Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Illustration Friday : Worry


This is my first post for illustration friday and the theme is ‘worry’. I am a little late on posting it, because I just joined the group today. Since I am trying to enter the realm of children’s books and I need to get proficient at drawing children in a stylized manner, I sketched this little guy. His biggest worry in life at the moment is his broken toy. (Boy, if life was that simple, right?) I’m not sure if his expression is more sad than worried. I was having a hard time with that…anyone has any suggestions?
I may try to do this one in gouache since I haven’t used gouache in years.
I really welcome your feedback and comments.

Summer, Winter and Spring

I almost forgot about the rest of the seasons…. I posted the small painting I made for fall, but with my son’s room, finishing my web site and family in town, I almost forgot about posting the rest. So here they are…


Summer


8" X 10" Acrylic on canvas signed and dated.
The painting is continued around the edges, so it's ready to be hung.



If you are interested in purchasing any of the paintings listed here, please contact me. I take payments by Paypal.






Winter


8" X 10" Acrylic on canvas signed and dated.
The painting is continued around the edges, so it's ready to be hung.



If you are interested in purchasing any of the paintings listed here, please contact me. I take payments by Paypal.






Spring (Tulip)

8" X 10" Acrylic on canvas signed and dated.The painting is continued around the edges, so it's ready to be hung.



If you are interested in purchasing any of the paintings listed here, please contact me. I take payments by Paypal.







Monday, May 26, 2008

My Boy's Room :: Furniture and Knobs

This was my weekend project and I am happy to say that it is completed! My father in-law who made the furniture from my drawings came and installed it on Friday.

I painted the knobs to go with the 'trucks, cars, traffic' motif in the room. Each knob was $0.97, so it was an inexpensive way to add some personality to the room. I used acrylic and made the outlines with permanent black marker, and once dried I sprayed the knobs with a gloss varnish. It was tricky painting on them because of the uneven surface, so it took me a little longer than I thought. About 1.5 hours.


This is the desk portion of the furniture. It looks fantastic! My father in-law thought of every detail, the shelves are adjustable and the sides have a lip so there's no way for my son to pull them off. There's also a light right above the desk.

This is the bed with the shelves. Outstanding! The bed has drawers on both sides for storage and the drawers are so easy to open and close. All the shelves and drawers provide so much storage! There are lights above the headboard. The green stain on the wood really makes all these pieces more fun and great for a boy's room! My son was very happy with his gift from 'papu'.

Thursday, May 22, 2008

Frog on the wall...


I took a picture of this cute little frog that made its way in my house as we were bringing in some of the furniture pieces that will go in my son’s room. I am not a big critter person, but I’ve always kind of liked frogs, mostly from a distance. My husband captured it and released it back to the outside garden. Notice the orangy color as it tried to camouflage itself with the wall right at the edge of the ceiling.

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Busy, oh so busy….

I was going to post another painting, but I thought I would get you all caught up first. The baby shower was an absolute success, and entirely exhausting too. I am still recovering, but I can’t take too much time to recover, because I have to jump into my next house project, which is my son’s room. I am fortunate enough to have a very talented father in-law. He is an old world craftsman who built all of the furniture for my son’s room. I provided him with drawings for the furniture, and he is ready to install everything this Friday! I need to paint his room and get it all ready, so I may not be able to post for the next few days, but I will post pictures of the furniture when it is all done. He is an incredibly talented man. It’s a shame you don’t find people like that anymore!
Well, off to painting I go (and not the kind I like to do…) …

Monday, May 19, 2008

Seasons :: Fall

I made four iconic paintings to represent the four seasons. This is the first in its series.

Leaf
8" X 10" Acrylic on canvas signed and dated.
The painting is continued around the edges, so it's ready to be hung.
If you are interested in purchasing any of the paintings listed here, please contact me. I take payments by Paypal.

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Baby Shower Stationary

I finished all of the pieces for the baby shower I am organizing. I designed and made 50 invitations, 30 place cards, and 30 games booklet. I worked with a jungle theme and the main colors were teal and chocolate. I also used black, white and lime green as accents. I was fortunate to find the cutest baby animal stickers…tigers, lions, cheetahs, giraffes, hippos, monkeys. They came in different poses, so every card was different. They really added a lot of personality to the card.


Front of card

Inside of card and map (on back side) with directions



Games booklet and palce cards

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Mad Man


I was going through my studio and I found this illustration. I liked it a lot when I was finished, and I still do. But now I think the pose needs to be more at an angle and the hair needs to break the space differently. Anyway, I thought I would post it and see if anyone had any comments…

Busy Week!

This week is shaping up to be quite a busy week. I am organizing a baby shower and I am in the midst of all the final preparations which include designing place cards and game cards. Yes, I am designing all the game cards! Once I finish those, I will post them with the invitations I designed and crafted.
I also have family in town, so my web site is taking a back seat for this week.

Monday, May 12, 2008



Flower
8" X 10" Acrylic on canvas signed and dated.

The painting is continued around the edges, so it's ready to be hung.
If you are interested in purchasing any of the paintings listed here, please contact me. I take payments by Paypal.

$40.00 + ($10.00 Standard Ground USPS Shipping. Includes Insurance - $5.00 if shipped with another item)

Friday, May 9, 2008

Happy Mother's Day!!

The weekend is almost here and mother’s day is fast approaching.
Since I won’t have time this weekend to add a post, I am wishing every mother that reads this a ‘wonderful’ mother’s day.

I am dedicating this painting to ‘mi madre’, ‘mi abuela’, my mother-in-law and all the other mothers in my life that have enriched my existence.

This heart, my own dear mother, bends, with love's true instinct, back to thee! - Thomas Moore


Heart
8" X 10" Acrylic on canvas signed and dated.
The painting is continued around the edges, so it's ready to be hung.If you are interested in purchasing any of the paintings listed here, please contact me. I take payments by Paypal.

$40.00 + ($10.00 Standard Ground USPS Shipping. Includes Insurance - $5.00 if shipped with another item)

Thursday, May 8, 2008

The 21 days exercise!

A few artists are joining this activity who was started by Gina Perry. Basically, the premise is that it takes 21 days to form a new habit. You choose an area or theme to challenge yourself and spend about 15 min a day ....you will develop a new habit in 21 days. I don't think you have to be an illustrator to join in either, you could do any type of art. I think the idea is to step out of your comfort zone, which sometimes is good to do.

I will eventually join in, but I want to finish my web site first. For anyone reading this, visit Gina Perry's blog or Alicia Padron's blog and take a look at what they are doing...maybe you'll get inspired and join the excercise.

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

The Star and The Moon

I love icons! We associate them with so many things, they communicate instantly!
The two below are bright and colorful.


Star
8" X 10" Acrylic on canvas signed and dated.

The painting is continued around the edges, so it's ready to be hung.

If you are interested in any of these, please contact me. I take payments by Paypal.


$40.00 + ($10.00 Standard Ground USPS Shipping. Includes Insurance - $5.00 if shipped with another item)




Moon

8" X 10" Acrylic on canvas signed and dated.



The painting is continued around the edges, so it's ready to be hung.



If you are interested in any of these, please contact me. I take payments by Paypal.


$40.00 + ($10.00 Standard Ground USPS Shipping. Includes Insurance - $5.00 if shipped with another item)

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Thank you Nicole!

I wanted to thank my friend Nicole Merkens for all of her help to set up this blog, she’s definitely doing a great job with hers, she received the Arte Y Pico Award "for creativity, design, interesting material and contribution to the blogging community." Basically she has a cool blog!

I can’t wait to read the books she sent me (No one cares what you had for lunch and Guerilla Art Kit), I have a feeling they will be just as helpful as she’s been.

I will be posting more artwork soon. I started to re-design my website so that’s been taking up most of my time lately. I miss painting. Sigh!

I sold my first painting!

What a great day! I sold the Sunflower painting to someone I used to work with. I am so thrilled that people like my work and they like it enough to want to have it at their house. I guess I am on the right track. We’ll see…

Monday, May 5, 2008

Have you heard about the Orphan Works Act?

I have been reading about this act in different blogs and other articles and I am in disbelief that an act that would strip artists of their copyrights could be passed into law before this summer! This act could potentially make it legal for anyone anywhere to take your work (homemade movies, photos, commercial artwork, illustrations, sketches, drawings, paintings, anything you ever create) and use them for profit without your permission and without compensation.

If the Orphan Works Act passes, every artist will have to pay money to register their work with one or several private registries (TBD) so that their work is not considered ‘orphaned’. If the artist fails to do so, then the work is considered an Orphan Work and it is public domain, so every sketch, every comp, every doodle, every photograph, every journal, or lyric will be public domain and unprotected unless you register it.

If you want to learn more about the orphan Work Act listen to this interview from Brad Holland

The bills are now before congress:
H.R. 5889 The Orphan Works Act of 2008 and S 2913 The Shawn Bentley Orphan Works Act of 2008





If you want to contact your Senator and Representatives, there’s a sample letter below, just adjust and send.



Then sign the petition!



FROM THE ILLUSTRATORS’ PARTNERSHIP


Time to Act



Artists and photographers have been joined by writers, textile manufacturers and others in realizing the threat of the Orphan Works Act of 2006 (HR5439). As we continue to spread the word, it’s time again to act in concert. Others in related fields will be doing the same. Starting in about one week – as soon as Congress returns from its Fourth of July recess, we’ll be emailing lawmakers in numbers. This notice is to give you time to get your letters ready.



First, we’re asking each of you to write your Congressional representative. Please note in your first paragraph that you are a.) a constituent; b.) a small business owner; c.) opposed to the Orphan Works Act. You can identify your representative by entering your zip code into http://www.congress.org


Second, please write to members of the House Judiciary Committee.
They can be located on the IPA Orphan Works Resource Page: http://www.illustratorspartnership.org/01_topics/article.php?searchterm=00175


Several members of the Judiciary Subcommittee are particularly important because they’ve already shown an understanding of the concerns we’ve expressed in previous letters. Please thank them for this and ask them to vote against this bill or table it until it an be properly re-considered and amended. Here are some of their names:

-Howard Berman (CA, 28th District)

-Darrell Issa (CA, 49th District)

-Bob Goodlatte (VA, 6th District)

-Howard Coble (NC, 6th District)

-John Conyers (MI, 14th District)



Below is one suggested sample letter. We’ll email you two more. Use any of these texts you like and feel free to modify them as you choose. You can edit, copy and paste the text of these letters onto your letterhead for faxing. In the letter below please insert an introductory sentence. Again, if you are a constituent, say so at first and cite your profession. Because the bill is being fast-tracked, it’s critical that we write now. To join us, get your letter ready for sending the week of July 10.


For additional information about Orphan Works developments, go to the IPA Orphan Works Resource Page for Artists
http://www.illustratorspartnership.org/01_topics/article.php?searchterm=00185


Please post or forward this email in its entirety to any interested party


____________________________________________________________________________




SAMPLE LETTER:


The Honorable ______ ____________

U.S. House of Representatives

Washington, DC 20515



Via Facsimile
RE: HR 5439



Dear Rep ______________,



(INSERT INTRODUCTORY SENTENCE(S) HERE) As a small business owner, I am writing to express my grave misgivings about the Orphan Works Act of 2006 (H.R. 5439), now before the House Judiciary Committee. I strongly oppose this bill.



The Orphan Works Act has the potential to do great harm to those of us who create intellectual property. It was drafted to allow museums, libraries and other not-for-profit institutions to legally exploit the creative work of authors who have died or abandoned their copyrights. Unfortunately, it would do this by legalizing the infringement of all works - old and new, registered or unregistered, published or unpublished, domestic and foreign, managed or abandoned, whenever a work is unmarked so long as an infringer asserts that he or she has made a “reasonably diligent search” to find the rights holder.



This would expose to misuse countless works of visual art because clients often require artists to omit identifying information from their work, or because credit lines can be removed by feckless or unscrupulous users. Not only artists, but industries which license art can be harmed by this carte blanche license to infringe.



In the interest of brevity, I am enclosing some basic objections I and other copyright holders have to this bill.


• The Act is written so broadly that its use cannot be confined to orphaned work situations.



• It would permit an infringer to determine when he or she has made a “reasonable effort” to locate me even though the infringer would have a financial interest in not locating me.



• It would be retroactive, which means that work I created under existing law would be exposed to infringement because I didn’t take steps to protect my copyrights which the Copyright Act never required me to take.



• It would expose my work to infringement immediately upon creation, even though I am alive, in business and managing my copyrights.



• It would place an impossible burden of diligence on me to protect my work because I will never have the resources to police infringement, which can occur anytime, anywhere in the world.



• It would remove any meaningful remedies for infringement, even though the threat of meaningful litigation is the only means I now have to enforce copyright compliance.



• It would impose on me the burden of proving in court the amount of “reasonable compensation” I could collect from someone who has infringed my work as an “orphan”.



• But it would limit “reasonable compensation” to whatever sum an infringer is willing – or able – to pay.



• It would deny me injunctive relief in situations where the entirety of my “orphaned” work has been used in a so-called “transformative” work.



• And it would undermine my option to retain or sell exclusive rights to my clients because neither I nor my clients could ever guarantee that the work would not be used by others – even for purely commercial purposes.



• The inability to retain or sell exclusive rights would greatly decrease the market value of my work because market value is determined by the licensing potential locked up by exclusive rights.



• This bill would prevent me from restricting certain unwelcome uses of my art.



• And it could drive my work into low-end markets where I would otherwise never license my work.



• At present, the law does not allow infringers to claim my work by infringing it, but this legislation would let them.



• Yet by “limiting remedies” the bill guarantees that the cost of suing an infringer could exceed whatever sum I might recover in a successful court action.



• While the bill would limit the amount I could recover from an infringer, it would set no limits on the amount an infringer could win from me in a counter suit.



• And while the bill would not legislate “formalities”, it would have the same effect, because it would require artists like me to rely on marking, registering and meta-data as a condition of protecting our property.



• This would violate the Berne International Copyright Convention and fail the three-step test of TRIPs, which requires that exceptions to an artist’s exclusive rights should be limited to certain special cases, not interfere with an artist’s normal exploitation of his work and not prejudice a rights holder’s legitimate interest.



In short, the Orphan Works Act fails to properly define the category of orphaned work and it sets the infringer’s bar of due diligence so low that it virtually guarantees abuse.



It would force into the courts countless business decisions which should be made in the marketplace, and create problems which do not now exist but which would require the expansion of the entire Federal judiciary system to solve.



For those and other reasons, I ask you to consider the harm this bill can do to existing businesses and vote against it unless it is amended to do the following things:


a) Precisely define an orphan work as a copyright which is no longer managed by a rightsholder;

b) Raise the infringer’s bar of due diligence and define precisely the steps a user must take before infringing a work;

c) Eliminate the unrestricted use of a copyrighted work in a “transformative” work;

d) Restrict the use of true orphaned works to not-for-profit uses;

e) Restore full remedies for infringement as the only means rights holders have to protect their intellectual property.



Respectfully,


---------------------------------------------------------------------------



THANK YOU!

Saturday, May 3, 2008

SUNFLOWER

This is the third and last in these series of small, fun, colorful paintings of flowers.

Acrylic on 1 1/2" deep square canvas.
The painting is continued around the edges, so it's ready to be hung.

10"x10"

It will be a few months before I set up my Etsy store, but if you are interested in any of these, please contact me. I can take payments by check or Paypal.

$40.00

Friday, May 2, 2008

ROSE

This is another original small, colorful painting of a rose as part of a series. It has a graphic / illustrative style.

Acrylic on canvas.

10" x 10"

Thursday, May 1, 2008

FLOWER

I had a great birthday! Thanks to everyone who wrote and called with birthday wishes!

This is a painting I finished a few months ago and it goes with a series of other small, fun, colorful paintings I've been doing about flowers and icons. I will post more later.

10" X 10" Acrylic on canvas

I’m finally blogging!


As one of my birthday (tomorrow) resolutions, I decided to join the world of artists, designers, illustrators and other creative minds that blog.

Since this is my first post, I thought I would introduce you to my family! Theo, my adoring husband who supports me in every way, and my children Ana-Gabriella (Gabi-6) and Alexander (Alex-3) who are my main inspiration and source of energy.

I will be posting my artwork, sketches, ideas, and an occasional family photo.

I hope this blog forces me to maintain my creativity regularly and maybe serve as a resource to others. I plan on updating this blog at least once a week.