Featured Artist #1: La Maga.

I discovered the Etsy shop LaMaga by Favorites hopping and it immediately brightened my day. I have made two purchases on Etsy, Red Horses and Boneshaker. Both are original ink drawings by Raquel. I am drawn to her illustrations. I can't help it. They just make me extremely happy. She is an incredibly talented artist from Spain and has agreed to comply with my requests for answering a couple of questions.

What do I do best? Fall and spill liquids on myself and others.

What does Raquel do best? Art.

+What got you started in the whole art scene?

Well, I've been drawing since I could remember, but I started in a more serious way on 2005-2006, when my boyfriend gave me new watercolors, inks and a lot of art supplies as a birthday gift. I begin to draw several hours every day since then, and eventually I got better and I began to feel better drawing too.


+What inspires you to create such pieces of art?

Mostly, other people's work. I search a lot on the Internet and I watch a lot of art, design and photography books to inspire myself. I love to read too: Chejov, Gorey, Carroll, Cortazar, etc. I found great ideas on the books. Also, nature is a great source of inspiration for me: the forests, trees, animals...

+How did you think up your shop name?

La Maga is my favourite book character ever. She appears on "Rayuela", a book by Cortazar which everybody should read at least once in life (seriously, no exceptions ;))

+What bands do you rather enjoy?

I listen mostly to oldies from the 20's, 30's, 40's... Billie Holiday is my favourite singer ever, I just love her! :) I also love Bessie Smith, Bix beiderbecke, Sonny Boy Williamson II, etc. And about actual music I like Regina Spektor, Beirut, Iron&Wine, Sigur Ros, Explosions in the sky, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Clem Snide and a lot more!


+If you could have any super power, what would it be and why?

I think I would like to fly. Is the eternal dream of the human being. I dreamt so much of flying when I was a little girl! I would fly over the cities and the houses I know, and I even could carry people who like to try my super power. hehe Of course I would wear a beautiful cape and a beautiful super woman costume! :)

Thanks Raquel! You are wonderfully great. Take a look-see at her cute little shop: LaMaga filled with her amazing work.

Birthday: #21.

Today is my birthday. Woot. Woot. I had no birthday cake during my weekend celebrations and none planned tonight, which should be against the law. Just saying. I tried searching for the most extravagant/most expensive birthday cake online to fill this void. However, I was unsuccessful. So...if you have any links of yummy birthday cakes, I'd love to see them. In the meantime, here are a few things from Etsy to commemorate my 21st year of life. Ha. That sounds strange.

This postcard makes me happy. Shop: Enna.

If you're not going to drink beer, might as well use it for the sake of cleanliness. Shop: DennisAnderson.

If you are going to drink the stuff, might as well sport an environmentally friendly form of transportation. Shop: BreadandBadger.

These ones are sold which may be a party foul, but I really enjoy them. Shop: BakeandDestroy.

Saturday: Spent some quality time with friends to celebrate. There are 4 of us in the solid group. My friend Cheryl and I fondly call our group "the double dutch team." Mostly because we feel like 4 people make up a strong team for double dutch. The guys do the ropes, us girls jump up a storm was the vision.

Have a great day!

(PostScript): Ha. I just realized, this blog is headed with the date: Sunday, April 6th. Okay...so I got really excited and started writing this post the day before my birthday. A girl just can't help it sometimes.

My birthday = Monday, April 7th.

Random Thoughts.

I needed a break from the fumes of spray paint so I decided to take up something that (1) had very little fume involvement, and (2) didn’t force me to go out into the c-c-cold Seattle outdoors (I take over the back porch when I spray paint).

So…Random Thoughts was born – my (greeting) card collection. I really dislike the word couple “greeting cards” and I am not sure why, but I do try to refrain when I can. I much prefer mini works of mailable art. But that's just me. They are simply cards with random content. Their purpose: To allow people to send cards to anyone they randomly think of when they see my card creations. I mean, when you look at these cards, your thought of the other person would have to randomly pop up. Ha.

Here's one:


The caption of the canoe women is found on the top right and reads:

"Girl Scout Counselors Paddled Two Days to Escort the Canoeists to Camp.

Invited to be the first men to stay overnight in Camp Onawandah, the Susquehanna voyagers bravely accepted. Here, near Tunkhannock, Pennsylvania, Vida Davis and Fran Heckman, on their knees, demonstrate an Indian style of paddling a canoe."

I found it quite comical.

They are addicting to make. I may have to stay off my back porch for a little bit.

A Day of Disbelief.

Apparently art is running my life without my knowing. My mother told me that she worried over my health because I thought about art more than I did my own self. Ha. I guess that's when you know you have a problem.

I was on the front page twice today (and a sale!) thanks to Jack Sprat and Avenue Handmade. Both are really great shops by the way, which made me even more honored. I couldn't believe my eyes.

Morning: So Simple. Old Woman.

Night: A Girl and Hazardous Materials.

That was great, but I also got oh so much love through conversations and such. That had to be even better. Tomorrow's topic: Random Thoughts -- my card collection. Hooray! I'm going to go ahead and pass out now from art overload. Hopefully, I will have some pretty and colorful artful dreams.

Side Note: My favorite color is rainbows (yes, plural).

Art Drought Ends.

Finally!

After two long non-art weeks, I created my piece entitled "Two Beautiful Art Forms." It feels good to be back. I haven't listed it yet, so this is quite the sneak peak.

I'm honestly not quite sure how this idea came about. My mind works in mysterious ways. I knew I wanted a sumo wrestler piece and as I often do, I included an image a little different than the first. I find randomness to be refreshing, which is what I like to revolve my art around.

I hope it is enjoyed by others as much as it makes me smile.

Sunday Sale-age.

Ah geez: 2 words that describe a lot of my life situations.

The fact that I failed to mention my first 2 sales which took place on Sunday is complete madness. Here I am chit-chattering away about mannequins and statues, but my sales? No mention. Due to this circumstance, I am going to double blog today (an unheard of act). I am even going to somewhat shame myself in this trendy coffee shop by typing with my elbows pointed uncomfortably outwards in the air. This table is much too high for me, which isn't unusual.

My first sold piece is entitled "Zebras + Japanese" (yes, the plus sign is a part of the title):


This is actually my very first experimentation with the combination of collage and stencil work. I remember freaking out because the piece had large ridges all over the piece from the protective coatings. I walked away distraught and returned to find a perfectly smooth piece. It was a marvelous moment in which I realized that the marriage of collage and spray painted stencils wasn't such a bad idea.

And then, a couple of hours later...

...my piece entitled "Language Barrier" sold:


This is one of my personal favorites simply because I find symbolism to be pretty deep. The fact that there is no direct translation to the piece is fantastic. It allows the observer's mind to wander and find their own interpretation of the work. In addition, culture and language are near and dear to my heart.

I hope these pieces bring much gladness to their appointed walls.

My elbows are sore from their awkward positioning...

Sumo.

Okay. So I really should be studying for my Hindi final that will occur tomorrow but I just couldn't resist. Here is the first step towards my upcoming piece "Two Beautiful Art Forms" that should be completed by sometime tomorrow if I play my cards right. Of course, I say a lot of things.

This is a sumo wrestler stencil that I worked on with an X-acto knife this morning. It was nice to let some sort of creative energy out of me, even if it meant not finishing it right away (which is somewhat difficult for me to do). I have so many idea doodles found on napkins and receipts that it's getting a tad hard to keep track of. I tend to lose things. I'll be sure to post the final product if everything turns out as planned. Hey, what the heck. Even if it turns out horribly I shall show the shame.

My Hindi book is calling for me. I've tuned it out long enough I suppose.

(PostScript): I am having font/spacing issues in my blog that I can't seem to change at the moment. These sort of things bother me. I blame my mother who taught me how to color the "right" way (which is apparently coloring consistently from side to side) at the age of 3. This should never ever be allowed. It creates perfectionist monsters.