle to a heart on the red/whites, and wrote "Love" instead of "Jordan" near the toe of the grey/blues.  The one lace travels around each sneaker and weaves into and out of each to represent two people and two minds into one life and one idea...  This metaphorically speaking represents their life together and how things truly change when you are in love and start a family together; two people joined as one.

Jamie, Hank's girl and the commissioner for this piece, wanted her words to be written in the background of the drawing.  Without disrupting the composition, I was able to incorporate her beautiful words into the laces that join the two sneakers together.  I really like the way this came out.  My favorite part being the open white spaces, on each shoe, that seamlessly blend into the background.  My one quarrel with it is the toe portion on the grey/blues.  I didn't think about it I guess, and I drew each sneaker from one picture.  The sneaker design is actually different between colors and the red/whites have that triangle shape of the toe while the grey /blues do not.  Oh well.  What's perfect?  I hope you like it Hanks!!

This drawing is in lou of another drawing that I can't disclose of at the moment. All I can say is that it's a sneaker which got me thinking. Feeling frisky, I decided to design an image to paint.. Well paint on.

A couple months ago, I applied for a job painting sneakers for Tom's. Art degree and all but still couldn't generate a response. Sucks for them right?  I have never owned a pair, but I love the simplicity and the relaxed faux hippie, classic slip-on style. I'm fitting puzzle pieces back together as we speak.. Maybe it's because I went to one of their sneaker painting events my second day in California with my buddies Yon and Joe.  My friend was in cahoots with a company called eVocal, which basically was a team of local artists in Costa Mesa that had a facility to silkscreen and sell their work. It was pretty sweet.  They got the opportunity to create sneakers for local Newport Beach customers right in front of the store.

We hung out for a couple hours and I watched the artist receive requests and I got the opportunity to watch them flush out their ideas on customer's sneakers. I remember one of the artists maintaining but his talent and skill was that of a high school student who just liked to draw.  To my surprise, his customers seemed please.  I remember having the urge to paint a pair just to see what would have happened..

Anyway, this is the design I came up with.  I am currently transferring this idea to the actual sneaker.  I'm almost done so I'll post those pictures soon.

This was a fun little bonsai project that was inspired by my "playercard" on COD Black Ops. Your playercard is a small picture that you can create from other preset emblems, symbols, and pictures to make your card unique from everyone else's. Most people's cards are for mature audiences only. Most seem to think its funny to objectify women and animals in a pornographic way but there are some that have a 'nerdy class' and tend to build Superheros or Nintendo characters like this Youtube video illustating a playercard design. I, like this guy.. maybe girl.. keep it clean. Too clean actually.

 Although this game is very graphic and emerses the user into violence and war, my playercard was quite the opposite. It was and still is a serene beach scene with a cliff and and some palm trees in siloutte with a sunset sky and large sun (will add a picture at some point). This leads me back to the point of all this..

For some reason my COD sunset made me think of Japan. I know this is very sterotypical and I do not mean to offend anyone, but my thought process is as follows. Red Sun-> Japan-> Martial Arts-> Bonsai Treeeeess.. My bad.

All four are made with colored pencils/stix on various colored, 5" x 7" suede mat boards.  Thanks for reading.

Color Stix on a 5" x 7" Red Suede Mat Board

There is not much to say about this guy here.. except that he is an artist.. blah blah blah.  Anyway, the only thing I did differently was my approach.  I started this self portrait by using a colorless blender to sketch my face. Usually, during this process, I would use a graphite pencil for my sketch but I couldn't this time. On suede, the colorless blender creates easily visible lines compared to a traditional graphite sketching pencil. The blender allows for depressions to reflect light that cause highlights that are much easier to decipher. There is one problem though. You must make sure that your blender is clean of other colors. If not, just like the color stix, the blender will leave unwarranted marks within your drawing and it is not very consistent.  Be careful in areas that you plan to leave.. colorless.

After I had my sketch, I used a brush pen to incorporate the darkest darks. I believe that your art teachers and college professors will or have told you that you always want to go light to dark, but this is not always the case. I figured that coloring over marker with wax is a lot easier than coloring over wax with wax.  I have provided a few images that illustrates the drawings progression.  This is the first time I have purposely recorded my progress so I hope it looks good.