All I Wanted Was to Be Rich and Famous

Funny for Nothing

What is the toughest question you’ve ever been asked?

For me, “Fries – large or medium?” and “Are you out of your mind?” are top contenders. But they aren’t the toughest questions I’ve ever been asked – not by a long shot.

No, the undoubted winner is “What do you want to be when you grow up?”

I like to call this question the ‘How It All Began’ question. I’ll explain.

Imagine this: You’re three years old and your parents have guests over. You’re busy playing with your ‘Barney-the-dinosaur’ soft toy. All of a sudden, there’s a lull in the conversation. Nobody knows what to say, so all eyes slowly turn towards you. You’re too young and innocent to know that you are the next victim. “Aww, what a sweet child,” one lady croons. She looks straight at you and asks, “So, what do you want to be when you…

View original post 711 more words

New painting in progress

I have been painting vintage style  pin up women on beaches, as of late,  and that is probably because I live in a beach town and I love the blues that I am surrounded by. The sky, the water, shutters, buildings and the list can go on forever :). So I have started another painting using acrylics, and I am trying to build my “Forever Summer” series for an upcoming June exhibition. I have been documenting the steps and the progress of my work, I have taken a picture on a daily basis since I have started because it helps me to see the painting in a different  perspective, which enables to correct some parts as I see fit. I am struggling with the eternal search for perfection and I am trying to learn to “relax” more with the brush. I am learning everyday, and that in itself is work in progress…

Day 1

 I try and get all my base colors in first, sometimes I actually prefer this very loose way of just applying where ever the colors appear,  kinda like color by numbers…

Day 2:

More dark tones to go! 

 I was also trying to get the greyto create some under tones for the clouds…

Day 3:

Still layering

and I keep layering…

Day 4:

I wanted to add some red as I find it helps with painting the hard shadows

Day 5:

 Today I tried to take down a bit of the dark shadows that seemed out of place…again its that constant need for perfection, which does not help matters sometimes! 

Sometimes we should just know when to stop painting! 

 

April Exhibition at Cervantes restaurant and bar in Barcelona

Bar Cervantes is a typical Catalan bar located in the “Gothic” part of Barcelona. The bar is easy to spot especially because its named after the street “Cervantes. Bar Cervantes has a very authentic Spanish design with beer barrels stored up on its high ceilings complete with antique fans, the only renovation that’s obvious is where the one wall that has been painted a deep purple containing long shelves which makes it a cinch to exhibit paintings or photos without having to hang them. 

The bar has been owned by the same family for at least three generations. Owner Christina is not only an extremely nice person but also very helpful and supportive of the arts. It’s been an absolute delight to exhibit here not to mention the delicious food they serve for breakfast and lunch. Here are some photos just to give you an idea 🙂 

Bar Cervantes, Calle (street) Cervantes 7, Barcelona

what’s so nice about the design is the fact that they have been able to perserve it’s original tiles which look great against the deep purple wall, and the paintings just “pop”!

French beauty 1910’s

This painting was inspired from a photo I came across while looking for some reference. I absolutely love this era, especially the make-up and the hairstyles and of course the fashion, and I adore the illustrations of French artists.
While I intend to share my work and paint something that people will like and appreciate , in this case I painted this painting for me. Yes I was a little selfish but oh well! Hope you’ll like it anyway :)


New exhibition at Spritz, Barcelona

After looking for the perfect location and painting almost non-stop, finally found a great spot to exhibit. A super busy cafe with a great wall, where the artist is free to do what he or she wants: put nails in and this makes life easier because most places want to use fishers’ line and that I find is quite difficult to hang pictures with. I am also proud to say that most of the work that has gone up is new, and I have already sold a few pieces! YAY, yay and YAY! S

Sea cap beauties finally finished

After going back and painting and perfecting and trying to make the water look like water I think I can safely say that I am done painting this piece. It was very challenging but one that I knew I would throughly enjoy and I kept going back and adding more but I needed to know when to stop, I find sometimes that I am enjoying painting so much that I find it hard to let go of it – to stop. This was also the case with the “Sea cap beauties” but I am satisfied with the results!

Sitges Carnaval mini exhibit at Albert & John’s

This year’s theme for Sitges carnaval was music. The carnaval was highlighting artists like “The Beatles”, Madonna, Abba (just to name a few) for their floats and their shows, so I was asked to do a mini exhibition at Albert & John’s men’s clothing shop. 

Audrey, Doris and “Gidget” smiling at the passers by from the shop’s window…

same with the fab four…

 

Albert & John’s clothing shop on calle Jesus in Sitges

New painting new year…

This painting is a huge challenge for me and I am more than willing to take it on. I am reproducing a painting from a photo that I absolutely love. The girls are stunning and I do not have any problems with the features as such – skin tones are a bit diffucult but the most challenging part that I am struggling with is the water. Trying to loosen up  my strokes but I keep finding myself zeroing in and trying to “perfect” it. I need to learn to let the brush guide me, rather than me guiding the brush…still learning 🙂

Small paintings with big results

I have been painting almost non-stop for the last two months thus not blogging as often as I would have liked. I wanted to start a series of “iconic” women as the likes of Sandra Lee who played “Gidget”, Audrey Hepburn, Doris Day, and my personal favourite Elizabeth Taylor. I finished three so far and took photos during the various stages of the painting process which was by layering dark tones, mid tones and highlights. So here they are…

first the drawings and the undertones…

the colors varied from one painting to the next…

 

it also depended on how I felt at the time 🙂

taking photos during the different stages of the paintings helped me to see where I was at and where I was going…

 

with this painting of Gidget, it just seemed to “flow” better, I struggled more so with Doris Day…

and now for the finish…

 

All of these were painted with acrylics and on recycled wood…real wood (!) so hard to come by in Barcelona when I lived in Toronto there were so many to choose from at Home Depot!

 

 

 

I decided to add more yellows to give the painting a more of a vintage feel…

and for the finales!..

Básic Barcelona where art meets urban behaviour

I have recently had the pleasure of discovering another gem in Barcelona. An artsy funky t-shirt store called Basic Barcelona. The owner David creates his own stencils for his t-shirts and the results are ab fab. Very urban yet distinctive, there’s a simple elegance to his designs and his prices are incredibly reasonable for what its worth.

While Basic Barcelona concentrates mostly on t-shirts and urban wear, David is an active supporter of the arts, there are hand made objects and variety of different items. Many different artists (including myself) also sell some of their latest works there. I wanted to share with you my Basic Barcelona experience…