Lately I’ve been filling up my notebook with a lot of  rough sketches  I’d like to build on, here’s one of them.  Finished version coming soon.

Title – Old Champ, Champ, …..?

Medium – Ink, Watercolor, Gold Spray Paint

I’m secretly only writing this post in the hopes that it reaches someone at Samsung and they decide to sponsor me by providing me with their newest device the Galaxy Note;  I know, it’s a long shot.  If you’re an artist and want a device that can replace the napkins, reports, or any other thing you routinely sketch on, then this might be for you.  I took this quick sketch at the AT&T store of this dude, he was frantically waiting in line to also get a crack at this device.  This Galaxy Note is the perfect mix of phone and tablet and you can see more here.

Happy Cinco De Mayo folks!

AR

An amazing soul shared this with me, I encourage you to sit for a second and read it as well!

“Find that pursuit that will energize you, consume you, become an obsession. Each day, you must rise with a restless enthusiasm. If you don’t, you are working.”

http://halfhalf.posterous.com/dont-work-be-hated-love-someone

Oh and more art coming soon!

AR

On March 16, 2012 my art will be part of a special night in Los Angeles, CA.  The event is called A.R.T (Altruism Reflected Tangibly) For Life.  It is a campaign and auction event at the Lexington Social House (1718 Vine Street, Hollywood, California 90028).

 Excerpt from the Press Release:

“A.R.T. For Life” Campaign is to create an atmosphere of giving back through the hands of the “art lover”. All proceeds will benefit Yehri Wi Cry’s mission to alleviate the maternal and infant health crisis in Sierra Leone, in turn saving the lives of mothers and children in the West African nation. “We wanted to provide a way for our general audience to get involved without feeling overwhelmed by constant facts and statistics. Since art is universal and we all can relate, we figured if we could create an avenue for artists to express the seriousness of the maternal health system in Sierra Leone through their art, the message would be better conveyed and received,” said Yehri Wi Cry Co-Founder and Co-Vice President, Nadia Sasso…”

 Being born to Sierra Leonean parents and living in Sierra Leone for a number of years makes an event like this even more special to me.  Please see the flyer below and come out to support such a powerful campaign!

Every now and then I’ll enter a thrift store and dodge the almost always crowed isles, on the hunt for one thing and one thing only – FRAMES!  Thrift stores are great for everything really, but I’ve found the most value in the big, small, wide, and tall variety of art work embedded in some very unique framing; usually laid against the walls on the side or rear of the store.  For example, a simple black frame could cost you as much as $30 in any arts and crafts store, but it only cost me $5 at my local thrift, what a deal!

Today I stopped at the Goodwill on the way home, perused the isles for about 10 minutes and then stumbled on this beauty.   I immediately imagined bringing this to the studio and ripping out the picture with the same ferocity as a  child on christmas morning.  After a couple of inspections I started studying the picture, the work is amazing!  I’m going to take some time to research the artists; from what I can make out, the signature reads,  ’Louren C’.  If you recognize the work please message me, I would love to see more.

So $30 later I took home a black frame and this great piece of work.  Visit your local thrift store to see what treasures of art you can uncover.

So I’ve made it a habit to complete a quick 10 minute or less sketch every day.  I would get very frustrated after not painting for a week or two then trying to create a masterpiece. It’s important not only with art, but in anything you are trying to master, that you practice everyday.  Even though this sketch was quick, 7 minutes and 21 seconds to be exact; It allows me to keep key techniques such as shading, blending and proportion fresh and crisp.

Music: D’Angelo – Devil’s Pie - Cliffnotes Mix

Hi Folks!!!

I did some quick sketches while flying across America this past weekend.  I don’t know what it is about flying that gets me going;  If I was allowed to paint on the plane I’m sure I would create some amazing work.

Oh and Mr. Planters is my favorite.

Hi People,

Please check me out in the pages of Bougie Magazine, I was interviewed by the talented Alisha Thompson.

So on Thursday, January 12th, I decided to head to the LA Art Walk.  If you have never been it is quite the spectacle.  If you are comfortable with walking New York City block type distances then you are in for an amazing adventure full of LA characters, the smell of bacon wrapped hot dogs, and art galleries galore.  Visitors and locals alike gravitate to downtown Los Angeles every 2nd Thursday to bask in the overwhelming artistic energy. However, this Art Walk, at least for me, was a little different.

As I was walking on Spring St. and 6th I came across some protestors.  At first the cause was unclear, but the chants grew stronger and the cardboard signs rose higher, high enough to see that it was an Occupy LA protest.  Unless you’ve been under a rock for the last couple of months I’m sure you are pretty familiar with the Occupy movement so I wont go into details.  I stood there for a moment and took it all in. I actually didn’t know that people were still protesting in the Occupy movement since the media exposure around it has died down.  As I stood there witnessing the movement the crowd grew, and grew fast, and then as soon as I could say Occupy LA, I found myself huddled in the crowd blocking cars in the middle of the street and heading down Spring St.  I’m not going to lie, it was exhilarating, the energy of the 300 people around me caused me to throw a couple of Jersey Shore fist pumps and join them in the chanting.  Sadly, this march could have gone down as the shortest protest ever!  As a group we marched for a block before the police sirens had everyone handing in their activist cards, we definitely would not have made the cut in the 60′s.  Anyway I recorded about a minute of the shortest protest in history.

Check out the pictures of some cool art I saw throughout the night. Photos by L.Villa Photography.

Illustration is truly my first love.  I can remember diving deep into my imagination as a kid to create monsters, heroes, and other unexplainable beings from outer worlds; being an only child means lots of imagination time.  During a recent trip I took some flight time to get a lil nostalgic.  After a horrible nap in my uncomfortable seat, and waking up every 15 minutes to make sure I wasn’t drooling on my neighbor, I created a few pages of some interesting characters. I’ve attached a few rough sketches down below. I need to find a way to incorporate this style into my arsenal…caricature’s, comics, hmm…