Drawing | Mixed Media
Here are a variety of drawings studying human proportions, movement and shadows, creating still life drawings of organic objects with charcoal and colored pencils on toned paper, applying abstract colors to landscapes on watercolor grounds with pastels, and matching the hue, tone and saturation of a master painting with collage materials.
Recently, I have been making more mixed media collages by painting on top of my drawings with acrylic paints, and integrating other materials like newspapers, packaging materials, and left over paint on palette paper. PrintmakingThe seahorse series of monotype prints was made with oil based inks experimenting with viscosity. The images were created by drawing directly onto the surface of a piece of plexi glass with a Q-tip and oil. Ink was then rolled over the image with a brayer which picked up and transferred the drawing onto other areas of my composition. My compositions were inspired by my fascination of seahorses. They are truly magical and elusive creatures and I tried to represent those qualities with the unpredictable nature of viscosity printing.
Following the seahorse series, I tried monotype printing with watercolors, a medium I prefer over oils because of its familiarity and ease. The best part of this technique is that I can go back to a print and continue to paint with watercolors. PhotographySeveral years ago (Summer 2019), I took a class on dark room photography to remind myself how to work in film again like I did during my college days. One new trick I learned was the Rule of Sunny 16 besides relearning the basics of aperture, shutter speed and iso besides remembering to always bracket.
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PaintingIn the beginning, my watercolor paintings were studies of color and the interesting organic forms of frogs which led to developing an awareness of composition with a variety of subject matter. I am now developing a series of abstract paintings of still life objects and experimenting with acrylic paints using mostly a palette knife and sometimes integrating collage materials. Recently, I took a painting class in portraiture to continue my practice with oil paints and learned how to portray people with a variety of color palettes.
Sculpture | Arts & Crafts
Niki de Saint Phalle's "Nana" series of larger than life sculptures of women inspired me to create my own "Nana" while my fascination with Mexico's most important holiday, Dia de los Muertos, and my collection of papier mache skeletons led me to create my own calaca of Leroi Moore, an incredible musician from the Dave Matthews Band who unexpectedly passed away.
There are also examples of earlier work when I threw clay on a wheel, and experimented with raku and saggar firing. I also dabbled in jewelry making and created a series of brooches. More recent pieces show my interest in abstract sculpture, glass mosaics, paper marbling, book binding techniques and alebrije inspired papier mache scullptures. |