the zodiaque series

I've just started a series inspired in the twelve signs. the first one is Gemini (my own sign), and it's already done (picture of the process below.) now I am working on Scorpio. when it's done I'll scan both and publish them. they are all intended to have a certain Japanese feel, with faces wearing that geisha make-up I love, and very fluid abstracts surrounding them.

I really enjoy to have several projects in hands, so I can pass from one to another according to my inspiration and mood (very Gemini indeed.) and those quick painting are a great way of exercising and defining stylistic elements.

La Sirena

Watercolor and pencil on paper,
11 x 9
2009

Model: Iara Pires

$120

Tranquility

Watercolor and pencil on paper,
9 x 12
2009

$120

one painting a day (or almost)

and here I am, after 5 days of my mini vacation and disconnected from the internet. excepting for going to the movies, I didn't manage to conclude all my plans. think that time was still not enough. but at least half of my website is done, the quick paintings got started, and several pages of one of my books were avidly consumed. I also broke my dietary discipline (low-carbs, low-sugars) eating all the pies that were put in front of me, besides fresh and bold quesadillas.

I was actually inspired by the One Painting a Day concept to create those quick paintings. the idea is to paint one small piece a day, spending no longer than a few hours, what for some artists work as a challenge and an exercise. but in fact the big appeal of this concept is the possibility of selling paintings for small prices, attracting more collectors and people that cannot pay hundreds of dollars for an original piece of art. the perpetrator of the concept was the artist Duane Keiser, but nowadays lots of artists have successfully adhered to the idea.

well, I still don't know if I can complete one painting a day while having to work in my bigger pieces. I can't paint full time yet. but in my first attempt I managed to work on a couple 12 x 8.5 pieces simultaneously; I completed the penciling in one day, and the watercolor in another - excepting the details in one of the pieces - that ended up becoming one more Totem. not bad.

Anemonae + Totem #2

it's true that they are not very different from the first Totem and Flourish, as a reader recently observed. the difference is that, when I made those, I was still experimenting a new direction in painting and they took a few days to get completed. the new ones were supposed to be quick works. in the end, working on most simple pieces revealed fun and a refreshment from the complex concepts I usually develop. sometimes I just don't know how to work with the "simple" - my moon in Scorpio is always leading me to complicated paths. can't wait for more!