Where did my art go this Summer?

Sea Lion 8x10  $175 framed

I got to go to Nevada, Utah, Idaho, Montana, Washington, and Oregon this summer.

My artwork, on the other hand, got to go to the Hamptons,  Glen Neck, New York, Soho, Edinburgh, Scotland, Hollywood, Carpenteria and will soon be showing in Vancouver, Canada.  Must be nice!

Edinburgh, Scotland

the Hamptons

Video from Glen Neck, New York; I'm featured about 5 min in

Inspiration from the easel: Capernaum

Often people ask me to donate paintings for fundraisers.  Sometimes I give new paintings I've made for fundraisers and sometimes I give some old paintings I already have on  hand. This week, I've been working on a painting called Capernaum for the Young Life Capernaum event on September 8th.

Last fall, I first met Tobias Haglund, the Area Director of Young Life Capernaum. Tobias and I got to know each other and to do stuff together. He comes up to my house to see me, and once took me to the Pirates dinner theatre, or to the beach. I was able to help him at the Capernaum Talent show by filming with two cameras.

I painted Capernaum which is a town described in the Bible where men lowered a sick man through the roof of a house in the book of Luke and Mark. They named the ministry Capernaum since people like Tobias find a way to get people with disabilities to Jesus, no matter what it takes.

I am not done with this yet but here is a picture of the work in progress.

Inspiration from the easel: Music

This painting I've made was entitled "Tres Musique". That painting consists of a musician with six arms playing the piano, the violin, and the guitar. These are all the instruments that I've practiced throughout the first decade of the 21st century.

I'd rather listen to music than play it. Especially Joshua Bell who is my favorite violinist. My favorite guitarist is Christopher Parkening.

Inspiration from the easel: Crab

I saw the crab on a photo from Google. I painted it for anyone who likes sea creatures.  It's been exhibited in the Barnsdall Gallery Theater in Hollywood. I had to paint a new one when the first one was purchased. Crabs are part of crustaceans; they remind me of the beach.

Today I am headed to the beach with my friend, Blake and my mom.  I'm going to swim. I tried surfing when I was 13 at San Onofre. It was wonderful.  Some day I might do it again. I've seen a crab the other day at Oceanside when I was 10. It looked like this:

Commissioning Dogs

German shepherd puppy 10 x 10" $150

Two people we met at Love Letters want to commission me to paint their dogs-- a pit bull and a schnauzer.  I will be in touch with them soon.

I painted this from a picture I used on computer of a german shepherd.  That's my favorite breed of a dog, even though we don't have one. We do have 4 huskies, an Australian shepherd and a sheltie.  My dad is recreational musher.  He does races in Northern California.  Huskies have pointy ears just like a german shepherd. So dogs are my good friends.

The Big Apple

Debbie Hosseini announced that she wants to include me in an art show in New York City!  The Soho Gallery of Digital Arts will highlight several artists from her book, Art of Autism opening July 7th.

The show benefits Reach for the Stars Learning Center which is "dedicated to the education of children with autism spectrum disorders utilizing every possible tool to further their development."

I think I will send them my "Big Apple," since that is the nickname for New York, and "Vanessa," because she was named after my music teacher.  She helped me play music on the guitar and piano.  We wrote songs together, one which I will post soon when I get it recorded.

Ask me anything

My interview with Tim from ANCA went well. I did very successfully with a speaker phone at my house. It lasted for an hour.  I practiced reading my answers I had written down. It really helped to have the questions in advance.

In case you missed the interview, here is my personal favorite:

You took up painting at age eleven.  How had your art progressed at that point?

I first used paints when I went to a local painting class for kids. The teacher’s only rule is to fill the whole canvas with paint. My big improvement was me painting a 30 in. x 40 in. painting of Mona Lisa, a classic painting by Leonardo Da Vinci. These inspirations from art history books including Van Gogh, Picasso, and Raphael inspires me to develop my talent to paint replicas of famous paintings.

This is my third painting ever which I painted in that kids class when I was 10 years old.  It's titled "The Big Apple."  It was inspired by the video Animated Hero Classics, Leonardo DaVinci.