|
|
|
|
|
|
08.31.2010
Play- I'm back in the print studio working on new etchings + aquatints. Aquatint is a long process whereby (after you've treated a metal plate with rosin) you meticulously paint in hardground (liquid asphaltum) and carefully immerse a zinc plate in nitric acid (ferric acid for copper plate) so that the exposed surfaces of the metal plate will etch in the acid (repeating this process per how many shades of gray you like) to achieve subtle tone shifts when printed. What would take one second to achieve using graphite pencil on paper, to replicate with aquatint on a zinc plate takes three or more days often yielding unpredictable results- good or bad. It's truly a labor of love for those of us who enjoy printmaking. I'm excited to share my experiments with everyone here and I'm giving one of my facebook page friends a chance to choose between the five images I create to take home. I'll post the final etchings + aquatint here on September 12th and the name of the winner. If you are interested in taking part just add my facebook page. Good Luck everyone!  inking my zinc plates  at the studio of master printmaker John Greco where I do all my intaglio prints 08.28.2010  picture by Ben Barker The Sketchtravel project was created by two amazing artists, Daisuke TSUTSUMI (Dice) and Gerald Guerlais. It is a beautiful red hand bound sketchbook that has traveled the globe for 4 years now from artist to artist. When it is completed, later this year, it will have traveled more than 38,711 miles across the globe and traded hands between 60 invited artists each creating an unique page in the book. Making the Sketcthtravel sketchbook inspiring not only as a piece of art, but also as a symbol of friendships spanning the globe. Here, Dice gives an insightful and generous interview (by Bobby Chu)about the Sketchtravel project, animation industry and his beautiful personal artwork. The original Sketchtravel book will be exhibited at the Ardulik Gallery in France and auctioned off to raise money for a worthy cause/non-profit organization. Last Saturday, after I finished my page, I handed off the Sketchtravel book to the next artist(whose name I will respectfully not say until it is officially announced in the Sketchtravel blog and Facebook) But I will say that he is a brilliant artist, one of the most well respected artists in the animation industry and an absolutely lovely person. To make the event even more memorable for me is that Dice and his talented wife and friends were in town as well for the occasion. Thanks Dice for inviting me and Gerald for your warm welcome and support. I'm grateful to be part of this community of artists and for the new friendships.  08.19.2010 Every year on the month of my birthday I take some time to reflect on the lessons that moved me, made me happy and really made a difference in my life. This year I want to share my list with all of you because it is a work-in-progress and it works to declare something into being and go after it: 1. being specific on what it means to make a house my home 2. seeing that I'm not as compassionate as I think myself to be. 3. inquiring into the meaning of compassion and learning to distinguish between taking care of someone and empowering them 4. creating my community 5. learning how to lead by example from my big sister. She never ever lets anyone forget for a minute how much she loves them- it is in everything she is and does. 6. being loving and lovable 7. saying goodbye to a long time friend and being at peace with it 8. being humbled by being forgiving and giving up something 9. being angry and getting that being nice is not always appropriate 10. being silly with my niece and nephew understanding that sometimes all they need is to be kids while they can be 11. focusing on my physical well being not just emotional well being 12. giving things a second look 13. seeing people for who they are and who they aren't- yes and I talk to strangers, it's great. 14. being a contribution to someone else's life is infinitely more rewarding than just contributing to your own life 15. letting people contribute to my life 16. seeing that your life's work should be something that you are willing to give your life to. Number 16 is a big one and to illustrate what it means to me I want to honor all the men, women and children humanitarian workers who give themselves to make a difference in the lives of others. You are an inspiration and gives all of us something to aspire to be: 08.04.2010 Benefit Show- for 826 LA travel mart (Mcsweeney's)- Opening night is on August 14th at Gallery Nucleus and stay tuned for bidding on the pieces on August 23rd on ebay. See you all at the show! 07.28.2010 I love San Francisco! I'll be at booth #41 under Chirping Tree (my new shop!) at Renegade Craft Fair SF this weekend from 11am-7pm! Come say HELLLOOO! visit their homepage for all the details! 07.21.2010   2nd Annual Renegade Craft Fair in Los Angeles – (this weekend!) July 24 + 25 from 11am – 7pm in Los Angeles State Historic Park (aka The Cornfield, located at 1245 N Spring Street) I'll be in booth #109 (see map below) hope to see you there! Here is the address, directions and all the tid bits  04.24.2010  It's official! Both my sister and I will be attending this year's Renegade Craft Fair in L.A. My sister is a brilliant pastry chef (the picture above is from our chocolate box collab from last year's Valentine's day) and we share similar passions for art but the only difference is that her art is edible and mine is not. We are so excited to share with those of you attending the fair our little corner of heaven: homemade cupcakes and Brazilian savories like: esfihas, pastel and pão de queijo (cheese bread). This is my childhood in a nutshell,walking in my neighborhood of São Paulo sharing a pão de queijo with friends. So please come over, share stories, eat and say hi.  I'll share all the details of where exactly we'll be in the park when the day is nearer but in the meantime mark your calendars:July 24 + 25, 2010, from 11am – 7pm at Los Angeles State Historic Park (aka The Cornfields). It's free to attend and it will feature over 200 DIY arts and designers + food and beverages. 04.10.2010 APRIL GIVE AWAY- *April 30th update*- winners announced! Hello! I am done story boarding my entire tween/picture book. It won't be done until I get editorial notes, do a final revision, cover design, painting/collaging not sure what surprises I have in store for the final but you can be sure that it will be fun and challenging. I will keep everyone in the loop with occasional sketches and sneak peeks. But for now I feel like celebrating this little milestone. So won't you celebrate with me? Here's what I've planned: I am going to do a give away this month. This is how you can take part in the give away: I just started a Facebook Page and to enter for a chance to win you can either add myfacebook page (fan) or leave a comment. I will randomly draw out two winners at the end of April! What you get: two winners will each get the only two copies I have left of DPI Vol.126 illustration magazine. My doting mom, when she found out that I had an eight page feature in a Taiwanese magazine, promptly ordered 20 to give out to friends/family and I asked for two copies to keep. I want to now give you those two copies. It is beautifully printed and the lay out with full size images are nice too. On the cover is art by Jimmy Liao. I have been a long time fan of his work and there are also other full page features on some amazing international artists doing great children's book/illustration work. Another thing that made me happy about the feature is that the magazine is a bilingual magazine: English and Mandarin. I think more and more I realize that growing up speaking many languages has really shaped my desire to seek out publications that are more global in their outlook. But the thing that made me the happiest is that this is the first time that my mom was able to read an interview about my work in mandarin and it helped, more than ever before, her to understand my life as an artist. Thank you to the editorial staff for asking to interview me and giving me great questions to ponder over.    03.10.2010  Now that the writing is done, my tween book is moving right along. I've set a tight schedule for myself to finish storyboarding the entire book this month. It will be a while until I can show the actual pages, but I did promise that I would share a couple of sketches with everyone along the way. So here are some of the many loose sketches I did to try to figure out the story. I work well when I can balance the writing with drawings and it helps me figure whether or not something will work visually for the story. I'm realizing also, as I work on the pages, that this will amount to having to paint over 500+ little paintings to make the entire book even though the final page count is 48 pages...because it's a picture book/graphic novel hybrid. It seems daunting but I feel optimistic and I'm excited to see so many months of work finally come together. oh and I am on twitter now! yeeep. I see it as a ol' school progress report so the twitter talk will generally be about work and projects...but occasionally I might talk about food and other important things like- getting a puppy. 03.10.2010 Say Yes Title: Committed I: re-imagining Gustav Klimt's The Kiss (left) Update: Brownstones to Red Dirt auction just ended one minute ago! Congratulations to the winning bid and thank you to everyone who placed a bid! news archive |
Press venus mag daily candy interview with Guu Press Venuszine interview Elsewhere twitterCat facebookCatia peacemaker mcsweeneys chirping tree lovely design To the best of our knowledge sketchtravel! hearingvoices this american life audible picture show dance.a.thon shadiradio crafty podcast tiny showcase! Amazonia LearningTo LoveYouMore bicycle kitchen TED rocknrollcommunitygarden I am Lindy Hop good is |
