20th Annual Day of the Dead Art show at Plaza de la Raza

So happy to be part of this huge celebration. I am going to be showcasing with my friends. Be free the following weekend as we will also be putting on a show at KGB Gallery in Downtown LA- El Velorio part 3!

Tuesday Night Cafe 2012

Guess who is the co-curator for the visual arts segment of LA's longest running public art event? You guessed it. ME! I have been a long-time resident artist for Tuesday Night Cafe , from being a featured poet, to live painter to now visual arts curator. 

Tuesday Night Cafe happens every 1st and 3rd Tuesday of the Spring and Summer months, taking place on the outdoor plaza of East West Players. It is wonderful to be onstage, being under the stars and hearing your voice echo in Downtown's building.

Tuesday Night Cafe has provided the space for both emerging and established artists/dancers/musicians/lyricists/vocalists/poets. It also is a gathering where important community and social information can be passed along.

They asked me to be the the first vendor and live painter. 

I painted for about 1.5 hours and managed to sell a few pieces in the meantime. It was wonderful to see everybody come out for the first show of the season!

More pictures to come!

Live painting: April 3rd, 2012

My 1 year old niece Spitty helping me paint as I hold her =)

Zombies Take over Long Beach

 Jason Liwag and Garry Booth of Phone Booth Gallery are co-curators of this year's Zombie Art Show. This show was by invite only and I am happy and honored to be chosen to show this year. i am a huge fan of horror flicks and zombies happen to have a special place in my heart. (Not really. Like I wouldn't welcome one in open arms. I am the first to blast a shotgun to it's face.) But I digress...

This idea came from a friend of mine in the East Coast. She jokingly said I should do one of a zombie biting a boob. Ha! Okay, well I did and added a bit of a twist to it.

Mixed Media on Wood

10"x10"

2011

Come out and not only see my piece in person but to check out the dozens of wonderful artists on display at the Zombie Show. And if it weren't enough, the opening reception is happening the SAME night as the Downtown Long Beach Zombie Crawl and Music Festival!

 Come dressed as a zombie or bring a camera as hundreds take to the streets of Downtown Long Beach. Listen to live music. Check out the film fest. October 29, 2011. But also remember that the artshow will be free!

"Love Never Dies (yea, right!)"

Mixed Media on Wood

9"x12"

2010

This was last year's zombie piece from the "Zombies Invade LA" Art show held in Downtown LA's Yojie's Shabu Shabu and Sake Restaurant. You can buy a vinyl postcard size magnet at my Etsy store.

and just as an added bonus, brain cupcakes =)... Didn't make them but I thought they were so cute!

Faded Beats n' Pieces

October 1st, 2011

I was one of the featured artists for this month's Beats n' Pieces. Faded is a clothing company that is now throwing art parties showcasing art, live art by the legendary NASA crew and soundscape provided by LA's loved DP Crew. They are now being more consistant and I would love to see this event pop off monthly.

"e.ternal reflection"

mixed media on vinyl LP and wood
2011

The theme of this month's show was vinyl records. Faded provided the artists LPs to paint on. I had an initial idea but at the very last minute, I decided to paint over it and paint what was relevant to me at the time. We lost a very very good friend the week before. Passed away suddenly and it had shook all of our lives. E was a loving soul who dedicated his life to the arts and music movements in San Francisco. He worked with the youth and helped gave many of the mentees a sense of direction.

I miss him terribly. I had to paint this piece, lil' "darklings", as he lovingly coined the term, holding bleeding heart doves, promising to keep them safe and protected.

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Much love to the Faded Crew, NASA, DP Crew and Beats N' Pieces affiliators

For more pics, go to http://movemephotography.com

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Pics from my smartphone:

NASA crew getting down

The crowd

Steady:

Last Friday, I was invited to live paint at Steady, a monthly event at the Medusa Lounge. It was my first time there so I have no clue as to what to expect and it would be the first time I met the promoters. I figured it would be nice for me to dive into a situation not knowing what to expect, to get out of my comfort zone. When they were warming up the place, I can hear one DJ in the other room spinning old school hip hop. The DJ Amara spun house while JK played live percussion with her. I came up with the sketch and ended up with the piece above.

On the subject of Live Painting:

Now, I know I have been known to do live painting but it's pretty much a hit and miss with me these days. Some days, I am feeling it and other days, I'm not. I took a break from live painting for awhile simply because I haven't been doing a lot of my own personal work.

Live painting, to me, isn't just putting a painter to be part of this four ring circus. I understand that I am part of the ambiance, eye candy, giving something else for people to look at. But it also gives a face to an artist that in the past has always been hidden. It shows them being vulnerable, engaged in the process and to show techniques of what it takes for a piece to come to fruition.

I know for me personally, it had helped my blocks. It's a form of exercise: a fast painting done in a few hours. The time constraints forces me to make decisions faster, to not view mistakes as such and just to work around them, to trust in the strokes and really put all doubt and fears to the side... and for most importantly, to just have fun with it.

and yes, there are good live painters and there are "bad" live painters. Just because a person is a dope artist doesn't mean he/she can performance paint, and just because a person can performance paint means that the personal work of that artists have strong conceptual meaning behind their pieces.

but that is all subject to the viewers discretion.

Currently listening to:

oh and check out DJ Amara's set right here, get a sense of what Steady is about:
Latest tracks by DJ AMARA

I am surrounded by people who do amazing things.


And not to say that the people who are not around me don't do amazing things; it's just that my friends do things out of the norm.


We didn't follow the equation that we were supposed to follow.


and because of that,it makes life more exciting, more adventurous but also makes life more scary because of the chances we take. we have to jumpstart our lives, seek the opportunities. pick our own selves up and brush ourselves off and continue again.


the most important thing we are doing is following our dreams.





which is the story of my friend MC Foley.



she spent 13 months writing a novel. excuse me, she spent 13 months writing a novel which pushed its way to existance. a story that she could not longer contain and a story in which she had to write in order to heal from a tragic loss. as this is her way of mourning and saying goodbye to a friend, it is also a way of opening up and "giving birth" to Izzie, Poe, and Rossa and "The Ice Hotel."


now i can go on and on about the book but i will just let you go to The Ice Hotel website and read up on who she is and what the book is about. (shameless plug: i designed the site. tee hee!)


i definitely wanted to express on how proud i am of her for finishing such a huge feat. it's not easy to shut out the world and focus on this world entirely made up by your self. to dedicate waking moments that could have been spent hanging out with friends, socializing, taking morning jogs, relaxing, watching tv into something that demands so much of your energy and time. it's not easy to TRUST a work done by you and take a chance at the unknown possibilities on what this project can bring forth.


but she did it, and THAT is inspirational!


this past weekend, we went to SF to promote her book as well as Traci Kato Kiriyama's new book of poetry "signaling". thanks to my friend E, i was able to get in contact with Bindlestiff Studios to host the event at the Oasis Center for Girls. They also asked me to live paint, so how can i say no?


a bunch of our friends were able to get tickets for the weekend. it's exciting because we ALL are so busy with our projects that to go on this trip is so needed. it was like a reunion for all of us.




randy wore his special airport shirt





sarah is like me. we both prefer aisle seats



at the BART station



my live painting session turned into a collaboration with two cutest kids at the event!



i was drawing the little girl and not five minutes later, her mom came up and said that her daughter wants to be an artist and wanted to meet me and watch closer. well, i had her painting instead.



this is the bottom half of the painting.


as much as i love to paint for myself, i love to create with others as well as help them find their own "voice." being able to express and communicate is a form of healing and finding the power within Self. so no matter if this child grows up to be a designer, a painter, or a lawyer or doctor, she should be able to continue to express and create because it's attach to the development of her being.





other highlights of the trip:
- sarah running 10 miles on sunday
- seeing college friend christie r.
- hearing traci read her poetry
- seeing byron and alice
- having lunch with my artist friend MECA ISA
- seeing E. and sharing a hug
- meeting new friends and meeting up with old friends
- the morning walk around the PanHandle Park
- Filipino fusion food at the Mercury Lounge
- Magic Mic-ing it
- the Ferry Building and its Farmers Market
- sharing drags of Nat Shermans on the balcony
- the conversations and the understanding of friendship


big shout out and thanks for giving us a place to stay to Mark. we are so so grateful!